Lifestyle
Un’onda di passione
La dolce vita of the world’s longest race: from dawn in the lagoon to the lights of the Principality, a thousand miles of speed, elegance and Mediterranean.
Venice → Monte Carlo
Act I · The myth
Since 1990, the Dakar of the sea
The Venezia-Montecarlo was born in 1990 from the meeting of Venetian and Monegasque champions, between the Circolo Motonautico Veneziano and the Yacht Club de Monaco. Prince Albert of Monaco raced in the first edition; forty-five hulls crossed the finish line.
Over 1,500 miles from the Venice Arsenale to the Principality, Italy’s coastline at full throttle. Gianfranco Rossi won it five times; in 1997 Prince Albert himself triumphed.
- 1990
- the first edition
- IX
- editions
- 1,500+
- nautical miles
- 22:13:17
- non-stop record, 2011
Thirty years of spray and myth.
Act II · At sea
Carbon, a thousand horsepower, signature liveries.
The yards
The race is the proving ground of the Made in Italy.
The speed
Sixty knots of spray across the Adriatic.
Act III · The territories
Thirty cities, one route
Every stop is a harbour festival: the Villages, the UNESCO-listed Mediterranean Diet, the best of every coast. These are the numbers of a voyage across half of Italy.
- 12
- nations
- 13
- regions
- 30
- host cities
- 250
- pilots
- €10m
- value generated
Venezia
The start from the Arsenale: lagoon fish and sparkling wine.
Termoli
The Swabian borgo on its promontory, a 2015 stage.
Catania
Etna behind the harbour: the Sicilian landfall of 1998.
Civitavecchia
The Michelangelo Fort, Rome’s great port.
Viareggio
Versilia and its yards: oil, wine and hulls.
Montecarlo
The finish into legend, among the great yachts.
Act IV · La dolce vita
The sea as a way of life
Sunset on the Riviera, engines idling: the Venezia-Montecarlo is also elegance, leisure and beauty offshore. At the host ports, Anton Giulio Grande’s haute couture, the gala nights, street art on the quays. Luxury is not an accessory here, it is the landscape.
Act IV·b · The brand
The time of the myth
The official Venezia-Montecarlo watch, designed by Smania: the two crests on the dial, the bezel engraved with the names of the start and the finish. A trademark registered across twelve classes, from timepieces to eyewear, from objects to porcelain.
Act V · The trophy
The Golden Lion
The symbol of St Mark cast in gold on a marble base: the prize awaiting the winner at the Monte Carlo finish.
Born in 1932 as the prize of the Venice Film Festival. Since 2015 it has tied its name to the race: it goes to the winning Region of the Flotta Italia, which keeps it and hands it back the following year.
Act VI · Monaco by night
In the heart of the Principality
Chequered flag in Monte Carlo, among the great yachts of the Côte d’Azur: the finish that binds the lagoon to the Principality.
Un’onda di passione