While the yachting world seems to be rushing headlong toward total digitalisation and full automation, there are those who are pulling the handbrake and betting on an asset that no algorithm can (yet) replicate: human relationships.

Giacomo Giulietti met Giorgio Casareto, CEO of Portosole Sanremo, for PressMare. They discussed everything: from managing the “spoilt” client to urban regeneration, and even debunking the myth that boats are merely toys for tax evaders. What emerged was an open and honest conversation, free from the usual clichés of “exclusive luxury”, but rich in industrial substance.

PressMare – Let’s start with a provocation. The luxury sector is investing heavily in Artificial Intelligence to speed up processes. Groups like D-Marin are betting on full automation. Portosole, on the other hand, seems to be moving in the opposite direction, focusing entirely on human relationships. Isn’t that an anachronistic risk? In a world that wants everything “immediately”, what real added value do you offer by talking to the client instead of letting a bot solve the problem in two minutes?

Giorgio Casareto – It’s a matter of target, not technology. Our clients have an average age of around 50. They are entrepreneurs or successful professionals, people who deal with stress and complexity every day. When they arrive at the marina, they want only one thing: zero hassle. A bot may be fast, but it is rigid. Our client wants a face: someone to explain the problem to and, above all, someone to negotiate with.

We use digital tools where they are useful, for signing contracts and streamlining bureaucracy, but the interface remains human. If we remove the pleasure of a handshake and a conversation, we become an anonymous car park. And the numbers confirm it: 2025 closes with all targets achieved.

PM – Let’s talk about infrastructure and cities. Transforming a marina from a “closed fortress” into a destination integrated with the urban fabric is today’s major challenge. But how do you reconcile public access with the sometimes paranoid demand for privacy from yacht owners? Is there a clear boundary, or are you experimenting with a hybrid model?

GC – It is an extremely delicate balance. Owners pay for tranquillity, and that is sacred. But a marina dies if it lives only on boaters. We need the city to support commercial activities: restaurants and shops in our gallery cannot survive on crew alone.

The future plan, which includes the redevelopment of the Old Harbour and a total budget exceeding £100 million (Editor’s note: the capital is provided by the British investment group Reuben Brothers, which acquired Portosole in 2019 and holds the redevelopment rights), goes precisely in this direction: creating a promenade where cars are kept away from the quays.

We want local citizens to walk, spend, live the harbour and also enjoy the beauty of the boats, without invading their cockpits. It is a matter of layout: separating flows to unite experiences.

PM – This leads us to a crucial point: reality versus collective imagination. In Italy, social stigma towards boating does not stem from the industry’s reality, but from its distorted perception: boat equals luxury, equals (often) tax evader. Are you opening the marina to the city also to dismantle this narrative? Is there hope of making people understand that boating is a way of seeing the world from a different perspective, not just a way of being seen?

GC – It is a cultural battle. In Italy, we keep talking obsessively about “luxury”, fuelling unjustified social resentment. Just look at the numbers: an annual berth for a 5-metre boat here costs about €3,000. A family of four spends the same amount for six weekends skiing just on ski passes.

And yet skiing, although no longer affordable for everyone, is not considered a “rich people’s” activity, while boating is. We must stop showing only billionaires and start telling the story of the industry: fibreglass does not work itself. There are craftsmen, workers, men and women, an excellent supply chain admired worldwide.

Opening the marina serves this purpose: showing the effort and beauty of the work behind a yacht, as happens at US boat shows where anyone can step on board. Here, instead, we put velvet ropes. It is a serious mistake.

PM – The market is changing: more charter, fewer “resident” owners. Charter has fast rhythms and quick turnovers. How have you reorganised yourselves? Have you become a high-speed service station?

GC – Our role is actually different. Large charter yachts, over 35 metres, do not start from here. They are based on the French Riviera, in Sardinia or on the Amalfi Coast. Portosole works as a strategic hub for pre- and post-season, or for major events like the Monaco GP.

