Tuccoli, the Italian fisherman who takes you on a cruise

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.

Tuccoli. The Italian fisherman who takes you on a cruise

From goiters to American fishing boats. With its marine qualities, Tuccoli is a benchmark for all kinds of boat owners, from fishermen to family sailors.

It all started in a garage. No, this is not the story of a Californian big-tech, but of a very Italian boatyard, which has its roots in postwar Tuscany, when “start-ups” did not yet exist. But Ivano Tuccoli, shipwright, didn’t know that, so he began building wooden boats in a basement that overlooked the ditches of Livorno, a seaside town that has inland canals below street level. The very first boats could only be gozzo boats, commissioned by the local Nautical Institute, later serving rowing and fishing clubs. The first turning point came in the 1970s, when Marco Tuccoli, Ivano’s son, took, at a very young age, the reins of the shipyard, and transformed “Costruzioni Nautiche Tuccoli” into “Cantiere Navale Tuccoli,” moving its headquarters to its current location in Collesalvetti, just outside Livorno. But the great insight was switching to fiberglass, which was not yet so widespread, allowing him to expand the range, bringing a new concept to Italy. Thus boats were born with an American style, with the prow high in relation to the stern sickle, which remains to this day the family feeling present on all Tuccoli boats. In a constant balance between innovation and tradition, mostly represented by fidelity to the centerline, also a lot of desire to experiment, such as the application of an early version of azimuth feet, forerunners of modern IPS, with impractical weights of 600 kg each: true avant-garde.

Tuccoli’s Rebirth

Despite this focus on new technologies and the expansion of the range to the 40-foot T410, the original shipyard did not develop as much commercially. After halting its own production, it was taken over in 2017 by the yard’s current majority partner, Bergamo entrepreneur Paolo Sanguettola, who took over the staff, structure, and molds and, in a couple of years, reorganized the yard into what is now Tuccoli Marine. With an in-house technical department, headed by an engineer, Tuccoli has flanked production with a stable administrative and commercial structure. Since 2018 it has set up a range that starts from the large inboard boats, in the wake of tradition, such as the T440 and T370, to the much newer 7- to 10-meter models, T210, T250 , and T295, each in dual declination: the VM line is dedicated to deep-sea fishing, while the SF is designed for those who alternate between fishing and cruising, with a live-in cabin, separate bathroom, upholstery, and more generous seating. This philosophy has been condensed into the acronym SAV – Sport Activity Vessel, the “SUV of the sea”: practical, sturdy boats designed for active use. To complete the offer, the acquisition of the Lion Yacht brand will allow it to cover, in the future, the glamour/luxury segment: from 35 to 60 feet, so as to also preside over the high end of the market while maintaining the recognizability of the original brand. Finally, in addition to pleasure craft, a professional division has been created, which has already delivered a pilot boat to the Pilots of the Port of Livorno, a patrol boat to the Riva del Garda Fire Brigade, and is building six units for the Carabinieri Diving Unit. The Bespoke division has also been structured: a reference point for refits and custom constructions by Tuccoli owners. Recent projects include a catamaran with as many as five opening terraces (two aft, two side and one forward for disembarking) designed by Alessandro Vismara.

The six ingredients of the “Tuccoli Recipe”

The new Tuccoli generation is not a simple restyling: it is a complete reengineering. After the first T210 and T250, the models set by the engineering department-beginning with the new T295-adoptproprietary technologies that involve the entire construction process of the boat, from the hull to the deck, from materials to systems.

1.Tuccoli Progressive Hull: a variable deadrise hull designed for the Mediterranean, revisiting American-born geometries for the ocean, in favor of a bow with high angles to soften the impact on the short, steep wave typical of our seas, which gradually soften toward the stern to reduce drag and improve efficiency at cruising speeds.

2.Tuccoli Mod ular Deck: a modular deck layout, which allows elements, even important ones, such as transom configuration, to be interchanged both during construction and after-market, a very rare feature indeed. The principle is “interlocking”: you order the module and replace it without having to re-engineer the boat, with obvious advantages in terms of upgradability and life cycle, which inevitably are reflected in the value of the used boat.

3.Tuccoli Carbon Technology: the use of carbon is certainly not new, but in this case aviation-derived fibers, combined with dedicated resins, are hand-rollable like fiberglass. This keeps costs down considerably, to be scalable to even small to medium sizes. The goal is not a “full carbon” hull, but to lighten the parts that need handling, such as hatches, or those higher up, such as T-tops, with typical weight reductions between 20 and 35 percent.

4.Tuccoli Smart Link: a proprietary platform that integrates Garmin hardware with preset scenarios (navigation, roadstead, port) for optimized energy management based on the use profile. The goal is to simplify use, with a clear, intuitive, automotive-style interface for immediate operation even for owners less familiar with technology.

5.Tuccoli Double Structure: from the traditional counter-mold to a bilaminate double structure, resulting in gelcoat-finished artifact inside and out, with integrated channels that conceal utilities and spread stresses over about 50 percent of the hull surface. Better torsional stiffnesses and more progressive wave impact are achieved, avoiding increasing thicknesses and weights.

6.Tuccoli Audio Performance: the design considers the resonance of fiberglass to arrange speakers early in the design phase to take advantage of sound diffusion in on-board volumes. All design originates in the engineering department, while external design is outsourced to partner studios. The shipyard internalizes about 75 percent of the cycle (steel and upholstery remain out) and has the subsidiary Naval Stampi, which makes hull, deck, and detail molds with CNC machining to achieve maximum precision and repeatability. This set-up is the industrial base on which the next-generation Tuccoli “recipe” rests.

The future

But now the focus is on expanding space, with the acquisition of additional land to increase production capacity. In the wake of this, the new Lion brand is taking shape: the first model will be the largest, developed on the same hull used today for patrol boats, thus start-up at the end of the molding cycle of those units. In parallel, the overall modernization of the range proceeds: the models now identified as “classic Tuccoli” will gradually merge into the SAV family, declined in the two planned versions, and will be joined by a completely new 33-footer. All boats in the new cycle will follow the design criteria of the engineering department: even when derived from previous series they may share the layout philosophy, but will be revised in hulls, structures and processes to improve result, timing and construction methods. From the largest boats down to the smallest, Tuccoli is therefore committed to continuing to invest and give continuity to its historical clientele, while remaining faithful to its origins.

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