Since 1996

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Architecture & Yacht

The Studio of the Architect Matteo Picchio is divided into two different sectors: Architecture and Yacht Design and for each sector different collaborators work with different preparations, skills and specificities. The work of Matteo Picchio, who personally follows all his projects both in one and the other sector is instead always that of turn your customers' dreams into reality, achieving both the goals they had set and requested, as well as things they didn't even imagine they needed.
The approach to the project is of an "Architectural" and "Craftsmanial" type. The project is "Architectural" as it is set up according to the artistic essence of theArchitecture as an art form which, compared to the others, has the additional fundamental component of "functionality".

Italian based Studio

A story about style & quality design

The project systematizes a multitude of variables from different disciplines, from stylistic – perceptive to technical – constructive and functional ones. The project it is also “handcrafted” in the sense that takes shape around the specificity of the Client; in some phases of the project Matteo works shoulder to shoulder with his client, to outline together the essence of the project and to set the style, compositional choices and organization of the works.
Once the project has been set up, Matteo becomes the sole interlocutor of his Client, interfacing between him and all the elements, professionals and technicians necessary to define the work and manage its construction respecting the choices made initially, the times and the costs established.
Interview on Superyacht
Interview on "Navigare alias Abitare" by Nikolaus Gottshe
Interview on TYD "The right boat"

Passion in DNA

From an article by Yacht Design
COGITO, ERGO YACHTING by Giuliana Fratnik

«Designing often means removing, eliminating everything that is not needed or that is not in line with that project», he explainsstill got PicchI. "A principle that is not always easy to make the client understand. Our work has changed a lot in the last decades. Knowing how to draw is no longer enough, now there are computers that do it for us and we have toFirst of all we have to do a grosso effort to understand what the customer's real desires are». 

His most famous projects are all linked to beautiful vintage boats. From the much celebrated tug Maria Teresa of 1962 to the Riva Caravelle C5 of 1967, designed by the homonymous shipyards of Sarnico and built in Holland by De Vries; up to the fascinating Sea Home, a shuttle designed and built by the Swede Hugo Shubert in 1919 and brought back to life after a long refitting work that also involved the elimination of many interventions made over the years and not in line with its original plans.

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About Matteo Picchio

Was founded by Matteo Picchio in Milan in 1996.
Matteo graduated in Architecture in the academic year 1993/94 at the Politecnico di Milano. At the same University he carried out teaching and research activities until 1999, both in the field of Living and in that of Nautical Design.
The STUDIO OF ARCHITECT MATTEO PICCHIO has developed since its origins in two different sectors: Architecture and Yacht Design; while Matteo's pencil continually moves from a house to a yacht, the Studio's collaborators are divided between those who deal with one sector and those who deal with the other. Given the complexity of the projects that are developed, the Studio's staff is also supported by the usual external collaborators, specialized in the various and specific disciplines.
Was founded by Matteo Picchio in Milan in 1996.
Matteo graduated in Architecture in the academic year 1993/94 at the Politecnico di Milano. At the same University he carried out teaching and research activities until 1999, both in the field of Living and in that of Nautical Design.
The STUDIO OF ARCHITECT MATTEO PICCHIO has developed since its origins in two different sectors: Architecture and Yacht Design; while Matteo's pencil continually moves from a house to a yacht, the Studio's collaborators are divided between those who deal with one sector and those who deal with the other. Given the complexity of the projects that are developed, the Studio's staff is also supported by the usual external collaborators, specialized in the various and specific disciplines.

