Review: HISTORY OF LEOPARD YACHTS
http://www.yachtmoments.com/yacht-construction/leopard-shipyard/history-of-leopard-yachts/
text:
HISTORY OF LEOPARD YACHTS
The Leopard brand was created by the Picchiotti family in the seventies. From the first Leopard, entirely built in wood in 1973, a long list of wood yachts has followed, up to 1984 when the first composite yacht has been launched.
The first evidences about the Picchiotti family dates back to the seventeenth century when some people from Spain settled in Limite sull’Arno, on the right side of the Arno river, starting to build boats.
The well known Leopard brand has a heritage of historical proportions. Giuseppe Picchiotti & Sons was founded in 1907 and renamed Cantiere Navale Arno in 1935 by Raffaello, Alessandro, Lorenzo e Nello Picchiotti.
At Limite sull’Arno the Cantiere Navale Arno and the Picchiotti Shipyard have been collaborating to face the huge number of orders from the Italian ministries and the foreign Governments. During the wartime the Picchiotti shipyard produced boats for the Royal Military Navy and the famous MAS BP.
Unfortunately, at the end of the war Limite sull’Arno was reduced to ruin and the shipyard was set on fire by the German Army.
However the Picchiotti family didn’t lost heart and deal with the difficult situation facing the reconstruction of the shipyard. In the seventies started to build pleasure boats, strong in the carpenter’s experience who had contributed to make the shipyard big.
The famous and successful motor yachts Giglio, Giannutri, Giraglia, Gorgona, Mistral, Tiger, Lampuga, The MY Lupo di Mare and the MY Cariddi where built in this period.
In 1960 the shipyard established a fruitful collaboration with the designer Paolo Caliari.
The application of fibreglass was a big step ahead for the shipyard: the building process became faster and the number of yachts delivered increased.
The new millennium brought an important news: after 4 centuries the Cantiere Navale Arno, today Leopard Yachts, moved from the Arno river and established its head office along the Canale dei Navicelli, near Pisa.