Benetti
Yachts for sale & charter

Famous for its Italian style and award-winning superyachts, Benetti Yachts is both one of Europe’s oldest boat builders, and its most prolific. With a proud maritime heritage stretching back to 1873, Benetti turned to the leisure yacht market in the 1950s, and combined with its parent group, Azimut, the yard has maintained its dominance as the world’s largest superyacht builder since 1999.

Over the years, Benetti has launched some of the industry’s most celebrated yachts from its Livorno and Viareggio yards, and it remains one of the few family-owned superyacht builders in the world. Benetti Yachts currently produces custom and semi-custom superyachts in GRP or steel and aluminium from 37m to 100+m.

The Yachts That Make Benetti Great

The Benetti fleet has a rich celebrity history, with a lengthy roll call of iconic yachts. After a proud history of building commercial sailing and naval vessels, Benetti’s expansion into private yachts began in the 1950’s, but true success came when it swapped wood construction for steel in 1961, launching its semi-displacement Delfino range complete with a wood-panelled interior, roomy aft salon, and modern galley.

This groundbreaking design, which separated crew and guests for the first time, was the genesis of modern superyacht design, and rather astonishingly, was arrived at by one Euginio Manfredi, a designer who had never stepped foot on a boat. Manfredi had created a sensation, and Benetti yachts quickly became a status symbol, with the Tirenno, Mediterraneo, and Gabbiano series following the Delfino. In 1979, the staggeringly large custom 85m NABILA (later Trump Princess, now KINGDOM 5KR) was launched from the Benetti yard in 1979.

From the 1960’s to the early 1980’s, Benetti’s reputation flourished. Prince Rainier III and Grace Kelly were photographed aboard the Benetti GABBIANO in Monaco in 1963, Freddy Mercury wrote Kashoggi’s Ship after a particularly wild party aboard NABILA, and NABILA was also a film location for Sean Connery’s Bond in Never Say Never Again.

Yet despite Benetti’s extraordinary achievements and notoriety, NABILA would also spell the end of Benetti as it was, with a budget blowout and ironclad contract forcing Benetti into bankruptcy proceedings in 1984. Enter Azimut, a family-owned yacht builder who would take Benetti to new heights, notably the hugely popular semi-custom line 50m Golden Bay series, which launched in 1995 and consolidated the Benetti name across the yachting world.

Today, the Benetti brand continues to break new barriers. In 2020, Benetti launched three yachts over 100m in 100 days, the 107m LUMINOSITY, 107m LANA, and 108m IJE. Benetti currently builds custom yachts, as well as four ranges of semi-custom yachts, including the game-changing Oasis series with its open aft deck and plunge pool. Benetti is also at the forefront of environmental and hybrid propulsion advancements.

The Yard

‘Made in Italy’ is a core pillar of the Benetti brand, and the Benetti fleet continue to be built across Azimut-Benetti’s Livorno, Viareggio, and Faro yards, with additional refit capacity at Lusben in Livorno. 150 years after their inception, this proud Italian yacht builder continues to push the boundaries of yacht design.