from Superyacht

Matteo Picchio graduated in Architecture in the academic year 1993/94 at the Polytechnic of Milan. In 1996 he opened his studio in Milan. At the same University he carried out teaching and research activities until 1999, both in the field of living and in that of nautical design. The studio has developed since its inception in both sectors, residential architecture and yacht design. The activity in the field of yacht design originates from a personal passion of Matteo Picchio who, while still an architecture student, was involved in the outfitting of the “Raireva”, an ocean-going steel ketch with a canoe stern, designed in 1972 by Carlo Sciarrelli, his “Colin Archer”, of which he had only kept the hull. Matteo, in the reconstruction of his own boat, had not only dealt with the general refit project but also with the manual execution of most of the work. Picchio transformed his innate passion for inventing and building into the profession of architect where he identifies not only with the compositional choices, but also with the construction techniques and choice of materials as if he himself were directly carrying out the work. "When I was five years old I was already sailing on the 12' dinghy that my grandfather had given to my father - Matteo recalls - and together with the passion for actual sailing I grew a passion for 'doing' on board, from simple maintenance to personally working the materials. Luckily for me my father had several boats, some very
beautiful. Then, while I was still a student, I came across the Raireva, reading an ad in Nautica. A boat designed to sail around the world, which its owner started but never completed. My father and I bought it, emptied it completely, took it to Liguria and there I personally began the patient work of reconstruction. It was my first restoration job, which curiously I started not as a designer, but as a worker. I worked on it for two years, I graduated late, but I managed to learn the project and its construction at the same time. That's how my career as a yacht designer specializing in restoration began. For me, boats were born as a game and continue to be so. Residential architecture is what I consider a serious and demanding job and when I design, even a small house, I feel very satisfied. Yet today my profession is more oriented towards yachting than residential."

Is classic yachting an exclusive world?
Going from Genoa to Corsica, for example, with a boat, motor or sail, is a particular choice, a lifestyle, not rational. There are much better, faster, more comfortable and less expensive means. If you do it in a boat, 10 meters or 50, you are making a risky, cultural choice, a comparison with history and nature. Sailing is a game and you have to play by the rules of the game. Those who don't do it are wrong. Those who face the sea with the wrong means, are wrong. Yachting, understood in the English sense of the term, must be on a pedestal. I quote a joke written by Carlo Sciarrelli, in his famous book 'The Yacht': "The sailor asks the yachtsman, 'Sir, would you like to take the helm?' 'No thanks, I never take anything between meals.' Sailing on a yacht was a very aristocratic exercise. Now this quote is exaggerated, of course, but it reflects a bit of what the use of an extraordinary object like a yacht should be.
the restoration then…
It's like someone saying, "What's the point of buying an artist's original painting when I can buy a poster or a reproduction?" Or "What's the point of going to the opera to listen to 200-year-old music when I can listen to the latest trendy singer?"

Maybe that's true, but I think differently. I think that a topic like yachting should be approached as a cultural phenomenon, I would almost say noble.
Did that passionate beginning continue with personal activity on board?
I spent months of my life working on my father's boats and frequenting shipyards as a boy, and in particular that of Sangermani. Cesare Sangermani gave me so much, he taught me an unspeakable quantity of secrets. So for me boats have become a work of art, sailing or motor, new or old. They also cost less than other works. I am lucky enough to be able to put my pencil to works of art. I studied a lot, not at school, but
for my part, history of the navy, the great naval battles and I also had the fortune of crossing the Atlantic aboard the Amerigo Vespucci, where I learned and assimilated a lot of classical seamanship. When I approach a project I always do it with great respect.

There is the professional aspect, also economic, but above all the pleasure of participating in a journey that will then make a boat sail, do the customers understand this?
I am lucky. A boat can last an unlimited time. Once the necessary interventions are made to reinforce the structure and some systems are updated, a boat can continue to live for an incalculable time.

