where are azimut yachts built

Where Are Azimut Yachts Made?

AzimutBenetti Group, founded in 1969, is a leading Italian yacht manufacturing company based in Viareggio, Italy. The company began as a sailing-boat charter company and later evolved into a luxury yacht building industry. The first major work started with a contract at the shipyard of Amerglass, a Dutch shipyard producing fiberglass boats. The company expanded its offerings by adding the distribution of sailing boats, motorcruisers, and designing proprietary yachts. The first creation to be launched was the innovative fiberglass fiberglass.

Azimut Yachts retains its position as the world’s leading manufacturer of yachts over 24 meters, securing its top spot in the Global Order Book edited by Boat. The company has been dedicated to innovation and style since 1969, with Paolo Vitelli taking the first steps to the shipyard in 1969. Azimut has reached a significant turning point in its decades-long goal to become an eco-friendly innovator.

Azimut Yachts has been in China since 2008, and through its representative office, it has developed a sales network with five dealers in the most important cities on the island. As a result, an increasing number of top yachting brands turn to the company to distribute their boats in Italy.

Azimut Yachts is dedicated to promoting Made in Italy around the world, with boat owners choosing luxury, hi-tech yachts built at cutting-edge boatyards where the group’s investments in research culminate. The Lusben yard at Livorno has the largest service center for megayachts in Europe, featuring a 2,500 ton ship-lift and a floating dock.

📹 Azimut Benetti luxury yacht making

Sylvie Barak in Italy reporting on how luxury yachts are made.

Italians are well accustomed to creating luxury products for world markets, from fashion to fast cars and, of course food. It should …

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Debbie Green

I am a school teacher who was bitten by the travel bug many decades ago. My husband Billy has come along for the ride and now shares my dream to travel the world with our three children.The kids Pollyanna, 13, Cooper, 12 and Tommy 9 are in love with plane trips (thank goodness) and discovering new places, experiences and of course Disneyland.

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A family business

"Since I founded the company over 50 years ago, I have always sought to create value, first for clients, second for the company and third and last, for shareholders.

This unique situation in the nautical sector means that we can invest every day in innovation and technology, we can develop new models and further refine the services we offer our clients"

Paolo Vitelli

The first steps towards success In 1970 some prestigious yachting brands appointed the company to distribute their boats in Italy. Azimut quickly expanded its operations: Apart from distribution, it began to design new yachts. In a joint venture with Amerglass, it designed the AZ 43’ Bali, a mass-produced fibreglass boat, which was an immediate success. The company gradually expanded its range, focussing on the lower end of the market - with the launch of the AZ 32’ Targa in 1977, the “Ford T” of the boat world - and upper end too - (with the memorable début of the Azimut 105’ Failaka in 1982, the biggest mass-produced yacht in fibreglass at the time).

New production sites and international recognition From the late nineties onwards, with the acquisition of new boatyards at Fano, the restructuring of the Benetti boatyards at Viareggio and the construction of a new site at Avigliana, in the province of Turin, Azimut went on to become the foremost builder of yachts and megayachts. This leadership position was confirmed in subsequent seasons, thanks to numerous business successes and an investment policy which has consolidated Azimut's technological and production capacities over the years, with sites now established in Brazil.

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Azimut Reviews

Azimut Yachts is one of the foremost Italian boatbuilders, based at a state-of-the-art 100,000 square metre facility in Avigliana, less than 20 miles west of Turin, which can produce up to 300 boats per year and has built more than 10,000 hulls to date.

Founded in Italy in 1969 by Paolo Vitelli, originally as a charter company for sailboats, Azimut Yachts quickly expanded in the 1970s with the launch of its first fibreglass boat design, the AZ 43 Bali, which was built as part of a joint venture with Dutch yard Ameriglass. This was followed up in 1977 by the AZ 32 Targa, which Azimut describes as ‘the Ford Model T of the boat world’.

The next decade saw the company launch the world’s largest mass-produced fiberglass yacht, the 30 metre Azimut 105 Failaka in 1982. Built for a Kuwaiti prince, this yacht also made waves on the other side of the Atlantic and paved the way for Azimut to break into the lucrative US market with its first appearance at the Miami Yacht Show.

A major milestone came in 1985, when Azimut acquired the historic Benetti shipyard and created the Azimut-Benetti Group, which went on to take the title of the world’s largest superyacht builder in the early 21 st century. This came on the back of significant expansion in the 1990s, with new sites in Fano and Avigliana, as well as the restructuring of Benetti’s Viareggio headquarters. New models to splash in the 1990s included the AZ54, with its distinctive eye-shaped side windows – a motif that endured for more than a decade after its launch. More recently, the Gobbi yard was acquired in 2001 and its Atlantis sister brand was merged into the core Azimut portfolio in 2013.

Design and innovation

Azimut has pioneered several key yachting trends over the years, such as large frameless windows, electric seats and walnut wood interiors. As well as using the latest manufacturing techniques to ensure high-quality results, Azimut also prides itself on incorporating the finest hand craftsmanship in its interior detailing, to ensure that exclusive ‘Made in Italy’ feel.

Over the years, the yard has worked with several designers from all across the world, from the British naval architect Michael Peters to the Dutch supremo Cor D Rover, but the classic Azimut combination sees sporty Stefano Righini exterior lines offset by a sumptuous Carlo Galeazzi interior design. The company’s slogan ‘Fino all’ultimo dettaglio’ means ‘To the last detail’, while its yachts aim to evoke the timeless Italian tradition of living La Dolce Vita.

