2022 November December Marina World

SUPERYACHT FACILITIES
The big boat picture
in southern Italy
Southern Italy and the islands of Sardinia and Sicily have a charm and
culture all of their own and have long been favoured tourist destinations. But
translating this enthusiasm to nautical tourism has been less easy, especially
with regard to the largest yachts. Donatella Zucca explores marinas with
superyacht facilities.
There are around 780 ports and
landings scattered around the Italian
coastline offering 160,000 moorings.
Most are located in northern Italy and
on the Tyrrhenian Sea coast. Only 85
of the 780 can be classified as real
marinas, delivering a total of 44,000
full-service berths.
Although Italy is a world leader in the
production of large yachts and offers
high-level repair and refit, its marinas
lack moorings and infrastructure for
yachts of 45 to 100m+ (148 to 330ft+).
This is especially obvious in the south
where, if they exist, they are often
under utilised despite the fact that,
depending on the season, larger yachts
tend to head to the Mediterranean or
the Caribbean and Italy is in the heart
of the Med.
As in many places, there are
disappointing non-starters. Porto di
Licata in Sicily, for example, despite
being very beautiful, is used only
minimally, and by small boats, due to
an industrial development plan that
never took off. Another example is the
Porto Xifonia in Augusta has all the
credentials for becoming one of the finest
tourist ports in the Mediterranean.
New Port of Crotone in Calabria. With
its large water area and considerable
water depths, it could accommodate
vessels in excess of 200m (660ft) but
for various reasons it is little used.
The financial incentive for developing
superyacht berths is considerable. “On
average, each superyacht visit brings
around €11,000 per day to the area
and 100m [330ft] of dedicated quayside
can generate over €20 million per year,”
says Paolo Viola, head of marinas
IGY Marina di Portisco with 41
superyacht berths in its mix, is one of the
best marinas in Sardinia.
and waterfront for WIP Architects.
WIP Architects has thus devised a
project for the recovery of disused or
abandoned commercial ports, suitably
sized for large yachts and mostly aimed
at local authorities, sector operators
and administrations able to initiate
investment via the National Plan of
Recovery and Resilience (PNRR).
Infrastructure ripe for mooring yachts of
40 to 100m (131 to 330ft) can be found
in Gallipoli and Barletta, for example.
Regardless of ambitious project
ideas, the Italian south and its islands
show courage and vision – and some
definite highlights.
While Marina di Porto Cervo in Costa
Smeralda (Sardinia) with its 60 berths
for yachts up to 100m (330ft) sits at the
pinnacle as a match with St Tropez for
glamour, glitz and fame, other southern
marinas have made a notable mark.
Marina di Portisco, always one of the
best Sardinian marinas and now part
of the Island Global Yachting (IGY)
network, is a prime example. The
marina has 589 berths, including 41
for superyachts up to 90m (295ft). It
is one of few in the area able to host
such large vessels, thanks to its 10m
(33ft) water depth, and it has built on
this with wide-ranging dining and retail
offerings, repair and refit services etc. It
has three charging stations for electric
cars and marina vehicles, ecological
waste collection islands, and – new
for the season – the Mercedes-Benz
Luxury Hub with fully electric Mercedes
EQ cars.
Also in Costa Smeralda is the ecofriendly
Cala dei Sardi in the Gulf of
Cugnana (next to Marina di Cugnana
www.marinaworld.com – November/December 2022 25