Apreamare, the goiters that conquered the world

A tribute to the companies and people who have made Barche a Motore great over these 35 years allowing it to be born, grow, and become great up to this historic anniversary. In these articles the great excellences of boating tell their stories and reveal their projects, making an important contribution to the knowledge of this world, which allows us all to go to sea, in all forms and contexts.

Apreamare, the art of reinventing oneself

The Sorrento shipyard has rewritten the concept of the gozzo several times, transforming it from a classic icon to a symbol of elegance and speed.

There are certain terms that, in this environment, are repeated to the point of meaninglessness. In every press release we read about boats and yards reinventing or redefining something. But if there is one shipyard that can use them without fear of lapsing into the banality of catchphrases, it is Apreamare. Throughout its history, now more than a hundred years old, it has truly redefined the concept of a goiter. And it has done so more than once. It all began in 1849, of course in Sorrento, when Giovanni Aprea, a master shipwright, began building wooden fishing gozzo boats, rowing and sailing. The first revolution came after World War II, with another Giovanni Aprea, grandson of the progenitor. He sensed the potential of a trend that was spreading, especially overseas, which seemed promising even for a classic, traditional boat like the gozzo: fitting automotive-derived engines. More powerful, lighter, but also more widespread. In an Italy that was relaunching in full force after the dramas of the war, the economic boom opened new market horizons, and before long the pleasure boat sector became preponderant over fishing boats. It is the first piece of this success story.

In 1975, at just 20 years old, Giovanni‘s son Cataldo became a young shipwright. Animated by a creative flair that pushed him beyond the boundaries of the canonical geometries of the Sorrentine gozzo, he decided to break away from the established family shipyard to found a company that would transform his visions into boats. In 1988, thanks to a meeting with Sorrento entrepreneur Salvatore Pollio, the Apreamare shipyard as we know it today was officially born. The first boat produced could only be a gozzo, the Smeraldo 7, the epitome of the partnership between Cataldo ‘s genius and Salvatore‘s pragmatism, between tradition and innovation. The deck, in fine woods such as mahogany and teak, is completely open. On most models it is even outfitted with the classic tiller rail and the small mast that once carried the lateen sail. But the hull is the real novelty: Emerald 7 is the first fiberglass gozzo.

This material allowed not only a simpler construction, but also more complex shapes, which allowed them to break out of the simple curves drawn by the ordinates and planking courses. At the waterline, two whiskers channel water flows from bow to stern, where the hull, designed by engineer Angelo Sinisi, flattens to give lift. The goiter became fast: and this is a real revolution. Initially – and perhaps still today – frowned upon by purists, it will be a solution that will simply set the standard, being applied in virtually all modern productions. Once again, an Aprea had observed a world that was changing, a world in which people had less and less time, and therefore wanted faster boats, yet without sacrificing the style of a unique and timeless design. This only convinced Apreamare to continue investing in this direction, and the hull still evolves. It is a “living” work indeed, growing and transforming: from semi-planing, it becomes a pure V-shaped hull, fully planing, on which, from the waterline up, the lines of the classic Sorrentine gozzo continue to be grafted. The Smeraldo 9 was born, originally also an open (later produced in several versions) distinguishable by a solid mahogany center console that required hours of highly skilled labor. One of Cataldo‘s favorite boats, it has the distinction of having reached speeds hitherto unthinkable for a gozzo of that size. In 2000 it became a joint-stock company, and the following year it became part of the Ferretti Group, a colossus that allowed Apreamare to leave national borders and establish itself firmly on the international scene.

The “Ferretti era” lasts 9 years, during which it is not only the financial component that grows. There is a desire to go even further grow in size, but the goiter has proportional and structural limits to meet. So in 2005 the Maestro range, a 65-foot shuttle, was born. The name is already a program: Maestro, like the shipwright, the one title Cataldo Aprea has always wanted to boast of, to emphasize, even in its novelty, the inseparable link with its origins and with a centuries-old tradition. Success brought a new flagship, Maestro 82, in 2008, pushing the shipyard to the 24-meter production limit. After all, that of shuttles, which nowadays is fashionable to call long range cruisers, is precisely one of the still most promising market segments straddling 20 meters. The Ferretti parenthesis came to an end in 2010, when the Aprea and Pollio families, the latter in the figure of Rita Pollio, now managing director, regained direct control of the shipyard. Once again – literally – at the helm, Cataldo Aprea could return to the path he preferred, made up of a continuous search for new challenges. And so, in 2020, he opened the current chapter of Apreamare, reinventing, once again, the gozzo. The new range is simply called “Gozzo,” followed by the number that identifies the length, in feet, of each model: such is the iconicity that Apreamare represents in the world that no other name is needed to describe these boats.

The new gozzi, offspring of Marco Casali‘s pencil, are something completely new and, at the same time, manage to evoke an extraordinary sense of familiarity. Borrowing a word used in the automotive industry, we could almost call them restomods: reinterpretations of the great classics of the past in a completely modern design. And so the lines are simplified, the bow becomes vertical again, all aesthetic ballast disappears. In a word, we go back to the essentials. But could Cataldo Aprea have been content? In 2023 he presented what he himself called, on several occasions, his madness: an outboard gozzo.

He takes his 35, aft of the swim platform arranges two Mercury V10s of 400 hp each, and makes it Gozzo 35 Speedster, a name that winks at fast sports cars. Qualities that, for that matter, he also possesses, coming close to 44 knots: he is the fastest gozzo in the world. A watershed that, after the redesign of the range with decidedly unconventional lines, again divides the public, between enthusiasts and purists. But that doesn’t matter to Cataldo; for him it’s enough that it looks good and sails well. And while aesthetics may well be subjective, neither are the numbers that ascertain the success of the new Apreamare course. Last year it launched its flagship, Maestro 88, the largest boat produced by the shipyard, an impressive 27 meters overall, a sign of a company that looks ahead and continues to grow. For all customers loyal to Apreamare‘s heritage, it founded the Refit division to restore, modernize or simply maintain boats built by the yard.

A service that helps keep the value of these models high. But also a trend, that of refitting, which is being explored more and more, both in terms of economic and environmental sustainability. After having conquered Italy and Europe, Apreamare has expanded its distribution network worldwide, even reaching Japan, Australia and, of course, America, where a boat like the outboard Gozzo, definitely the preferred motorization overseas, does not give up making its owners stand out thanks to the elegance of Made in Italy. Who knows if Giovanni Aprea, back in 1849, would have ever imagined that his name, from small Sorrento, would conquer the seas of the whole world. But the secret of Apreamare ‘s success lies precisely in memory: remembering its origins, its traditions, in order to be able to propose them again, always new, but always true to itself.

Visit the site: click here