Article by
Lucio Petrone

An outline of the
ITALIAN BOAT-BUILDING INDUSTRY

Considering the length of its coasts and its position in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy has a lot of potential in this field although the actual growth has fall short of expectations. There has been several causes of disturbance: recurrent national and international economic crises, excessive fiscal pressure on both yachtsmen and boats; excessive and repetitive controls at sea; competition of other leisure and sporting activities; some teething problems in the transition from small-scale to professional managment in some companies. And last, but not least, the chronical shortage of mooring places.And yet all this has not hindered the growth of the leisure boat-building industry which, on the contrary, has won considerable appreciation and a substantial share of the foreign market.

There have even been some periods of large growth, which some people hailed as a boom in diffusion and sales; but it all deflated in the still-enduring market crisis that started in 1990.

In spite of all this Italian boats, like Italian clothes, have become a hallmark of our national genius and creativity: that distinctive look the world labelled, with typical anglo-saxon simplicity, Italian Style, has left its mark in the history of leisure yachting. In just a few years British and Scandinavian shipyards looked on with interest and then uniformed to this style, abandoning their northern way in order to build "Mediterranean" boats, thereby becoming our serious competitors. And then, in more recent years, came the American shipyards, even more dangerous for their potentiality.

Today even their production is "Mediterranean", although they have not overcome ours. Our boating industry, although producing boats looking so modern, has a long tradition: generation after generation of craftsmen who, although evolving with the passing time, always remained in close contact with the sea and their boats. This explains the existence of several specialized craftsmen communities based in places of long-standing nautical traditions like Liguria,Triveneto, Toscana, Romagna, Lazio, Campania, Sicily, Calabria and Puglia. These artisans constitute a patrimony the world envies us, and besides the authoritative names of designers, shipyards and naval architects, it's them who hold the secret of the Italian success. In many cases the magnificent interiors of our boats are true masterpieces of cabinet-making: like those by Venetian Camuffo, by Cantieri di Pisa; by Benetti, Fipa Italiana, Gianetti, San Lorenzo, Versilcraft, Codecasa, Tecnomarine from Viareggio; by Azimut and Mondo from Piedmont; Cantieri Navali di Lavagna, Baglietto-Azimut, Santa Margherita di Spertini, Sangermani, Uniesse from Liguria; and others from other regions of Italy: Riva, Ilver, Alfamarine, Cantieri del Golfo, Posillipo, Rizzardi, Fiart, Ferretti, Giorgi, Mochi, Nicolini, Bugari, Raffaelli Marchi, Dalla Pietà, Arredomar, VZ and so on.

Even Italian series boats are handcrafted and built to the owner's desires: as shown by Camuffo's "Stradivari", or by the fast sports boats built by Riva, by Bruno Abbate and Tullio Abbate, Cantieri di Sarnico, B.B.Tecnomar, Cantieri Navali di Roma, Cantieri Navali dell'Adriatico, Colombo, Conam, Carnevali, Cranchi, Della Pasqua e C., Rio, Gobbi, Gari, Iniziative Industriali Italiane (Sea Arrow), Alpa, Performance etc., up to the charming gozzi built by Aprea Mare.

Only with smaller boats one can start talking about series production: Sessa, Cranchi, Gobbi, Colombo, Molinari, Arkos, BM Nautica, Mostes, Capelli, Concord, Gari, Plastimare, Castoldi, Ranieri are just a few. Most of them are located inland, especially on the lakes in Lombardy, which is far more economical for building small boats.

Rubberboats make up a section of the boating industry by themselves: we have some 40 national manufacturers - more than half of the European total -with Novamarine selling its boats even to the American Coast Guard.

But besides the companies we cited, there is a number of smaller shipyards scattered all along the Italian coast and on the lakes, which build one-off sailing and motor boats or small series boats at very economical prices. Rather than the Genoa Boat Show, the most important boat show in the country, they usually take part in the smaller boat shows: like Salone del Mare in Rome, Nautex in Rimini, Nauticsud in Naples, Salone Galleggiante dell'Adriatico in Jesolo, and other local shows.

In conclusion, the shipyard industry in Italy is projected into the future: and casting an eye beyond our national borders, it is getting ready to the real impact, in the next few years, with the European market.