How important is a philological analysis of the project before undertaking a restoration?
Fundamental. First of all, knowing what the boat was when it was born. What materials were used. Today they are difficult to find, because the seasoned woods that were once available are now only dreams of. They simply do not exist anymore. There are therefore obvious complications in reconciling the boat with its originality. But with an adequate approach, you can arrive at coherent solutions. These boats, however, ultimately have to sail. Sailing boats participate in regattas, but they have to arrive on the field with their own means. So they have to be at least minimally updated, with measure. Est modus in rebus. And that is where the beauty lies. That is where the art lies. With cars it is easier. Philology is total. But the car arrives at the beauty contest on a trailer. The boat does not. On a 120-year-old boat you put a crew on board and it goes. On all the boats I have restored the owner sails, and a lot. Not only does he take part in vintage regattas, but he also goes on holiday with his children. It is a real use, not just for show.
It's a bit like a house, which even after 100, 200 years of life, continues to be inhabited and to carry out its function as a shell for man...
There are fewer boats, and they are more exposed to the elements and do not live in an easy environment.

First you mentioned the difficulty in finding original materials. And what about the workforce? Is there still someone capable and available?
In Italy more than anywhere else. You have to present yourself in the right way. It is easy to spend double in one shipyard than in another. The shipowner needs to rely on someone who knows how to carry out the right project and knows how to conduct adequate work management. But there are a lot of young guys, not just the old master shipwrights. All that is needed is for someone to tell them how the work should be done. If you tell them to do it well, they do it well. And while it is true that we no longer have certain materials, such as seasoned wood, on the other hand we have refined techniques that make up for the lack of materials. Once upon a time, for example, boats were not as shiny as they are now. And today we can afford extraordinary finishes.

Where are the best craftsmen located?
I am from Milan and I know the Ligurian and Tuscan coasts better. Then I travel to England and the United States and Turkey, where I built a 40-meter boat, in a shipyard where the masters can sculpt anything with an axe. In the Adriatic I had the opportunity to meet Carlini, one of the most profound connoisseurs of craftsmanship and history. But in all cases, I repeat, expert work management is needed. The restored boat had a moment of brilliance for over thirty years.

Is the trend continuing even in these difficult times?
Objects of historical value never go out of style. There is always an enthusiast who, having ample means and being able to afford a brand new yacht, prefers to look for a piece of history and lovingly restore it. And the real luxury is having a boat – like one I recently restored, 30 meters, with the space of a modern 15 meters – vintage, as a unique piece, the height of exclusivity. I am currently working on four restorations. If I had to look in my studio I would have to say that the trend is continuing.

Are these shipowners as philological as you in their restoration work?
Two are young owners who are restoring family boats, with the pleasure of continuing to make a boat that has been part of their history, but also that of previous generations, with the added pride of making that boat live even better, as a generational challenge.

Does the project require a specific performance or path, given that it starts from a pre-built boat?
I prefer to design houses, from a creativity point of view, because the sheet of paper is more “white”. With boats you are always on a track and with a vintage boat you have enormous constraints. The project is a compilation and not a creative one. It is not the best for a designer. More than you invent, more than you make mistakes. But the study and knowledge of what was, allows you to manage the project, the client and the construction site. We do not invent so much, but with humility follow a path already traced and delicately recompose the edges and the plot. You have to be a tool that gives the possibility to an ancient glory to continue to live

NAVIGATE aka LIVE

Interview with Matteo Picchio

by Nikolaus Gottsche

Architect Matteo Picchio is a “yacht's man” born on the twelve-foot dinghy purchased by his grandfather and raised on his father's wooden sailboats. His first real design experience came in the early 1990s with the “refitting” of the “Raireva”, his 14-meter ketch, designed by Carlo Sciarrelli in 1972. The activity continued with the restoration of vintage boats with an immaculate pedigree, and today Picchio's studio in Milan is active in the design of large pleasure boats and in residential architecture.

NG As an architect you design both houses and boats, do you ever connect the two design fields?
MP My studio employs architects, naval engineers and designers, but my pencil remains one. As a method I have deliberately chosen to mix the two design fields. I sometimes transfer the solutions found for houses to boats, and vice versa.
In the naval field we work both on the restoration of vintage boats and on the design of sailing and motor boats of the most modern conception. In the architectural field we realize projects of villas, interiors of apartments and restorations of historical buildings. We happened to design the house for the same clients of a yacht.

