Benetti / Azimut Introduction

From this background, certain families came to the fore as owners of ships and shipyards. Among these are the names that still hold a strong resonance today. - Benetti, Picchiotti, Tomei, Garre, Raffaelli, Celli, and Codecasa, to mention only a few.

The Benetti story is a dramatic one, a story in which the fortunes of a family and of a shipbuilding tradition are closely entwined. Lorenzo Benetti, a shipyard worker turned yard owner, founded the yard bearing his name in 1873. The yard turned from the construction of commercial vessels to the building of motoryachts in the middle years of this century with a success that made the Benetti name a legend throughout the world.

In the early 1980's the management of the Benetti family needed restructuring, by 1985, a new player appeared upon the scene, Azimut SpA, the Turin-based yacht building company which took over the yard's management and control. This change brought a rebirth to the yard's fame and fortune.

Azimut's experience lay in the design, production and marketing of fiberglass motor yachts from 10 to 38 meters. The company's forte lay in the sophistication of its management and planning techniques, the accuracy of its cost and time control mechanisms, and its sensitivity of the demands of the international marketplace.

The Azimut - Benetti group now produce pleasure craft in GRP up to 30 meters and in steel and aluminum up to 70 meters. For the Benetti yard, the marriage of the modern, technologically oriented men of the north with the proud artigianal tradition of the Tuscan shipwrights has produced a happy synthesis whose fruits now challenge the finest yachts produced anywhere in the world.