Perini Navi is an Italian company, based in Viareggio, Tuscany, that produces some of the world's largest, most expensive and most beautiful sailing yachts. The company's founder, Fabio Perini, was born in Capannori, Tuscany. In 1966 he founded the Fabio Perini company in Lucca, Tuscany, designing and producing industrial machinery for the paper industry. Following the success of this company, he founded the Perini Navi shipbuilding company in 1980 in order to pursue his passion for sailing and sailing yachts.
The Perini Navi base in Viareggio
Fabio Perini used the same ingenuity he had applied to his paper machinery to develop a sail handling system that would enable large sailing yachts to be handled by a small number of crew. In addition to this, the stunning designs of the yachts together with the extremely high quality of construction has made the yachts very popular with the super-rich. The Perini Navi Group has expanded recently with the opening of a construction facility in Istanbul, Turkey, the aquisition of the Picchiotti yard in La Spezia, Liguria and a sales and charter operation in Rhode Island, in the USA. The Group's headquarters remain in Viareggio where the yachts are designed. The hulls are constructed in Turkey and the yachts then return to Viareggio to be finished off. Maintenance is carried out in La Spezia.
The yachts are typically around 60 metres in length with a ketch rig (two masts). The interiors are designed to a five-star standard with luxurious accommodation for the owners and their guests. There are currently 42 yachts afloat and around another 11 in construction. Perini Navi produces approximately 60% of the world's sailing yachts over 45 metres. The largest is the 'Maltese Falcon' at 88 metres, shown here with it's distinctive Schooner rig (three masts).
The masts of the Maltese Falcon - Photo: Gaetan Lee
In keeping with Fabio Perini's uncompromising attention to detail, all of the technical innovations are developed in-house, allowing the company to maintain its enviable reputation for excellence. The company even installs its own exclusive Perini Navi software to monitor each yacht's performance under sail. The information is then relayed back to Viareggio for analysis by the design and construction teams. With a purchase price of around $1 million per metre and a charter rate of around $250,000 per week, the astonishing beauty and superb technical achievement of these machines will only be appreciated by a few.
