A jewel in the nautical industry’s crown, Baglietto is one of Italy’s oldest and most prestigious luxury yacht builders. It was founded in 1854 in Varazze, Liguria, by Pietro Baglietto, who began his career at the age of only 13, building lifeboats in the garden of the family home.
This year marks the Ligurian yard’s 170th anniversary, celebrating a story that forms an important part of the nation’s heritage, spanning the Italian Unification, two world wars, the monarchy and the republic. The yard has lived through economic boom times and weathered arduous crises, changing hands several times. It even halted production for two years before being bought out by the Gavio family. Despite the periods of adversity, the company has always retained its status as a benchmark for yacht-building industry in Italy and abroad.
Since its foundation the seagull brand has been known for producing elegant, high-performance craft, magnificent creations that have attracted the attention of monarchs, aristocrats, entrepreneurs, financiers, artists and cultural figures – the Spanish king Alfonso XIII, Guglielmo Marconi, Giacomo Puccini and Gabriele D’Annunzio all owned a Baglietto yacht. Even Pope Leo XIII received one as a gift on the occasion of the jubilee of his ascendancy to the papal throne.
The story has been shaped by demanding clients, fascinated by yachts displaying refined design and high-end performance in both motor yacht competition and sail yacht racing. Great sail yachts like Caroly, Bona and La Spina still shine on the sea.
The passion surrounding the Baglietto brand can be attributed to its ability to adapt to market developments, offering a constant stream of innovative, high-quality solutions. In the 1930s, for example, the Italian Navy expressed interest in the 16-metre MAS 431, which then became the forerunner for the MAS class of torpedo-armed vessels that fought in the Second World War. This collaboration with the military enabled Baglietto to build up an even greater store of unique skills that the yard then transferred to pleasure craft building. In the 1950s the first real megayacht was a Baglietto – the 22-metre Maiorca, part of the Isola line. Its hull derived from the naval design of the MAS boats, like all Baglietto products of the 1950s and 60s. The second example of this model was built for the Aga Khan, and the first was owned by businessman Attilio Monti. It was also in the 1950s that the yard first began series production, revolutionising the yacht concept.
The creation of a true “Baglietto Style” is also a determining factor in the yard’s success, drawing inspiration from many areas, including the automotove industry. Big names in nautical design helped develop the aesthetic canons and style cues that have shaped the brand’s designs, evolving to define the new trends in yachting. People like Paolo Caliari, who began working with the brand in 1962 on an ambitious project, the GA 30 for Gianni Agnelli, introducing a less naval style and placed more emphasis on interior design, also taking advantage of prefabrication as a construction method, or Alcide Sculati, the exceptionally-gifted creator of performance hulls (his 26-metre Chato, 60 knots, is still the fastest yacht in the Mediterranean), Alberto Mercati, who designed the 35.63-metre Adler of 1987, the first real Italian superyacht and Aldo Chichero, who introduced unusual compositional elements and stylistic solutions on Maffy Blue, revolutionising the fast 33-metre yacht concept. Another designer who made a crucial contribution is Francesco Paszkowski, who began his career with Baglietto in 1992 with a 29-metre yacht destined to become the world’s largest open. The renowned designer continues to create some of the yard’s most successful lines, shaping a great deal of the Baglietto story over the past 30 years. One example is the T52, which demonstrates the brand’s new direction alongside the DOM line by Stefano Vafiadis, expressing the yard’s new Blue vision. Both show that after 170 years of operations Baglietto retains its innovative spirit and tradition of excellence, exploring new frontiers and new opportunities, enabling the splendid yachts of the future to benefit from deep roots in the present. Always more beautiful, always more intensely technical. Unrepeatable creations that inspire unique emotions in their owners.
“Leading a shipyard also means embodying and handing on ancestral values that also include respect towards the clients who come to you to make their dream come true”.
military successes (to side, launching an MAS),
has been a part of Italian history for 170 years. Right, the 19m Maiorca, part of the successful Isole series
“Weare what we do. And what we do speaks of us, our passions, our traditions and who we really are!” Diego Michele Deprati, CEO of Baglietto, wears his heart on his sleeve when he talks about the yard he has led with success since 2020 after beginning his career there in 2012. Over the course of its history Baglietto has always been a pioneer and innovator. “In every period it’s been able to offer new ideas and create new trends. Not always in the right direction, but always facing obstacles with heart and determination. Baglietto has had the good fortune to be well-loved, because since the time when the Baglietto family was at the helm it’s always been driven by passion. When Beniamino Gavio acquired the yard in 2012 it wasn’t a random act – he bought a historic Italian brand that he wanted to rescue. I think that before being an entrepreneur, Gavio was a patron”. Michele Deprati feels the heavy responsibility of providing continuity into the future. “Leading also means handing on, reflecting values that go beyond the yacht business and simple questions of image. These values include respect towards clients who come to you and seek to realise their dream”.
The yard’s main objective is to build yachts that embody their owner’s greatest desires with the highest standards of quality and style and innovation, something that has always been a feature of Baglietto craft, yachts with a unique, contemporary design, always maintaining an artisanal approach where tradition combines with innovation, and materials
excellence enables extensive personalisation.
“It’s probably down to the history of the Baglietto family and the successive owners – all Italian - who have all created a family atmosphere”, says Guido Penco, head of technical development, and who has been with the company for over 40 years. “This also involves the workforce, who have always taken for granted that working for Baglietto means working in a family. I noticed it even when I was a youngster, back in the 1960s, when I used to accompany my father to work. At the time the yard was working on several large sailing yachts”.
