Overview
The company began by chartering sailboats. It later developed into a luxury yacht building industry. The first major work started with a contract at the shipyard of Amerglass, a Dutch shipyard producing boats in fiberglass. The company evolved again, adding the distribution of sailing boats, motorcruisers and finally motoryachts from different makers, including British Powles, Westerly, and others.
The company currently owns Benetti, another luxury ship building company.
History
Azimut Yachts started in 1969, when Paolo Vitelli founded Azimut Srl and started chartering sailboats.[3]
In 1970, the 'Amerglass' brand of yachts chose the company to distribute their boats in Italy.[4]
From 1979, Azimut expanded its activities: in addition to distribution, it began to design new yachts. As part of a joint venture with Amerglass, she designed the AZ 43' Bali, a mass-produced fiberglass boat.[5] The company expanded its range, focusing on the lower segment of the market with the launch of the AZ 32' Targa in 1977, the "Ford T" of the boating world. It also focused on the high end segment of the market with the launch of the Azimut 105' Failaka in 1982.[6]
In 1985, Azimut acquired Benetti - the brand based in Viareggio, which has been manufacturing boats since 1873.
From the late 1990s, the company acquired new shipyards in Fano,[7] restructured the Benetti shipyard in Viareggio and constructed a new shipyard in Avigliana, in the province of Turin.[8]
Ship building
The headquarters site houses is a 100,000 square meter facility of offices and the factory, which can build 300 boats (of up to 68 feet (21 m) LOA) per year. Larger yachts are ordered from other, larger shipyards in the world.
Charter
The company was established for boat chartering and continues to provide this service.[3]