We are the place where yachts rest, undergo maintenance and prepare. We do not suffer the stress of weekly passenger turnover, but we guarantee technical and logistical assistance when the yacht is stationary. It is a more stable model.

PM – You say operational charter often bypasses you for France or Sardinia, yet the industry that governs that market has just invested heavily in you. I am referring to the return of the MYBA Charter Show. Was it merely a nostalgic operation, or is there a more concrete recognition?

GC – Nostalgia has little to do with it. This is business. It is true that MYBA was born here 30 years ago before becoming itinerant, but the fact that the Worldwide Yachting Association decided to bring it back to Portosole in April 2025 is a technical endorsement, not an emotional one.

They recognised that our management capabilities and renovated facilities are suitable for a global event. And the results proved them right: the edition was such a success that MYBA immediately signed an agreement to stay here for another three years.

For us, it is the ultimate quality seal: it confirms that we are a central Mediterranean hub also for industry professionals, not only for yachts in technical stop.

PM – Speaking of technology, you still operate a 40-year-old Syncrolift. In the digital era, you are still using what I would call “vintage” technology. Is it a limitation, or is there a technical reason why you hold on to it?

GC – It is not vintage, it is brilliant. That system, designed decades ago, was thirty years ahead of its time. It allows us to haul yachts up to 60 metres and 600 tonnes in a very limited space, something modern travel lifts often cannot do with the same spatial efficiency.

We have just overhauled it and it is structurally perfect. In 2026, we will invest in replacing the rails and doubling the yard capacity, allowing us to host four large yachts simultaneously on land. It proves that good engineering does not age.

PM – You are squeezed between two giants: the French Riviera to the west and the Tuscan district to the south-east. Why should a captain choose Sanremo for winter works or berthing? What is your Unique Selling Proposition beyond price?

GC – Proximity to France is our ace. We are one hour of navigation from the key centres of the French Riviera, but with Italian management and logistics costs. It is a huge competitive advantage for those who want to carry out serious works without moving too far from the summer operational area.

Moreover, unlike many others, we can work both afloat and ashore. But beware: we do not engage in price wars. If a client only wants to spend little, I let him go. We sell infrastructure and expertise that have a precise value. Underselling means admitting that your product is worth nothing.

PM – Let’s jump ahead in time. If I took an aerial photo of Portosole in 2030, what would I see that is different from today?

GC – You would see a harbour that is no longer a separate entity, but a district of Sanremo. You would see the Old Harbour completely redeveloped with 60 new berths for large yachts and an area dedicated to social boating and sports associations.

You would see an elegant outer breakwater inspired by the standards of the most modern recently built ports, and a transformed internal road system: no cars, only promenades, greenery and high-level services.

It will be a place where crew, owners and citizens coexist without disturbing each other, each with their own spaces.

PM – One last political question. In Italy, marinas are often equated with beach concessions, with all the regulatory chaos that follows. Do you feel represented, or are you an orphan category?

GC – The problem is fragmentation. We have too many associations representing fragmented interests: some for large marinas, some for small ones. In Germany there would be one strong voice; here we have three or four that often fail to sing in unison.

The comparison with beach concessions is of little relevance: we deal with infrastructural investments lasting decades and worth millions of euros, which is very different from the, albeit respectable, activity of managing seasonal umbrellas.

Fortunately, the arrival of large international groups and investment funds – such as the Reuben Brothers who support us – is starting to make politics understand that we are a heavy industry, not a summer pastime. But the road to a unified and credible lobby is still long.

The closing point

Casareto’s ideas are clear. No emotional fluff from glossy brochures (“the sea inside”, please no…), but an industrial vision: marinas are companies, yachts are complex machines that create jobs, and clients are people looking for solutions, not apps.

If the future of Italian yachting manages to follow this concreteness, perhaps as a country we will stop looking at yachts with envy and start looking at them as a part of our GDP.

Giacomo Giulietti