Benetti is an Italian

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befo ...

and

boat building Boat building is the design and construction of boats and their systems. This includes at a minimum a hull, with propulsion, mechanical, navigation, safety and other systems as a craft requires. Construction materials and methods Wood Wo ...

company based in

Viareggio Viareggio () is a city and ''comune'' in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 62,000, it is the second largest city within the province of Lucca, after Lucca. It is known as a seaside resort as ...

, Livorno, and

Fano Fano is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region of Italy. It is a beach resort southeast of Pesaro, located where the '' Via Flaminia'' reaches the Adriatic Sea. It is the third city in the region by po ...

, owned by Azimut. Benetti designs and constructs motoryachts, and is one of the leading builders of custom

superyacht A superyacht or megayacht is a large and luxurious pleasure vessel. There are no official or agreed upon definitions for such yachts, but these terms are regularly used to describe professionally crewed motor or sailing yachts, ranging from to ...

s, having won the ''Showboats International'' magazine "shipyard number 1" award six times in a row, the only yard to have done so.

History

Founded in 1873, when Lorenzo Benetti (1844–1914), bought the Darsena Luca shipyard to found the Benetti shipyard. The yard built commercial vessels, including fishing boats and Mediterranean trading ships. On his death in 1914, his sons Gino and Emilio took over, and renamed the yard Fratelli Benetti. They continued using wooden construction, but now built ocean-going ships, and some private yachts. After the death of Gino in 1927, his sons Giuseppe and Virgilio took over his share, while Maurizio and Bertani assisted their father Emilio.

World War II

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, the yard built medium-sized

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

vessels in steel, but due to highly effective bombing, the production was severely limited. After the war, and with restrictions on Italy on what she could produce militarily, the yard produced the first steel-hulled diesel powered vessel in the locality, the "Raphaelo". In 1954, Fratelli Benetti split its sailing and yacht business (Gino's family), from the commercial ship building business which continues under the name M&B Benetti (Emilio's family). Emilio has a holding in both companies, and chairs both companies. In 1963, Emilio died and the running of Fratelli Benetti was taken over by Gusieppe and his son Lorenzo. Lorenzo was the driver of the yacht business, moving instantly from wooden to steel construction, and designing three styles of yacht which brought the name Benetti to the world: the Delfino, the Tirreno and the Meditteraneo lines (from 18 to 33 metres). Demand for these vessels outstripped the capabilities of the yard. In 1978, the yard launched the "Viano", a sailing yacht which on corrected times won the Admirals Cup. In 1979, the yard launches "Nabila" for

Adnan Khashoggi Adnan Khashoggi ( ar, عدنان خاشقجي, ‘Adnān Khāshuqjī; 25 July 1935 – 6 June 2017) was a Saudi businessman and arms dealer known for his lavish business deals and lifestyle. He was estimated to have had a peak net worth of ...

, which at 83 metres and 2,465 tonnes was the largest yacht of its time.

Sale to Azimut

Lorenzo died in 1980 and the company fell into financial difficulties until 1984, when it was purchased by Paolo Vitelli, the owner of Azimut, who renamed it Benetti Shipyard. In 1988, Benetti built a ship to challenge for the transatlantic Blue Riband award but its efforts proved unsuccessful. The company is now part of the Azimut I Benetti group, also owner of Fraser Yachts.

Shipyards

Viareggio shipyard

is the historical shipyard, in 1990 Benetti took over the 47,000sq m Lusben yard to allow the construction of both the Azimut range up to 100 ft, and the composite Benetti range and in 1997 was vastly expanded to to allow indoor building of yachts up to 70 m. In 2003 was acquired the area of the SEC yard which went bankrupt in the previous years in order to expand the production.

Fano shipyard

The company purchased the Siar-Moschino yard in

in 1998, taking the total capacity to . The yard has a 60 m wharf in the port.

Livorno shipyard

Azimut-Benetti acquired the Cantiere navale fratelli Orlando in 2003 when the Livorno yard was in severe economic difficulties. The old shipyard has been partially demolished to make space for a residential and commercial area named ''Porta a Mare'' (Gate to sea), the part toward the entrance of the harbour was transformed with the construction of six huge sheds were to laid down the yachts. The Morosini slip was dismantled and was erected a Marina where to berth the yachts built. Benetti Livorno shipyard has a covered area of 30,000 sq m, a production area of 28,000 sq m, an open area of 130,000 sq m and a total area of 190,000 sq m.

