Making Yachts Look Stylish

Question. Who has won Showboats International "Ship Yard Number 1" award six times running the first yacht company to do so?

Benetti.

Founded in 1873 in Darsena Italy, Benetti is now owned by Azimut and produces a wide range of luxurious yachts (45, 50, 75 feet etc.) made up of various composite materials (alloys, fiberglass, steel etc.), each considered to be world class. Its dominance is based on the usual Italian recipe of offering superior custom design and quality. With little, if any, advertising (when was the last time you saw a commercial for Zegna or Ferrari?) the company uses the "exclusive" marketing technique and still manages to capture a large customer base. Read about the Patricia designed by Stefano Righini in the hyperlink.

Benetti official site.

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Benetti isn't the only great player in Italian boat manufactuting. Ficantieri - SpA Cantieri Navali Trestino, founded in 1908 (reorganized in 1959), has too won some awards and the legendary Cantieri Baglietto, another innovative company, founded in 1854.

From Baglietto webstite with d'Annunzio describing one of its vessels:

"These were used both as anti-submarine patrol vessels and as insidious attack craft against the Austrian fleet, depending as to how they were equipped. The incomparable poet, Gabriele d'Annunzio, an admirer of the audacity of these vessels, used the abbreviation MAS for his motto: Memento Audere Semper."

And:

"The honours roll in thick and fast: Twins VI triumphs in the Italian Cup in Helsinki (1953) and in Genoa (1954), the Twins VII is victorious in Sweden at Sandhamn, its first Italian success is the Gold Cup in 1955 followed the next year by the French Cup, in Geneva. The Voloira III, designed by Ray Hunt in 1964, concludes the series."

Each website is outstanding by the way.