The Club
Yacht Club Italiano Archives and Collections
The Yacht Club Italiano is the custodian and promoter of multiple archives that represent a fundamental part of both Italian and international yachting history. These archives – photographic, documentary, and museal – include tens of thousands of original and unpublished photographs, thousands of historical documents, and hundreds of historic objects.
YCI ARCHIVE
The YCI Archive contains thousands of photographs and dozens of videos covering the Club’s entire activity. It also preserves the documents that narrate the life and history of the Yacht Club Italiano across nearly 150 years. All yearbooks since the very first one, dated 1880, are safeguarded here, along with burgee certificates, minutes of the General Committee, and files concerning the Club’s most significant historical events.
BELLONI ARCHIVE
The Belloni Archive houses the entire legacy of the renowned nautical journalist and historian Franco Belloni. It comprises several thousand documents related to sailing, as well as around 30,000 fully digitized slides depicting sailing activity in Italy and abroad from World War II through the early 2000s.
LEONE ARCHIVE
The Leone Archive preserves the legacy of Francesco Leone, a well-known photographer and reporter. It contains several thousand negatives and slides portraying the main sailing events and regattas held in Liguria over the past fifty years. This archive has also been fully digitized.
LANG ARCHIVE
The entire historical research work of the great author, historian, and bibliophile Luigi Lang was donated to the Club, as per his wishes. It has been meticulously catalogued in dozens of folders retracing the history of the metre classes and classic yachting in general. This precious material formed the foundation for his numerous and acclaimed publications.
AIVE ARCHIVE
The AIVE – Associazione Italiana Vele d’Epoca was the first Italian and Mediterranean association dedicated to vintage yachts. Its archive is preserved at the YCI, which founded the association in 1982. It includes several hundred volumes and all the historical material related to the thousand or so classic yachts that AIVE has surveyed, catalogued, and measured over more than forty years of activity.
CIM ARCHIVE
The CIM – Comité International de la Méditerranée was founded in 1926 to promote offshore sailing in the Mediterranean. Its founding members were the coastal nations of Spain, France, Monaco, and Italy. Since the 1990s, CIM has been the international federation for classic yachting. The Yacht Club Italiano, one of the four founding members, has the honour of preserving its complete documentary archive from its inception.
MEMBERS’ ARCHIVES
Throughout its long history, the Club has preserved and archived numerous personal collections belonging to distinguished members. These archives tell both personal stories and collective histories through documents and bibliographical collections. Among the most notable are the Bruno Veronese, Virginie Hériot, Boris, and Ziravello archives.
YCI COLLECTION
Over more than a century and a half of history, the Yacht Club Italiano has preserved hundreds of objects and artworks that recount the Club’s vibrant life. Significant works decorate the Club’s salons; antique half-hulls and models trace the evolution of yacht design, while numerous trophies celebrate the regattas organized by the Club and the victories achieved under its burgee.
TROPHIES
The Club boasts a collection of hundreds of sailing trophies, including about fifty antique silver cups. Among them stands out the Coppa Italia, the third most prestigious sailing trophy in the world. All silverware and pewter items are catalogued, bearing witness to the long and distinguished competitive tradition of Italy’s oldest yacht club.
HALF-HULLS
The evolution of Italian yacht design is told through the Club’s 150 half-hulls and models, carefully preserved. According to tradition, a half-hull was presented to the yacht’s home club at the time of its launch. Thanks to this noble custom, the Yacht Club Italiano today holds the largest Italian collection of original half-hulls, many dating back more than a century. The original model of many of Italy’s most important yachts is displayed in the Club’s salons.
ARTWORKS
Through bequests and dedicated acquisitions, the Yacht Club Italiano exhibits artworks by important artists from the 19th century to the present day, all inspired by the sea and yachting, with a few exceptions dedicated to portraits of the Club’s most significant figures.
The permanent collection includes works by celebrated expressionist painters such as Eugenio Olivari, as well as extensive collections by internationally renowned marine artists like Marc Pierre Gilles Berthier.
