Life in Naples has always unfolded outdoors. The waterfront, harbours and city beaches stay busy throughout the year, people meeting, exercising, watching boats move across the Bay. The sea here is not the edge of the city but a natural extension of its public spaces.
For more than a century, the city's historic yacht clubs have been at the heart of that tradition. From the Circolo del Remo e della Vela Italia, Luna Rossa's yacht club for the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup, to the Reale Yacht Club Canottieri Savoia, founded in 1893 and partner of Defender Emirates Team New Zealand for the same event, and the Circolo Canottieri Napoli, these institutions have shaped generations of sailors while keeping alive the maritime culture that still defines the city. Alongside sailing schools and local clubs, they continue to introduce young people to the sport and provide pathways for sailors, coaches, race officials and volunteers. The Italian Sailing Federation works alongside them, supporting clubs and associations to keep the sport growing.
Naples has been part of the America's Cup story for almost four decades. In 1987, Neapolitan sailor Aldo Migliaccio skippered Italia in the Louis Vuitton Cup. Francesco De Angelis later became the first helmsman from outside the sport's traditional English-speaking powers to win it, doing so with Luna Rossa, while Emanuele Liuzzi and Luigi "Pigi" De Felice were members of the Luna Rossa team that claimed the Prada Cup in 2021.
The city's legacy extends well beyond results on the water.
Following the experience of Mascalzone Latino, Vincenzo Onorato founded the Scuola Vela Mascalzone Latino in 2007, creating a programme dedicated to introducing children and young people to sailing free of charge. Thousands have come through it since, using the sport as a pathway to competition, education, inclusion and personal development.
That legacy is also carried by the people who worked behind the scenes of Italy's most significant campaigns. Paolo Scutellaro led the first Mascalzone Latino challenge. Francesco "Cecchi" Aversano managed the team's second campaign and is now part of Luna Rossa. Lars Borgström contributed to campaigns with Il Moro di Venezia, Luna Rossa and Mascalzone Latino, winning two Louis Vuitton Cups with the first two teams. On the docks, you notice how these things travel, the same faces reappearing across decades of Italian sailing, older now, carrying more. Together they represent a depth of experience that continues to benefit the sport in this country.
This network of clubs, schools, professionals and volunteers is what allows Naples to stage major national and international events year after year. Alongside the Tre Golfi Sailing Week, the Gulf will host this year's Italian Olympic Classes Championship. It is a calendar that reflects a city where sailing forms part of everyday sporting life, not just a handful of headline events.
Behind each regatta is a community that rarely attracts attention. Race officials, judges, technical staff, volunteers, institutions and support teams work together for weeks before racing begins, ensuring every detail is in place. That collective experience, built regatta after regatta, has made Naples a natural home for the Louis Vuitton 38th America's Cup.
The city is no stranger to the atmosphere. In 2012 and 2013, the America's Cup World Series transformed the Naples waterfront into a spectacular grandstand overlooking the Bay, drawing hundreds of thousands of spectators and showing how naturally the city embraces sailing as both elite sport and public celebration.
The Preliminary Regatta in September 2026 will build on that and mark the next step towards the major events of 2027. The AC40s will find an exceptional racecourse, but above all they will arrive in a city that does not rely on international events to celebrate its connection with the sea. That connection is visible every day, in its yacht clubs, sailing schools and local regattas, and in the people who continue to pass their knowledge from one generation to the next.