Benetti models

''Benetti Tradition'' is model of traditional yachts built by Benetti Yard. With

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

hull sizes up to 99 feet, powered by the Caterpillar C18 the maximum

speed In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude Magnitude may refer to: Mathematics *Euclidean vector, a quantity defined by both its magnitude and its direction *Magnitude (ma ...

of Benetti Tradition 99 is 15 knots. ''Benetti Classic'' is a classical yacht, with a style very similar to those of Benetti Tradition but with a larger hull size. With

hull sizes up to 143feet, powered by the Caterpillar C30 with higher power of 1,650 hp (each), the maximum

of Benetti Classic is 16 knots. ''Benetti Vision'' is a more modern style yacht with large measurements up to 143 feet. The beauty of this

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

is in the whole atmosphere and nice shape and exterior. Benetti Vision has two main engines of Caterpillar 3508B, with maximum power of 1,300 hp (each). This gives the yacht a maximum speed of 15 knots. This is a slightly less than Benetti Classic series, but with lower fuel consumption. The yacht is very beautiful designed interior with equipment for watersports and fishing. ''Benetti FB'' is the last series. This is the manufacturer's first series of

luxury yacht A superyacht or megayacht is a large and luxurious pleasure vessel. There are no official or agreed upon definitions for such yachts, but these terms are regularly used to describe professionally crewed motor or sailing yachts, ranging from to ...

s. Some of the names of the yachts built by Benetti in the series FB are called Amnesia, I Dinasty, Wind, Alibella and many more. All of these yachts are from the highest level of luxury, comfort and expenses. In May 2010, Benetti yachts announced ''Benetti imagination'', which is first super yacht from Benetti's new 47 meter line. Imagination is designed by Stefano Natucci and Francois Zuretti. In 2011 the company delivered a "Benetti Vision 145"—their 16th. It had a specification of 390 tons fully loaded. In 2015, Benetti partnered with

Henrik Fisker Henrik Fisker (born 10 August 1963) is a Danish automotive designer and entrepreneur based in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for designing luxury cars including the BMW Z8, Aston Martin DB9, Aston Martin V8 Vantage, Fisker Karma, ...

to launch new series of 164 ft super yachts called

Benetti Fisker 50 The Benetti Fisker 50 is a superyacht concept designed by Henrik Fisker in California, to be built by Italian boat-building company Benetti in Livorno. Fisker and Benetti announced a partnership in 2015 to design and build a series of superyachts ...

Superyachts

Benetti built hundreds of yachts over the years. Below is a list of selected Benetti yachts:

Clients

Benetti have built super yachts for many customers, including: *''

Nabila Nabila, and its variant spellings Nabeela, Nabillah, a Nabeelah, is the feminine variation of the given name Nabil, meaning ''noble''. Notable people with the name include: * Masuma Rahman Nabila, Bangladeshi film actress and model * Nabila Eb ...

'' for

*'' Galkynyş'' for the government of

Turkmenistan Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...

, to be used as a Presidential yacht by

Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow Gurbanguly Mälikgulyýewiç Berdimuhamedow (born 29 June 1957), also known as Arkadag (Cyrillic: Аркадаг, "protector"), is a Turkmen politician who served as the second president of Turkmenistan from 2006 to 2022. A dentist by profe ...

*''Reverie'' for Kjell Inge Røkke *'' Lionheart'' for the

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

based British retail entrepreneur

Philip Green Sir Philip Nigel Ross Green (born 15 March 1952) is a British businessman who was the chairman of the retail company the Arcadia Group. He owned the high street clothing retailers Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge from 2002 to 2020. As of Ma ...

*”Illusion V” now owned by the Mata family and also available for charter.

References

External links

{{commons category, Benetti
Official homepage

BBC News Photo tour of the Benetti factory
Manufacturing companies established in 1873 Italian companies established in 1873 Companies based in Tuscany Companies based in le Marche Yacht building companies Shipbuilding companies of Italy Italian boat builders Italian brands Viareggio Livorno Fano