A Day at the Tullio Abbate Shipyard – A Journey Through Nautical History

A Day at the Tullio Abbate Shipyard – A Journey Through Nautical History

A Day at the Tullio Abbate Shipyard – A Journey Through Nautical History

Motor boat

13/06/2025 - 09:58

There are places, names, people... wait, that sounds too much like the beginning of a game of "Names, things, cities...". Let’s put it another way: sometimes you come across pieces of history that, if you're passionate about the subject, move you. And you go home with something more.

Spending a day with Tullio Abbate Jr. on Lake Como, for those who love boating, is like stepping into a history book — but one of those lived-in volumes that smells of resin, wood, and gasoline. First of all, you need to visit the company’s two facilities. Not just the office and lakeside headquarters in Tremezzina.

Where It All Begins: The Lake, the Road, the Garage

This is the western shore of Lake Como, in a town with as many five-star hotels as there are cars on the narrow road hugging the lake. Not the "bourgeois" four-lane superhighway built by the eastern lake dwellers. No, this is where the road still closely follows the ancient Via Regina, which once connected Roman Milan (Mediolanum) to Chiavenna.

Anyone who has driven this road among local traffic, tourists, and coach buses can imagine what it means to move boats through here. Those who haven't should picture a busy city street at rush hour. Even more incredible is where Tullio Abbate Sr. had to set up the operational base for working with fiberglass.

Passion Beyond Romance

Fiberglass was introduced in the mid-1960s, despite the founder and father Guido’s preference for wood, used since the 1940s to build race and leisure boats. Local regulations prohibited plastic molding and lamination within a certain distance of the lake, so the best compromise was to move to Schignano.

Check Google Maps to see the road that connects the production site to the nearest launch point. While driving there, I said to Tullio Jr., “I can imagine the passion — and I mean the suffering kind — it takes to tackle these switchbacks every time you move a boat.” With a half-smile, the company’s current CEO replied, “We once brought down a 24-meter boat from here…”

14 Kilometers in 8 Hours

It was supposed to be a helicopter transport — about 30 minutes of work. The day before, they were informed that the helicopter company didn’t have permission to fly over power lines. So, they converted a van into a tow truck, attached the cradle, and loaded the hull.

A crane led the exceptional transport, lifting the boat at every hairpin turn, holding it aloft while the trailer maneuvered through the curve, then placing it back onto the rig. “See that church?” Tullio asked, pointing to a small chapel on the outer edge of a sharp curve. “We had to rebuild part of the roof because we had to remove it to let the bow pass.”

The Shipyard: Workshop and Museum

It took 8 hours to cover the 14 km from the lakeside HQ to the production site. The Schignano facility not only houses the shipyard where every Tullio Abbate boat is still built in-house, but also serves as a museum showcasing historic models — mostly racing boats — among the 8,500+ built by the brand.

Like the Folgore: a 1,300 kg catamaran with 1,000 horsepower from a 8,200 cc Lamborghini engine, winner of the Centomiglia del Lario in 2002 and 2016. Or the boats co-developed with 10-time world champion Guido Cappellini: the Formula 2 Endurance (winner of four 24 Hours of Rouen races) and the Formula 2 Sprint.

Even novice eyes can see the difference: one is “a tank built to last 24 hours,” the other “a racing car for 40-minute sprints.” Then there's the Sun International, the aluminum boat built in 1985 by Tullio Sr. for Stefano Casiraghi’s debut in Class 1.

You’ll also find the Tullio Abbate Kid models, designed for the boat driving school — including one piloted by Tullio Jr.’s daughter Ginevra, already at the helm of a 20 hp outboard. Or the mahogany Villa d’Este boats of rare beauty.

The original Senna 42, built for the late Ayrton Senna and presented by Vivian Senna, Tullio Sr., and Prince Albert in Monte Carlo in 1995, has been re-engined this year with two BPM V12s. It served as a VIP shuttle at the Villa d’Este Concours d’Elegance.

You’ll also see race models for the Pavia-Venezia and experimental designs like the Mito 33 Hydrogen.

The Present: What the Yard Does Today

After the passing of Tullio Sr. in 2020, the company was taken over by Tullio Jr., who steers it with the same competitive spirit and a racing résumé worth showing rather than telling.

Today, the shipyard operates on multiple fronts:

Custom builds: every boat is tailor-made like a bespoke suit, from idea to water testing, under Tullio Jr.’s personal supervision.

Racing boats: speed remains in the family’s DNA. These boats are open-air labs for testing technology later applied to leisure craft.

Special projects: unique, one-off boats born from specific requests — often true technical challenges.

Restorations: reviving classic models without altering their soul. Like restoring a vintage Ferrari, but on water.

Bespoke services: yacht management, charter prep, and anything needed for worry-free boating.

Boats With Personality

Choosing a Tullio Abbate means more than buying a boat. It’s an extension of personal style — an object that tells a story. Every model has a soul and is meant to be one of a kind.

Noteworthy recent projects include:

Armonia 28’: compact yet elegant, ideal companion to the Villa d’Este line. 8.6 meters, single engine, built combining 3D design and skilled hands.

Miss Villa d’Este: a bespoke version with inboard-outboard engines, tailored to a client seeking “classic elegance, but my way.”

Mito 33’: a modern evolution of the Mito line, customizable and technologically advanced.

Elite 27’ Hydrogen: developed with Inocel, the first true hydrogen boat ready for market.

Mito 33’ Hybrid: fitted with the first Seatek hybrid system.

Offshore 45’: a modern reinterpretation of the legendary Senna 42, now available with outboard power (a solution Tullio Jr. isn’t entirely thrilled about — but market demand prevails).

More Than Boats — These Are Stories

In the end, a Tullio Abbate boat is not just an object. It’s a story, a symbol, a passion spanning three generations. And on Lake Como, among the dark waters and Liberty villas, these boats continue to tell — with elegance and the growl of big engines — one of the most fascinating adventures in Italian and global boating.

 

Giacomo Giulietti

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