NG Can we say that before being a yacht designer, you are a thoroughbred sailor?
MP I have always been a sailor but when I think of “race” I think of regattas. For me, on the other hand, the boat is a field completely disconnected from the context of competition: a small world that can be managed on one’s own, where the laws that govern the society of competition are of little use.

NG You refitted the “Raireva” with a self-construction project that lasted twenty months. A long solo crossing that influenced your design method?
MP It was an absolutely fundamental experience. I faced that project when I was twenty and an architecture student. It helped me on a technical level, but above all psychologically: it was then that I learned to have the tenacity necessary to carry on a project.
At that time I had just read the novel “The Toilers of the Sea” by Victor Hugo, where the protagonist, in order to recover a vessel by himself, invents very complicated tools, such as large tackles clinging to the rocks, or a forge powered by the wind that channels itself between the rocks. With the same spirit I had started to rebuild my first boat.

NG How is a “right boat” born?
MP The “right boat” is the one made to measure. The “Raireva” is my right boat, it has a steel hull and a Norwegian stern that make it suitable for ocean crossings. After twenty years it is still my favorite “home”. I live there four days a week and I carry out part of my work there. It is normally moored in Genoa; I often receive customers in its small saloon to talk about their large boats. Very important projects have started from there.

NG You say that sailing means recalling the seafaring culture, in what sense?
MP The typology of the yacht itself offers a reference to the tradition of navigation. Pleasure boats are not just a form of entertainment or a way of tourism. If you decide to go to Corsica on a yacht instead of using a more practical means, you choose to accept an inconvenience to be rewarded by the charm of navigation.
It often happens that we retrace ancient trade routes, or cross stretches of sea where naval battles that determined modern history took place… sailing also means recalling the history of the navy. This is “sailing in a cultured manner”…

NG In a previous interview you said that your aim is to achieve a balanced “man-boat” combination, what do you mean?
MP It is important to feel in perfect harmony with your boat. It is a balance that expands to what surrounds us, to people and to the sea, and that gives a great feeling of freedom. This is why the role of the designer becomes fundamental to achieve the perfect balance between boat and owner. The designer represents that fundamental link between the dream and its realization. I would like to point out that the credit for my best projects must be shared with the respective owners.

NG You have designed a sloop of extraordinary dimensions, which is scheduled for launch in two years: is it a “right boat”?
MP The “sloop” is a forty-eight-meter mega-sailer for an Italian client, who collaborated in a very special way on the project. He wanted a boat to make long trips, and this sloop is designed to move quickly and safely like a real sailing ship. In the summer it will be in the Mediterranean waters, in the winter in the Caribbean Sea, and every now and then it will make excursions in the North Sea. We have refined its shapes to reach an essential and elongated line to increase its performance under sail. I really believe it will become the boat of his dreams.

NG Its lines are very slender and elegant like those of a large vintage sailing ship: is it a re-enactment of naval tradition?
MP I answer by making my own a quote from Renzo Piano: “a good project is born with one hand tied to the past and one stretched towards the future”. The design exercise of the sloop 48 was generated by the encounter between naval tradition and hypertechnology. The forty-eight meter long hull is made of light alloy, the mast, more than sixty meters high, is a single piece of carbon fiber.
The teak deck is “flush-deck”, that is, completely free. The deckhouse is small and square, intentionally non-aerodynamic for an explicit reference to the yachts of the past. The interior spaces are spacious and completely free thanks to structural elements in light alloy. We have used newly developed materials, still little used in recreational boating.
It will be a robust and very fast boat, made to sail comfortably in the seas of the whole world.

NG Today's large yachts often have a hyper-functional stern, the stern of this sloop instead maintains a clean and slender line: another tribute to tradition?
MP The reference is correct. The stern of our sloop is clean and sleek but we have also managed to satisfy the functional aspects. Its central part descends into the sea thanks to a hydraulic mechanism: a “beach” that allows the tender to exit and closes to restore the formal integrity of the hull. Respecting tradition does not mean depriving yourself of comfort.

