Beauty as seen by Arcadia Yachts

"Beautiful.”

It is the adjective Ugo Pellegrino, founder of Arcadia Yachts, uses most often. What begins as an interview turns into a conversation (or vice versa).

The boats are beautiful, which is fairly ordinary in this industry. The owners are beautiful too: knowledgeable and loyal. So are the craftsmen, who contribute to the yard’s growing success. They work with dedication to build boats worthy of the unique setting in which they are made, the (very beautiful) Gulf of Naples and the Sorrento Peninsula.

None of this is forced or excessive. Pellegrino talks from the deck of the A96 on display at the Monaco Yacht Show, and what comes through is the genuine love he has for his work. He shares it with his son Giuseppe, to whom he has passed on the passion he in turn received from his father, in a (beautiful) path that continues across generations.

PM – Let’s take a step back: how did the Cannes boat show go?

UP – Cannes remains a key event for us. It was a positive show, with a significant presence of clients and concrete commercial results across the different models. This is particularly important because it shows that the interest is not focused on a single product but now covers the entire Arcadia range.

PM – So we are talking about signed orders?

UP – Yes, directly at the show. We are very satisfied. Cannes is a show we will continue to invest in, despite some logistical difficulties we encountered this year and the considerable financial commitment. The show was also our first major international event after the work carried out on the brand’s new identity. From this point of view, it marked the start of a new phase for us and was the springboard for Arcadia’s new “outfit”.

PM – What kind of owners are drawn to Arcadia? Are they Italian or from abroad?

UP – They are split roughly half and half between Italy and abroad. Our owner is, by definition, a wonderful person, but not because he buys a boat from us: Arcadia Yachts attracts a very elegant client with a deep nautical culture.

PM – That sounds like a very well-defined profile.

UP – Yes, it is. They are not newcomers but people with solid experience and a clear structure. Many of our owners could choose larger yachts. Some grow with us over time, while others come to Arcadia deliberately choosing a boat of more contained length, without giving up the space and comfort they want on board.

PM – That does not happen very often in our industry.

UP – True, but I think it also depends on the way we are as a shipyard, how we experience building the boat and how we experience the client. We are different. With many owners, a bond develops over time that goes well beyond the commercial relationship and becomes almost family-like. You could almost say we don’t have owners, we have friends. Sometimes they trust us so much that they don’t read the contracts; the bond is really quite special. When you work for a decent person, a company of decent people like ours commits even more. To give one example, one of our A96 owners covered around 15,000 miles in three and a half years with his previous yacht. These are people who know the sea and know exactly what they want from a boat. Many other owners normally cover 450 in three years…

PM – Let’s turn to the shipyard itself. How are you structured, and what organisational model do you use?

UP – We have a very flexible model. A significant part of the work is carried out together with external companies and craftsmen who work with us on a permanent basis, often for many years, always under our direct coordination and control. For some activities, such as painting, we prefer to keep direct oversight within the yard, especially when the level of quality and the control of finishes are decisive. What matters is that, regardless of the contractual structure, the people who work on our boats know Arcadia, our standards and our way of working.

PM – How many people are we talking about?

UP – Depending on the production phase, between 150 and 200 people work in the company overall. Many of our partners and craftsmen have been with us practically since Arcadia was founded in 2008. For this reason, even when they formally belong to external companies, for us they are part of the company.

PM – What kind of response did you get at the Monaco Yacht Show?

UP – Monaco has different dynamics from Cannes. It is a very important event for our relationship with brokers and international operators, but this year we also had very concrete commercial results here. For us it was an important confirmation after Cannes and further strengthened the signals we received across the whole range. So we continue to invest in the Monaco Yacht Show. This year we improved our presence and also added a space on land. It is a path we want to keep developing, step by step.

PM – What are you working on now? New boats?

UP – In Cannes we previewed the project for the new A125, our future 38-metre, 299 GT flagship. It represents a further step in the yard’s growth. It is a beautiful boat, developed entirely within Arcadia, which fully retains our soul and our DNA. Even as we grow in size, we want people to continue to recognise immediately what makes an Arcadia different from other boats: the relationship with space, with light and with the sea. The project will continue to evolve over the coming months, and the launch is scheduled for around June 2028.

Riccardo Masnata

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