LA SPINA 1929

Hidden away in a warehouse within the compounds of a military facility near Naples lies a floating masterpiece which dozens of craftsman and carpenters are painstakingly trying to restore.
(...) 'Unlike a piece of furniture, a painting or a sculpture, a period vessel cannot be restored in order for it to become a piece for a museum - it must come back to life to plough through the waves again,' Federico Cuomo says.
'It is something which takes years and millions of euros to accomplish because restoring things is more difficult than rebuilding them.'
[...] Italy’s fi rst ever 12-Metre, La Spina was built in 1929 for Italian aristocrat, the Marquis Francesco Spinola. She was relaunched in April after a two-year restoration at the Aprea Peninsula Navis boatyard in Sorrento. She now belongs to a syndicate of Italian owners who showcased her at this year’s Argentario Sailing Week (CB246). While the hull is a rebuild, the interior is, according to Stefano Faggioni, 85 per cent original, including the antique cookers in the galley and the Marquis’s writing bureau.