NG Sir Thomas Lipton had a stone fireplace inside his “Shamrock IV”, one of the many J-class he used for the Hundred Guinea Cup races, now America’s Cup, which unfortunately he never won. You say that comfort is given by what is not essential, that is, by the presence of “useless” details. What are these details today?
MP I too would prefer to have a stone fireplace and not win the regatta. A large boat must be designed as an architectural space: a library, a professional kitchen, a “spa” or a wine cellar are some of the details that gratify our clients today. A good designer must be able to understand the wishes of his client, even when they remain unexpressed because they are considered excessive or unusual on a boat. Between the owner's suite and the bathroom relaxation area, for example, we used bulkheads that become transparent on command, to separate the two areas with a “shade” of light. The beds and furnishings almost never touch the floorboards but, to increase spatial perception, they float. In the bathrooms we also used stone, which is laid in slabs of just three millimetres coupled with a very light material of aeronautical origin in aluminium honeycomb.

NG The “square” is the heart of a boat. In this sloop it is both the helm station and the lounge: how to manage this versatility of use with the high level of comfort required?
MP The square of the sloop 48 is born from a compromise with the external lines, we thought it of contained proportions to maintain a slender hull, but inside it is very spacious (50m2) and rigorously essential. The windows of the deckhouse can be darkened to total opacity, thanks to a film of liquid crystals inserted in the glass layer.
The internal wheelhouse and instruments constitute a real naval bridge, but when the boat is at dock or at anchor they are hidden by panels to obtain a “domestic” configuration of the square. The only furniture presence are the sofas and the table, which seem barely supported.

NG What materials did you use in the interiors and with what precautions?
MP This is a boat where the material aspect is very important. We have privileged the tactile sensations and the perceptive warmth that a material transmits. The hull inside is finished with “exposed planking”. In reality it is an effect due to a counter planking that encloses the layer of insulating material and the technical systems inside.
Emphasizing the interior-exterior relationship, the teak of the deck is repeated in the internal floorboards, in white rubberized teak instead of black. The floors stop a few centimeters from the hull and a blade of light bathes the planking to emphasize the boat object even from the inside.

NG Among your refit projects is the “Tenace”, a tugboat saved from dismantling and transformed into a yacht. How is this boat reborn?
MP The “explorer vessels” are a new trend in the recreational field and are a symptom of a greater awareness of the historical naval heritage. The tugboat “Tenace” (now MariaTeresa, ed.) was built by the Cantieri Solimano of Savona and had worked in the port of Genoa; towards the end of its career it was purchased by a Monegasque company. My clients bought it at the price of iron shortly before it was laid up. We managed to save the planking and some period details such as the portholes. The deckhouse was modified for recreational use, while the engine, interiors and systems were completely redone. The work was carried out with great skill at the Cantieri Navali di Sestri in Genoa, which respected the pre-established budget. A detail not to be overlooked.

NG Can we talk about a recent boom in Italian yacht design?
MP Definitely. Italian yacht design has been a growing sector for some years, and it is competitive at an international level. There are many reasons, not least a certain “Italian genius”. In Italy today we can take advantage of cutting-edge shipyards, refined workforce and good designers, both architects and engineers. There is no shortage of foreign orders. It is a market that generates an important spin-off, and it would truly be a shame to waste it.

from TOP YACHT DESIGN

Matteo Picchio “The right boat is the one made to measure”

During his studies in architecture he completely restructured his boat. Today he designs indifferently both in residential architecture and in nautical. With a precise attention to the naval tradition even in the most innovative projects.
Architect Matteo Picchio is a “yachtsman” born on the twelve-foot dinghy purchased by his grandfather and raised on his father’s wooden sailboats. His first real design experience took place in the early 1990s with the “refitting” of the “Raireva”, his 14-meter ketch, designed by Carlo Sciarrelli in 1972. The activity continued with the restoration of vintage boats with an immaculate pedigree, and today Picchio’s studio in Milan is active in both the design of large pleasure boats and in residential architecture.

