Yachting, there is the Gavio-Vitelli Axis

Genoa - A possible alliance, if it can be called that. Between Beniamino Gavio and Paolo Vitelli. What is the goal? To create a new association for the industry; not only an alternative to UCINA, the association that represents the sport yachting industry on a national level, but an association that brings together all the most important yachting brands in Europe. The first contacts between the entrepreneur from Alessandria and the family that owns Azimut/Benetti took place at the Salon in Cannes. There are signs that they have now gotten closer, which could lead to a much more specific design for the association in the next few months. And on the other hand, it was inevitable that something would happen after the summer break. Gavio, who controls a financial empire and also operates in the yachting sector with Cerri and Baglietto, left UCINA last May after some controversy, only a few days before the association’s new president was to be elected. Paolo Vitelli, who now sits in Parliament and in the past had even served as UCINA’s helmsman, has always considered creating an association that could embrace all the most important European yachting companies, going far beyond Italy’s borders.

The Azimut/Benetti giant has never left UCINA, but after the election of the association’s new president, Massimo Perotti, Vitelli wrote a very harsh letter - the story was broken by Il Secolo XIX/The MediThelegraph - addressed to the chief of the Sanlorenzo shipyards and the association’s entire board of directors. And then Giovanna Vitelli, who represents the family business within Confindustria, during the Santa Margherita Ligure conference, was the only person out of those who voted, to abstain from directly voting for Perotti, who received unanimous support from all the other companies. The possibility that Azimut/Benetti could leave UCINA seemed to fade after the publication of a document by the association that emphasized the “compactness and full support of the president’s program,” and this also included the signature of Giovanna Vitelli.

But the association stumbled a few days later, when the Avigliana company announced its decision not to participate in the next edition of the Genoa Boat Show. And in particular, the Gavio-Vitelli proposal, which is now only in its initial stages, calls for the involvement of a broad range of European companies. Like, for example, the English company Sunseeker, a historic brand that was recently acquired by China’s Dalian Wanda Group. And then there are the French shipyards, whose support is essential for an association of this type: in this case the name that is being circulated the most is that of the Bénéteau Group, which is also involved in other business besides the yachting sector. Basically it’s a list of the names that best represent the history of European yachting. In the meantime, negotiations will certainly continue, starting at the upcoming Monaco Yacht Show.