Perini Navi – Italian Excellence

Perini Navi Shipyard

Perini Navi is an Italian ship building company located in Viareggio, Italy. Entrepreneur, engineer and inventor Fabio Perini founded the company because of his deep interest in yachts and his passion for engineering and innovation. Perini Navi has utilised this passion through the years and has become one of the top superyacht design and construction companies in the world. As in 2016 the Perini Navi fleet features 61 yachts in total of which 58 are sailing yachts and three are motor yacht designs in various sizes and with various specifications.

Operations and Facilities

The Perini Navi yard mainly builds ketches and extensively uses Ron Holland for design work. The headquarters of the group of companies is situated at the company shipyard in Viareggio, Italy. This is where the yachts are designed and developed and where the Perini Navi yachts are built. The construction of hulls and superstructures of both motor and sailing yachts is done in the Perini Navi facilities in Istanbul, Turkey at a large waterfront yard in the industrial district of Tuzla. The majority of the outfitting work is done in Viareggio at headquarters. Maintenance and refitting is done nearby at the Beconcini shipyard in La Spezia where Perini Navi acquired the Picchiotti brand along with the shipyard in 2005. The Picchiotti facility has a shipyard of 32,000 m2, three sheds, two docks and two travelifts, one capable of weight of up to 820 tons. The Perini Navi branch in the United States is responsible for strategic services that include charter management and yacht brokerage services.

Notable Projects

Rising Sun

The largest project undertaken by Perini Navi to date was the Maltese Falcon, an 88m ship that was constructed repeatedly for Tom Perkins. Owners of other Perini Navi ships include Geroge Economou, Bertram R.C. Rickmers, Turgay Ciner, Rupert Murdoch, Massimo Moratti and Larry Ellison – a known celebrity yacht enthusiast who sold his superyacht Rising Sun to David Geffen but still owns the Katana, the Musashi and the Ronin.

History

Perini Navi was founded by Fabio Perini in 1983. Perini is known for being a pioneer in furling and automation systems in yachts. The company was originally started as a sailing yacht construction firm but has since expanded to include four other companies that were acquired through the years with the goal of expanding the company’s market offering to include both wind driven and motorised ships.

Design & Engineering

At Perini Navi strong focus is placed on design and engineering. The founder of the company Fabio Perini invented a ground-breaking sail handling system that has made sailing large yachts significantly easier than ever before. The invention involves an automatic reel system and a captive reel winch that allows steady and safe handling of the large sail areas of large yachts. He also introduced new aesthetic appeal and highly functional and architectural elements. By achieving all of this Perini singlehandedly changed the traditional construction methods of the contemporary sailing yacht. Because this innovative system has not only revolutionised technology, but also design, it is rightfully considered as a dual innovation.