As an architect you design for both living and yachting, do you ever connect the two fields?

My studio employs architects, naval engineers and designers, but my pencil remains one. As a method I have deliberately chosen to mix the two design fields. I happen to transfer the solutions found for houses to boats, and vice versa.
In the naval field we work both on the restoration of vintage boats and on the design of sailing and motor boats of the most modern conception. In the architectural field we realize projects of villas, interiors of apartments and restorations of historical buildings. We happened to design the house for the same clients of a yacht.

Can we say that before being a yacht designer, you are a thoroughbred sailor?

I have always been a sailor but when I think of “race” I think of regattas. For me, the boat is a field completely disconnected from the context of competition: a small world that can be managed on one’s own, where the laws that govern the society of competition are of little use.

He refitted the “Raireva” with a self-construction project that lasted twenty months. A long solo crossing that influenced his design method?

It was an absolutely fundamental experience. I tackled that project when I was twenty and an architecture student. It helped me on a technical level, but above all psychologically: it was then that I learned to have the tenacity needed to carry out a project. At the time I had just read the novel “Toilers of the Sea” by Victor Hugo, where the protagonist, in order to recover a vessel by himself, invents very complicated tools, for example large winches clinging to the rocks, or a forge powered by the wind that channels itself between the rocks. With the same spirit I began to rebuild my first boat.


How is a “right boat” born?

The “right boat” is the one made to measure. The “Raireva” is my right boat, it has a steel hull and a Norwegian stern that make it suitable for ocean crossings. After twenty years it is still my favorite “home”. I live there four days a week and I carry out part of my work there. It is normally moored in Genoa, I often receive customers in its small square to talk about their large boats. Very important projects have started from there.


She says that sailing means recalling the seafaring culture, in what sense?

The typology of the yacht itself offers a reference to the tradition of navigation. Pleasure boats are not just a form of entertainment or a way of tourism... if you decide to go to Corsica on a yacht instead of using a more practical means, you choose to accept an inconvenience to be repaid by the charm of navigation.
It often happens that we retrace ancient trade routes, or cross stretches of sea where naval battles that determined modern history took place… sailing also means recalling the history of the navy. This is “sailing in a cultured manner”.

In a previous article you set yourself the goal of achieving a balanced “man-boat” combination. What do you mean?

It is important to feel in perfect harmony with your boat. It is a balance that expands to what surrounds us, to people and to the sea, and that gives a great feeling of freedom. This is why the role of the designer becomes fundamental to achieve the perfect balance between boat and owner. The designer represents that fundamental link in the chain that lies between the dream and its realization. I would like to point out that the credit for my best projects must be shared with the respective owners.

She has designed a sloop of extraordinary size, which is scheduled for launch in two years, is it a “right boat”?

The “sloop” is a forty-eight meter mega-sailer for an Italian client, who collaborated in a very special way on the project. He wanted a boat to make long trips, and this sloop is designed to move quickly and safely like a real sailing ship. In the summer it will be in the Mediterranean waters, in the winter in the Caribbean Sea, and every now and then it will make excursions in the North Sea. We have refined its shapes to reach an essential and elongated line to increase its performance under sail. I really believe it will become the boat of his dreams.

Its lines are very slender and elegant like those of a large vintage sailing ship, is it a re-enactment of naval tradition?

I answer by making my own a quote by Renzo Piano: “a good project is born with one hand tied to the past and one stretched towards the future”. The design exercise of the sloop 48 was generated by the encounter between naval tradition and hypertechnology. The forty-eight meter long hull is made of light alloy, the mast, more than sixty meters high, is in a single piece of carbon fiber. The teak deck is “flush-deck”, that is, completely free. The deckhouse is small and square, intentionally not aerodynamic for an explicit reference to the yachts of the past. The interior spaces are spacious and completely free thanks to structural elements in light alloy. We have used newly conceived materials, still little used in recreational boating. It will be a robust and very fast boat, made to navigate comfortably in the seas of the whole world.

