Luna Rossa is the name of a beautiful song written in 1950, but is also the name of a group of sailing vessels deployed successfully by the Italian trade union “Luna Rossa challenge” created by Patrizio Bertelli. The first Luna Rossa was put into water in 1999, and since then many different boats with the same name have followed, in different sailing classes, taking part successfully in the Louis Vuitton Cup/Prada Cup and in the America’s Cup as an excellence made in Italy.
The history of the Luna Rossa
The idea of Patrizio Bertelli to launch a challenge in America’s Cup came up in 1997, and became reality with the creation of a team that included designer Doug Peterson, Torben Grael’s sailing champion and the skipper Francesco de Angelis. The challenge to the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, holder of the America’s Cup was launched on April 21 of that same year. In the spring of 1999 the first boat saw the light, and it was launched in Punta Ala on May 5 with Miuccia Prada as sponsor. The name given to the boat was Luna Rossa, apparently because Bertelli has witnessed the rise of a big full red moon on a summer night, event though the namesake song followed the boat in every adventure.
Louis Vuitton Cup and America’s Cup 2000
Luna Rossa’s participation in the selections for the America’s Cup began in the best way, and the Italian boat imposed itself with authority, earning the admiration of the New Zealanders and entering the semifinals. The boat headed by Francesco de Angelis lost the first regatta against the American Stars & Stripes, but won the return one, then putting on a streak of six wins against America True, Nippon Challenge and Le Defi.
The final took place at the best of nine races between January and February 2000, and it was an exciting fight, especially with the American boat led by Paul Cayard, which kept the breath of thousands of spectators, not only in Italy. Between twists and turns and unexpected events, Luna Rossa won the Louis Vuitton Cup, the second Italian boat to do so after Il Moro di Venezia, and with Francesco de Angelis the first non-Anglo-Saxon skipper to climb to the top of the Olympus of world sailing.
Team Prada approached the America’s Cup with euphoria, in the wake of the big success, but had to deal with very tough Black Magic helmed by Russell Coutts. There was nearly no contest, and the prestigious trophy stayed tightly in the hands of New Zealand.
The other challenges of the Luna Rossa
Despite the defeat, Team Prada managed to launch a new challenge becoming Challenged of Record and thus representative of all competitors at the America’s Cup defender, whilst the gigantic media coverage pushed Prada’s stock high, paying back the big investment that had been necessary to launch the Italian sailing project in the first place. The new Luna Rossa was launched in Punta Ala in May 2002, but the Vuitton Cup 2002 goes to Alinghi’s Swiss team, who will also win the 31st America’s Cup, taking the challenge back to European waters.
The new challenge in the history of the Luna Rossa begins in 2004, with the addition of Telecom Italia next to Prada as sponsor and the creation of two companies to handle the Luna Rossa brand. From 2004 to 2007 the match racing to prepare for the America’s Cup took place, then in April 2007 Luna Rossa returns to compete in the Louis Vuitton Cup, taking third place in the preliminary phase, having to face then the formidable American tema of BMW Oracle, which was defeated 5 to 1, thus entering the final. In the final, however, the team from New Zealand left no escape with a 5 to 0. In 2013, the Louis Vuitton Cup saw the New Zealand team win once again in the final with Luna Rossa, a cliché that will repeat once more in the final of 2021.
Luna Rossa, the best of Italian technology
That of Luna Rossa is not only a fascinating and glorious moment of Italy’s sailing history. The project that brought the Italian boat to challenge the greatest teams in the world has not been based only on a winning synergy between incredible sailing professionals that one after the other gave it all in international challenges. Luna Rossa, in fact, is also the triumph of Italian technology, in which our country’s greatest excellences have been skilfully designed and employed obtaining the greatest results. Still today, Luna Rossa can count on the best that Italy’s nautical engineering has to offer: from sails to wires and ropes, from carbon hull and foils to hydraulic pumps and cylinders, manufacture by realities active in the areas of Genova, Novara, Nembro and Brianza.
Featured image: Repubblica