The Azimut range

The current Azimut collection includes the entry-level Verve dayboats, the semi-planing Magellano trawler models (launched in 2008) and the signature flybridge range, all the way up to the Grande superyacht line. The Azimut Yachts flagship, the Grande 35, measures in at an imposing 35 metres and is notable for its extensive use of structural carbon fibre as well as a displacement to planing hull with a wave-piercing bow for added efficiency.

Environmental efforts

Keen to minimise its yachts’ impact on the delicate marine ecosystem, Azimut has pioneered a wide range of environmental initiatives. These include research into eco-friendly paints and resins, hybrid propulsion systems and even the possibility of harnessing nanotechnologies for antifouling.

Worldwide network

Today, Azimut has a truly global presence, with 138 sites in more than 60 countries around the world, including Japan, Canada and Saudia Arabia. Paolo Vitelli remains on the board of Azimut, where he is joined by his daughter, Giovanna. You can read all the latest Azimut Yachts news, reviews and features on MBY.com

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How Azimut Became the World Leader in Motoryachts

Article courtesy of asia pacific boating.

By Nick Walton

Today, Azimut is a byword for maritime luxury, but it’s been a long road for the brand first established in the 1960s

Not every university student has the ability – and the means – to seize an opportunity and turn it into one of the world’s premier yachting companies, but that’s precisely what Paolo Vitelli did with Azimut. In 1969, he established the company as a charter operation – all at the age of 20 and before graduating from university – and, over the years, executed a series of strategic moves that has seen the brand become a byword for stunning yachts at the forefront of innovation.

A passionate sailor in his youth , Vitelli (above) had long dreamed of establishing a yacht company in his hometown of Avigliana, near Turin. In the late 1960s, after selling a successful nightclub he’d owned with friends, Vitelli had the capital to start Azimut – though, within three months, he realized that brokerage would be more lucrative. 

Vitelli established relationships with some of Europe’s most prestigious builders so that Azimut could begin importing their boats and selling them in Italy. At the Genoa Boat Show, he convinced the Dutch shipyard Amerglass to give Azimut their Italian sales concession. Soon, he was representing other renowned shipyards, including Powless, Camper & Nicholsons and Westerly.

Boatbuilding Success

Not content with charters and brokerage , Vitelli decided to go into boatbuilding, and in 1975, Azimut released its first proprietary yacht. Built-in partnership with Amerglass – a shipyard known for its technical advancements – the sleek AZ 43’ Bali won widespread acclaim. One of the biggest boats to be mass-produced in fiberglass, it featured a pair of 300-horsepower Volvo Penta engines, luxurious cabins and a well-appointed salon. Azimut quickly began producing sought-after yachts.

In 1977, the company released the AZ32 Targa (above) , a boat nicknamed the “Ford T” of yachting, which featured a raised wheelhouse and opening sunroof that attracted a new market of yacht owners. But it was the release of the Falaika 105, a spacious 30-meter yacht, in 1982 that really impressed. At the time, this was the largest fiberglass yacht in history and was built in just 100 days. 

It was created for Kuwaiti Sheikh Al Salem Al Sabali, but Greek businesswoman and socialite Christina Onassis ordered her own version to celebrate her daughter’s baptism. It was the appearance of the Failaka 105 at the 1982 Miami Boat Show that led to Azimut becoming the Italian concessionaire for Winthrop Rockefeller’s Allied Marine.

Luxury Yachts

But Vitelli was still driven to realize his dream of producing luxury yachts in Italy, and in 1985, he got his chance. Benetti, a legendary shipyard in Viareggio, produced in-demand boats popular with the international jet set and royalty, including Prince Rainier III of Monaco, David Bowie and The Beatles. 

In 1980, Benetti delivered its most ambitious project yet, the Nabila, a luxurious 86-meter superyacht commissioned by Saudi businessman Adnan Khashoggi that appeared in the 1983 James Bond film Never Say Never Again and was immortalized in the song Khashoggi’s Boat by British band Queen. But building the Nabila nearly bankrupted Benetti, and in 1985, Vitelli acquired the shipyard and with it, the ability to build Azimut yachts in Italy.

In the following years , the company set new benchmarks for technical and design innovations in yachting. Leading the charge was a talented young designer, Stefano Righini, who created new features which are standard on today’s yachts, including leakproof frameless windows, covered flying bridges, tender garages and hulls that sit above the waterline. Over the following decades, the company built a reputation for excellence as the Azimut Benetti Group.

More recently, Azimut expanded its capacity by acquiring more shipyards, including Gobbi, in Piacenza, which paved the way for the Atlantis series of open boats; Fraser Yachts in 2004; and Brazil’s Intermarine, with its 20,000-sqm production facility, in 2009. All of this paved the way for Azimut to create its lineup of technologically driven superyachts infused with sumptuous Italian elegance.

Continuing its tradition of innovation , Azimut has produced three Atlantis models that blend sportiness and adventure, and the award-winning Magellano series of long-range boats characterized by spacious lounges, huge windows and extensive storage. Sustainability is the focus for the future, with Azimut implementing innovative solutions to reach its goal of reducing its environmental impact, including hybrid propulsion motors that reduce noise levels to nearly zero and environmentally compatible materials.

Now, with nine shipyards across the world , Azimut isn’t just producing design-forward yachts on the cutting-edge of technology, they’re also the leading manufacturer of yachts over 24 meters, with 168 projects developed in 2023, and kicked off 2024 with the release of its new Seadeck series, the first model of which, the groundbreaking Seadeck 6, has already been officially launched.