Today's large yachts often have a hyper-functional stern, whereas the stern of this sloop maintains a clean and streamlined line, is this another homage to tradition?

The reference is correct. The stern of our sloop is clean and sleek but we have also managed to satisfy the functional aspects. Its central part descends into the sea thanks to a hydraulic mechanism: a “beach” that allows the tender to exit and closes to restore the formal integrity of the hull. Respecting tradition does not mean depriving yourself of comfort.
Sir Thomas Lipton had a stone fireplace inside his “Shamrock IV”, one of the many J-classes he used for the Hundred Guinea Cup regattas, now the America’s Cup, which unfortunately he never won. You say that comfort is given by what is not essential, that is, by the presence of “useless” details. What are these details today? I too would prefer to have a stone fireplace and not win the regatta. A large boat must be designed as an architectural space: a library, a professional kitchen, a “spa” or a wine cellar are some of the details that gratify our clients today. A good designer must be able to understand the wishes of his client, even when these remain unexpressed because they are considered excessive or unusual on a boat. Between the owner’s suite and the bathroom relaxation area, for example, we used bulkheads that become transparent on command, to separate the two areas with a “shade” of light. The beds and furnishings almost never touch the floorboards but, to increase the spatial perception, they float. In the bathrooms we used stone, which is laid in slabs of only three millimeters coupled with a very light material of aeronautical origin in aluminum honeycomb.
The “square” is the heart of a boat. In this sloop it is both the control panel and the lounge, how can this versatility of use be managed with the high level of comfort required? The square of the sloop 48 was born from a compromise with the external lines, we designed it with small proportions to maintain a slender hull, but inside it is very spacious (50m2) and rigorously essential. The deckhouse windows can be darkened to total opacity, thanks to a film of liquid crystals inserted in the glass layer. The internal wheelhouse and the instruments constitute a real naval bridge, but when the boat is at dock or at anchor they are hidden by panels to obtain a “domestic” configuration of the square. The only furniture are the sofas and the table, which seem to be barely placed.


What materials did you use in the interiors and with what precautions?

This is a boat where the material aspect is very important. We have privileged the tactile sensations and the perceptive warmth that a material transmits. The hull inside is finished with “exposed planking”. In reality it is an effect due to a counter planking that encloses the layer of insulating material and the technical systems inside. Emphasizing the internal-external relationship, the teak of the deck is repeated in the internal floorboards, in white rubberized teak instead of black. The floors stop a few centimeters from the hull and a blade of light bathes the planking to emphasize the boat object even from the inside.

Among your refit projects is the “Tenace”, a tugboat saved from dismantling and transformed into a yacht. How is this boat reborn?

“Explorer vessels” are a new trend in the recreational field and are a symptom of a greater awareness of the historical naval heritage. The tugboat “Tenace” was built by Cantieri Solimano in Savona and worked in the port of Genoa; towards the end of its career it was purchased by a Monegasque company. My clients bought it at the price of iron shortly before it was laid up. We managed to save the planking and some period details such as the portholes. The deckhouse was modified for recreational use, while the engine, interiors and systems were completely redone. The work was carried out with great skill at Cantieri Navali di Sestri in Genoa.

Can we talk about a recent boom in Italian yacht design?

Certainly. Italian yacht design has been a growing sector for some years, and is competitive at an international level. There are many reasons, not least a certain “Italian genius”. In Italy today we can take advantage of cutting-edge shipyards, refined workforce and good designers, both architects and engineers. There is no shortage of foreign orders. It is a market that generates important spin-offs, and it would truly be a shame to waste them.

Matteo Picchio

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