Italy’s Codecasa Turns 200

Italy’s Codecasa Shipyards are celebrating 200 years of activity this year. The operation has been managed by the Codecasa family since its inception.

The company was founded in 1825 by the shipwright Giovanni Battista Codecasa in Viareggio, the centuries-old cradle of the Italian shipbuilding. In 1902, Giovanni Battista Codecasa, named Tistino, succeeded his namesake, managing the yard over the hard times of the Second World War and exhibited a capacity for adaptation, which would prove to be a key to success for the company.

Tistino was then succeeded by his sons, Ugo and Sandro, who operated in the Viareggio of the 1960s, the temple of Italian seafaring at that time. At the beginning, the company focused on building sailboats, reaching a production of over 50 vessels, in addition to fishing boats, pontoons, light boats and vessels of all types.

When Ugo died in 1973, the baton passed to his son, Fulvio Codecasa. Fulvio was pushed by a desire of diversification, which brought Codecasa to the center of the international scene, combining the production of work boats with that of luxury motoryachts.

In 1985, Fulvio’s daughter, Fulvia, joined her father and subsequently, her younger sister, Elena. Later, their husbands, Ennio Buonomo and Fabio Lofrese, also entered the management of the company, continuing the family tradition. During the 2000s, this well-planned route was followed by Fulvia and Ennio’s sons, Matteo and Niccolò, and recently by their daughter, Chiara.

From 1973 until the end of the ‘90s, the company built yachts of many types. Among them were the motoryachts Entrepreneur and Casabella, which cruised in American waters. In 1975, the 27-meter yacht Fair Play introduced Codecasa’s own style. The 62-meter Luisella, marked the largest yacht Codecasa has built and the first one intended for the charter use. Blue Velvet followed in 1994 and in 1996, Charly Coppers opened the series of the 48/51 meters and many other successful projects.

Simultaneously with yacht building innovation, Codecasa Shipyards expanded its facilities in the Viareggio area. In addition to the Ugo Codecasa Shipyard founded in 1977, the CodecasaDue Shipyard was opened in 1982 on the old site of the yard in the Darsena Toscana. Then, in 1987, the Codecasa Tre Shipyard, located in the Nuova Darsena, was added. Starting from 2011, a new site located in the Navicelli area in Pisa was integrated with a large building made of four sheds and more suitable for the building of large vessels.

Early in the 2000s, Codecasa entered the field of large aluminum fast yachts. The first model, launched in 2004, was built for Fulvio Codecasa himself. The yacht was named after his wife, Maria Carla. Over the years, Codecasa has built yachts for many notable clients including Giorgio Armani, Stefano Gabbana and Domenico Dolce, Leonardo del Vecchio, Paolo Bulgari and Piersilvio Berlusconi.

For more information: codecasayachts.com