But the driving force behind the yard has always been a long-term vision, an ability to anticipate trends and demand and to look beyond. “You need a global vision of the market and understand its trends”, says Deprati.
The company now includes the La Spezia (top, right) and Carrara yards, with 22 craft from 35m to 60m in length under construction. Above, a render of the T60, a new version in the successful T line, and top, the latest fast full-custom, Francesca II. Centre, Fabio Ermetto, Baglietto CCO. Below, the MY Chato, built for baron Von Neumann, reached a top speed of 60 knots. Right, the interior of a 16.50 metre yacht of the time.
“Our competitive advantage in recent years is based on high levels of personalisation in interiors and exteriors, paying great attention to our clients’ wishes”
“For example, in the context of sustainability we now talk about hydrogen, ammonia and methanol as alternative sources of power. We’re in the game, too – we’ve chosen hydrogen. Although it’s hard to identify what the real technology of the future will be, I think that, as Jules Verne once said, water will provide an inexhaustible source of energy. In June, in fact, we launched the first station in the Bzero project”.
The project reflects Baglietto’s vision and its commitment to a yachtbuilding industry with greater ecological awareness and a sustainable, net-zero future. The ability to look ahead is part of the Baglietto DNA.
“It’s a moral duty towards future generations as well as an ethical
Above, the Bzero project involves the use of green hydrogen an an energy source. The first protoype of the system will be installed on Baglietto yachts over 50 metres in length. To side, Guido Penco, head of technical development. Below, past and future - right, the 35.63-metre Adler of 1987, left, the X50 offers a new sailing experience
obligation. The yard is also looking at a new generation of motor yachts like the X50, not as fast but more visionary, providing a new experience and an unprecedented way of looking at sailing. “Baglietto has always shown great flexibility and the ability to take on new projects”, says Penco. “Think about when the yard began building modern displacement yachts in 1998. It’s never abandoned the fast yacht sector, which it’s still involved in with new or improved hull and propulsion solutions. But I think that the future of yachts is closely linked to environmental issues. In 2017 CCN built a 48-metre yacht (Vanadis) that focussed on efficiency and fuel savings. It had two propulsion systems with a small diesel engine that can enhance manoeuvrability, especially at low speeds, enabling significant reductions in consumption”, says Penco.
Far-sightedness and understanding what owners want have always been qualities that distinguish the way Baglietto does business. “These days, on the basis of the experience of the past ten years, Baglietto has carved out a niche in the semi-custom market, series production on defined naval
“Baglietto
has always demonstrated great flexibility and an ability to take on new projects. It’s clear that future of yachts lies in awareness of environmental issues”
platforms but with a high level of customisation”, says Fabio Ermetto, the yard’s Chief Commercial Officer. “A type of personalisation that involves not only the interiors, where it is total, but also for some elements of the exteriors, motorisation and so on. We have built our competitive advantage on this over recent years. We now have a very varied clientele, in age and background, and a client-focussed approach is part of our business model”. The bespoke yachts are also made possible by an in-house style centre that not only supports the yacht designers involved in a project but also develops interior projects on its own account. “I think owners choose Baglietto because its style reflects Italian style. Our interior designs are never too extreme – they have an enduring, sober elegance”, says Francesca Attuoni, who has been with Baglietto since 2008 and coordinates the yard’s interior design team. “We develop the project according to the owner’s wishes from start to finish, or we work in synergy with the project’s designer and develop the interior design together. Supporting an external designer means we can learn new approaches to design, but our work also involves making
The philosophy behind the DOM line, to side, seen from above and right, the owner’s cabin, means offering the warmth and comfort of a “home away from home”.
Above, Francesca Attuoni, coordinator of the shipyard’s interior design team. Right, Raffaella Daino, Head of Communications & Marketing.
Below, the T52 and its living area, a highly successful model with nine examples sold so far
“We
develop the project according to the clients’ wishes. Everyone cooperates in a harmonious atmosphere. Owners choose Baglietto because it represents Italian style”
sure everything is carried out to the highest possible standard. Everyone cooperates in a harmonious atmosphere – we’re a big family”. Francesco Paszkowski also talks about family, saying, “When you interact with a yard you become part of its story, a story that’s also about human relationships. It’s something I’ve felt very strongly in my work with Baglietto. I grew here, taking in stylistic cues details from the great designers who have contributed to the yard’s history. I’ve never been one to impose my own style, I’ve always tried to become part of the Baglietto team, seeking the clean, elegant lines that make these yachts so recognisable”, says the designer. “I’ve assimilated ideas from those who came before me and the people I work with, like the famous shark’s gills developed together with Giampiero Moretti, the owner
“We’ve sought to highlight the brand’s values. Like the Blueness, the Baglietto Blue: not just a colour, but an expression of the principles we’ve always remained true to and that have guided us since the very beginning”
of MOMO and formerly with Baglietto, clean lines from Alberto Mercati and dynamic lines from the engineer Sculati. I’ve included elements of car design to create the grit and drive that defines a Baglietto yacht. I tried to give something of myself and the best of myself, and I think I’ve helped instil that desire for constant improvement, to challenge the future and know how to change”. One demonstration of this is the success of the T52 and the market’s reaction to it – nine sales on paper even before seeing the first example. “What I wish for the company is that they can communicate the essence of Baglietto”, Paszkowski says, “Which means a combination of sincerity, human relationships, humility, style and respect for the client. And to instil this in young designers”.
