Benetti celebrating 140 years of Italian excellence

by Gianluca Poerio on 8 Apr 2013 Celebrating a proud heritage, this Italian icon is commemorating 140 years of boat building.

140 years of history, close to 300 boats built, over 300,000 sq mt of production facilities at six shipyards in Italy (Viareggio, Livorno and Fano), 34 yachts under construction at present time including a 90-meter mega yacht. These facts and figures unambiguously demonstrate the momentum of Benetti’s growth and Clients’ unrestrained confidence in the brand.

It is a success story confirmed by the last 'Global Order Book' that awarded Azimut|Benetti Group as the 'largest builder in the world for custom yachts over 24 meters' for the thirteenth year in a row.

Benetti is one of the oldest builders of luxury motor yachts in the world. Established by Lorenzo Benetti in 1873, the company began life building wooden boats used for local and international trade. After the death of Lorenzo, his two sons Gino and Emilio took over the management of the boatyard. They changed its name to Fratelli Benetti and quickly built up a reputation that extended far beyond the Mediterranean.

After the second world war, with the disappearance of commercial sailing vessels built from wood, Benetti changed direction and began producing pleasure craft made from steel. Then in the early 1960s the boatyard produced its first luxury mega yachts.

Since 1980 the fleet has included big motor yachts in the 30 to 60 meter range and beyond, not least the famous 86-meter ‘Nabila’.

In 1985 the Boatyard was acquired by the celebrated Turin-based boat builder Azimut Yacht, which brought in new management and transformed Benetti into the modern, technologically advanced reality we know today: a forward-looking and innovative boatyard, but also one that proudly retains its traditional values of experience, skill and a passion for fine craftsmanship.

In fact, for Benetti, building yachts means carrying on the tradition of innovation, style and quality that has shaped the company’s approach and culture. It means continuing to diversify production in order to satisfy the increasingly complex needs expressed by Owners throughout the world.

Benetti has a time-honoured tradition in yacht building. After abandoning wood and being the first to realise the potential of composite materials for the production of megayachts, as early as the 1960s it made the transition from metal boats to the steel and aluminium.

Today Benetti utilizes these materials, alone or combined, to design and build full-custom displacement and semi-displacement motor yachts in a broad variety of lengths from 93 feet to 90+ meters. These truly tailor made vessels embody the Owner’s idea of what a yacht should be, while retaining the Benetti family-feeling that is a natural expression of the finest Italian style and timeless elegance. This production capacity, united with world class quality, fanatical attention to detail and a perfect end result, have made Benetti a world leader and an Italian luxury yacht icon.

Over the years the shipyard has grown and changed, not following but anticipating the times. Once the Fratelli Benetti boatyard was famous for building three-masted wooden schooners for commercial use. Today Benetti motor yachts turn heads at the world’s most famous and exclusive ports of call. Stylish, exclusive and extremely
well-crafted, Benetti yachts are well established at the height of Italian Excellence.

'This year will not only be the 140th anniversary of Benetti, it will be also the 10th anniversary of the acquisition of the Livorno Shipyard bought from the Orlando family,' commented Ing Vincenzo Poerio – Benetti’s Ceo.

'We plan a dense calendar of events culminating next June in Portofino with a very exclusive week-end together with our clients from all over the world. Owners that does not come to us to buy a ready made yacht, but to construct one together with us in order to fully express their personality and live a genuine rapport with the sea.

'Clients who approach us with ideas and expectations that are a challenge and a continuous stimulus and when we meet their brief and make every detail perfect with no concessions to compromise, their success becomes ours. This level of quality and passion are the only route to our next 140 years of success,' he said.

More at www.benettiyachts.it