Gruppo Antonini have raised their profile in the yacht industry by creating a new brand: Antonini Navi. This ambitious real-world project springs from an idea by Aldo Manna and has the full support of the Antonini family, with a planned investment worth over 10 million euros.
The new Antonini Navi brand
The new brand rests on three pillars: an enviable heritage of technical and commercial knowhow in the world of superyachts, the entrepreneurial flair of the Antonini family and the strategic location of the Cantiere Navale Marina di Pertusola shipyard in Muggiano on the Gulf of La Spezia, which is one of the world’s best-known yachting hubs. The shipyard will also be able to count on a team of top industry experts, all of them based in La Spezia.
The Antonini Navi brand will bring together the range of high-end marine services offered by Gruppo Antonini in order to provide the market with an all-round offering, from the construction of custom yachts (up to 70 meters in length) to services including refitting, after-sales and superyacht berthing, as well as continuing to build for third parties, as has been the case for years.
The ambitious project will also embrace the creation of a line of yachts from 30 to 50 metres in length, designed by award-winning La Spezia architect and designer Fulvio De Simoni and named Crossover to signal its innovative nature and cross-market appeal.
The birth of the company
The new Antonini Navi brand has grown out of an insight from Aldo Manna, who was the first to realise the unexpressed potential of the Marina di Pertusola site and the entrepreneurial strength of the solid and well-structured Gruppo Antonini, which was founded just after the last war and is still run by the Antonini family (brothers Massimo, Lorenzo and Simone Antonini).
Gruppo Antonini S.p.A has been operating in the Oil & Gas sector since the second half of the 1940s, earning a reputation for its knowhow and capabilities in the global implementation of Offshore and Onshore projects, as a provider of engineering, procurement, production, testing and commissioning services for large oil platforms. The company now boasts three production sites located in different areas: the Olmec Unit, the Oma Unit and the Muggiano Shipyard.
After specialising and expanding over the years, the group is now making its debut in the world of yachting alongside the other big names in the sector. Its technical knowhow and expertise in the fields of engineering, design, construction, assembly and maintenance, which few other marine operators can rival, represent the ideal platform to support the launch of a project like this.
A dream that come true
“Antonini Navi is a dream that has always been dear to our family,” explains Simone Antonini, Partner and Chief Executive Officer at Antonini Navi. “In the 1980s, our grandfather Walter, who founded the business, recognised the enormous potential of the Pertusola site as a hub for yachting and related services. That is why we were so enthusiastic about Aldo’s proposal to set up Antonini Navi together.
As well as being a great friend of mine since we were children, Aldo is someone who fully embodies the values of our business: family, hard work and determination. Aldo is also a formidable professional in superyacht construction and marketing and the right man to complete our team, with his constant focus on achieving new objectives.
Our family are firm believers in this project, which is why we’ve decided to invest 10 million euros to convert the entire La Spezia shipyard area and make a bold entrance into a sector where we already had a presence through refitting operations and contract production. We will never stop looking further into the future.”
High professionalism and personal esteem
“I’m honoured to be an integral and active part of the new brand,” continues Antonini Navi creator and partner Aldo Manna. “This is a great project with solid foundations: the Antonini family still runs the industrial group that bears its name as a ‘family business’, in which personal, human relationships are always the true cornerstone of the business model. Now more than ever, clients feel the need to deal directly with the owners of a shipyard and not just with investment fund managers.”
Another strength of this new brand is its engagement with some of the most reliable experts in the sector, all of them, without exception, from La Spezia and bound together by high professional and personal esteem.
The new brand begins its journey in the world of yachting with a rich and concrete offer of services, which will allow it to stand out in the nautical panorama and conquer a large slice of the market thanks to its undoubted strengths.
