Image: The Icona 70 under way: sporty lines designed by Igor Lobanov - received the Special Prize for Outstanding Innovation
With Italian yards accounting for 52% of the 2026 global superyacht order book, the Genoa International Boat Show highlighted how one of the world’s strongest yacht-building industries is responding to a new generation of owners seeking more understated, experience-led luxury.
Italian yards now account for 52% of the 2026 global superyacht order book, underlining the country’s strength at the highest end of international yachting. Alongside that industrial leadership, however, a shift in what clients expect from luxury is beginning to influence how yachts are conceived, designed and lived in.
Dan Lenard, Co-Founder and Designer of Nuvolari Lenard, sees a clear generational change among yacht owners, with younger clients moving away from formality and overt displays of wealth towards something quieter, more personal and more closely tied to experience.
“There is a sobriety. There is not a show-off of their lifestyle, not the show-off of wealth through materials and excess. Actually, the newer yachts are very high-quality built but very subtle inside, very pleasant.”
For these owners, he says, the value of a yacht increasingly lies in the time, privacy and freedom it provides.
“Well, for them, luxury is spending time on board. So time is the biggest luxury today.”
That shift places new demands on design. Space, comfort, materials and proportion matter not simply as expressions of status, but for the way they shape life on board. At the 66th Genoa International Boat Show, it provided a wider context for a distinctly Italian approach to design: one that brings beauty and function, creativity and engineering, craftsmanship and everyday experience together.
The seventh Design Innovation Award, presented on 2 October, offered a snapshot of how that approach is evolving. Established in 2020 by Confindustria Nautica – the Italian Marine Industry Association – and the Genoa International Boat Show, the Award attracted more than 100 entries this year across 11 categories, with winners selected by an independent international jury.
The Award looks beyond appearance alone, recognising the research and thinking behind new yachts and products and the way design responds to technological, environmental and practical challenges.
For architect Paolo Brescia, Founding Partner of OBR – Open Building Research and President of the international jury for this year’s Design Innovation Award, that is central to its purpose.
“What we try to do is to promote, to award projects that achieve more with less. And this is the responsibility that we would like to take.”
The 2026 results reflected the breadth of that thinking. The Azimut Magellano 27M, winner in the superyacht category, was recognised for its unconventional stylistic approach, innovative layout, elegant finishes and quality of its interior spaces. The Riva 56 Rivale Super received an Honourable Mention for its harmonious silhouette, contemporary interior materials and innovative design solutions, while the Icona 70 by Mangusta received the Special Prize for Outstanding Innovation.
Together, the projects show a sector in which design is increasingly judged on how successfully form, technology and life on board work together.
Design Innovation Awards – full results - click here
The Italian approach
That integration of disciplines is also central to the Made in Italy story.
Brescia describes one of the defining qualities of Italian architecture and yacht design simply as the ability to bring together “art and technique”.
For Lenard, it is rooted deeply in the culture in which Italian designers work.
“And beauty is part of the identity in Italy. That's cultural. So, that will always distinguish Italy, an Italian product, Italian design from other countries.”
Rather than identifying a particular stylistic trend for the future, Lenard talks about “more of an integration of proportions, elegance, and good taste.”
The same connections were visible throughout this year’s Genoa International Boat Show. The new Living Made in Italy area brought yachts of up to 50 metres together with wider expressions of Italian design, craftsmanship and engineering. Venini and Riflessi were among the brands represented, alongside Leonardo’s Agusta AW109 – extending the Made in Italy story from interiors and craftsmanship to aviation and advanced engineering.
The scale of Italy’s international yachting industry gives that design culture global reach. Stefano Pagani, Head of the Research Department at Confindustria Nautica, also points to the way Italian design and lifestyle contribute to the international identity of its yachts:
“Italian manufacturers can put inside their yachts also elements of design, everything that is connected with the Italian lifestyle. And this makes our yachts even more recognisable.”
From yacht design to the waterfront
The relationship between design, people and their surroundings can also be seen in the setting of the Show itself.
The regenerated Waterfront di Levante, based on Renzo Piano’s masterplan, has reshaped the former exhibition district and opened it more directly to the sea.
Brescia, whose OBR studio has been closely involved in the waterfront’s development, describes one of the aims as bringing “the water back to the city”. Canals now run through the site, changing the relationship between the Show, the working port and Genoa itself.
The setting gives the ideas explored by the Design Innovation Award a wider context. From yachts and their interiors to industrial design and architecture, Genoa brought together different expressions of a design culture in which aesthetics and technical expertise have long been closely connected.
As tastes in luxury evolve, that ability to combine the two remains one of Made in Italy’s most recognisable strengths.
About the 66th Genoa International Boat Show
The 66th edition of the Genoa International Boat Show, organised by Confindustria Nautica, the Italian Marine Industry Association and representative body of the country’s entire yachting sector, will take place from 1 to 6 October 2026. An international benchmark for the sector, the Genoa International Boat Show has supported, over its 66 editions, the growth and expansion of the yachting industry, fostering dialogue between businesses, innovation and industrial culture. Held on the Waterfront di Levante, a venue designed by Renzo Piano, the Genoa International Boat Show offers an exhibition format divided into five product categories (Yachts & Superyachts, Boating Discovery, TechTrade, Sailing World, and Living the Sea), with over 85% of its spaces located outdoors, offering an immersive experience combining design, sustainability and industry-defining technologies, and reaffirming its role as a strategic platform for the development of the blue economy. This year, the traditional events programme is complemented by Blue Arena, a new space housed within the new Palasport pavilion and dedicated to bringing together yachting, innovation, maritime culture, institutions, and professional training opportunities. Conceived as an open and accessible venue, Blue Arena enriches the Genoa International Boat Show experience, expanding its content beyond the exhibition itself
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