This 236-foot (72-meter) megayacht design for the Benetti Design Innovation Project is the result of two significant firsts for the shipyard: the contributions of a famed Italian yacht designer and an equally famed Italian menswear designer. Specifically, they’re Luca Dini and Stefano Ricci.
Dini is well-known in yachting circles, having formed his company in 1996 and styled exteriors and designed interiors for megayachts built by Mondo Marine, ISA, Cantieri Navale Lavagna/Admiral, and others. Until he was approached to contribute to the Benetti Design Innovation Project, Dini hadn’t worked with Benetti.
As for Ricci, he founded his eponymous men’s luxury clothing and accessories company in 1972. There are now 25 Stefano Ricci stores around the world, from Florence to Beverly Hills and beyond. And, thanks to the Benetti Design Innovation Project, there’s now the Stefano Ricci Yacht Division.
Dini actually selected two of Benetti’s engineering platforms to interpret, the 70×12.5M (230x41ft) and 55×9.6M (180x32ft). The former has a displacement of approximately 1,750 gross tons, while the latter comes in around 700 gross tons. For both designs, Dini incorporated a good deal of glass. The 55M design, with a vertical bow, has unusual features like an aft gym and photovoltaic panels atop the wheelhouse. As you can see with the 72M here, the profile is a far more modern interpretation of a classic Benetti style. Dini says he drew inspiration from skyscrapers in terms of the use of glass to deflect heat.
The video below takes you around the exterior and inside of the 72M megayacht. You’ll get a good look at floor-to-ceiling glass panels, including ones on the upper-deck terrace. You’ll also see creative use of wood outside, as horizontal bars across the transom. They appear in conjunction with electrically operated “blinds,” to enclose the two-level stern. Inside, Ricci has created a thoroughly Italian-style interior, with abundant high-gloss briarwood (a.k.a. briar root wood, as the wood is selected from the root of the trees). Briarwood has a deep, rich tone and is often the wood used for making tobacco pipes. Other elements of the interior include travertine marble and crocodile skin.
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