On Friday, July 11, 2025, at the Yacht Club Italiano, the 90th anniversary of Aria, the multi-award-winning International 8 Metre Class racing yacht, was celebrated. Measuring 14 meters in length, she was launched in 1935 at the Costaguta Shipyard in Genoa Voltri. The event, a true celebration of classic sailing, was attended by numerous athletes and distinguished guests. Aria belongs to member Serena Galvani Seràgnoli, descendant of the physicist Luigi Galvani. Rediscovered in 1998 on the island of Favignana, after a meticulous restoration she returned to racing, winning many of the most prestigious international regattas. Today the yacht has come back to her hometown at the Yacht Club Italiano, after long periods spent between France, the Tyrrhenian Sea, and the Adriatic. For the “volcanic and rock” Serena Galvani, as she likes to call herself, the evening featured 90 red roses, 90 candles on a cake in the colors of the sea, and the music of Queen to mark the prestigious anniversary.
The Story of Aria
The International 8 Metre Class Aria was officially launched on January 2, 1935, at the Costaguta Shipyard in Genoa Voltri, founded in the late 19th century by brothers Ugo (1869–1903) and Attilio Costaguta (1877–1942). Although the shipyard ceased activity in the early 1980s, it is unanimously recognized as one of the most historic in Italy, remembered for building numerous important vessels. Among these are Emilia (1930), Miranda III (1938), Lycea (1928), Corsaro II (1961) for the Italian Navy, and above all Italia, the 8 Metre S.I. of 1936, which that same year in Kiel, Germany, won Italy’s very first Olympic gold medal with Leone Reggio at the helm.
Aria is built with mahogany planking on acacia frames, with a sitka spruce deck. She measures 14.30 meters in length and carries a Bermudan sloop rig capable of setting about 75 square meters of sail. As at her birth, she has no engine. The yacht’s first owner was Genoese Benedetto Bruzzo, and among her past owners was Marquis Francesco Spinola. Since 1998, Aria has been owned and raced by Serena Galvani.
