Plenty of yachts have appeared as backdrops on the silver screen, but the Azimut Magellano 25 Metri is the first to play the protagonist in a movie. She starred in a short film by Italian director Gabriele Muccino that premiered at an invitation-only event in Portofino this past summer. 

The red-carpet turn highlighted just how far the semi-displacement Magellano collection has come since Azimut created it in 2009. This line of fiberglass navettas—the Italian take on trawlers—offers longer range and more sedate cruising than Azimut’s planing yachts. The first Magellano was a 74-footer (22-meter) with exterior lines by U.K.-based Ken Freivokh. Smaller models followed, styled by Dutch designer Cor D. Rover. Azimut returned to Frievokh, best known for his superyacht creations, for the new 25 Metri (with a length overall of 82 feet, 9 inches) and for an 88-foot (30-meter) model still in the pipeline.

The 25 Metri’s vaguely retro exterior lines and bold bow shape instill the design with a sense of honest purpose. Fussy detailing has been studiously avoided, and teak-slatted fashion plates help to break up the raised pilothouse superstructure. A single, fin-style mast extension supporting the carbon-fiber, louvered hardtop further lightens the profile and improves visibility from the flybridge deck.

“Jumping to the 25-meter from the 78 gave me the chance to introduce the raised pilothouse and really exploit the vertical spaces as well as the horizontal,” Freivokh says. “The Magellano 30 will take this evolution further, as it will be a full three-decker, but with really nice proportions.”

The 25 Metri’s dual mode hull configuration is by naval architect Pierluigi Ausonio and Azimut. The builder says the double hard chines and long skeg improve seakeeping while reducing resistance throughout the speed range. According to the builder, with standard twin 1,400-horsepower MAN V-12 engines, the 25 Metri has a top speed of 24 knots and a cruising speed of 18 knots. Those numbers increase to 25 and 22 knots, respectively, with optional 1,550-horsepower engines.

The upper chine provides a wider beam at low speed for improved dynamic stability, while at higher semi-displacement speeds, the lower chine is shaped for the least resistance to improve fuel economy. Stabilization is provided by a Humphree electric fin system.

Flexible couplings between engines and gearboxes should reduce noise and vibrations, while the walls, ceiling and sole of the full-beam owner’s stateroom are mounted on elastic supports as a “floating” capsule to further eliminate noise—a method of construction more commonly found on larger yachts.

The 25 Metri can be fitted with a hotel-mode system that includes a lithium-ion battery bank, providing eight hours of power at night, at anchor—or six hours during the day, when energy consumption is higher—without having to start the generators.

And in the age of Covid-19, the yacht has an air-sanitizing system derived from NASA technology that eliminates microorganisms from the ventilation ducts. The system also regulates the air’s temperature and humidity.

But the main reason Azimut made a movie about the 25 Metri is the interior design by the Italian artist and architect Vincenzo De Cotiis. His partnership with the builder sprang from a desire to create a yacht that wasn’t just a container for art, but instead a work of art in its own right.

“The choice of Vincenzo De Cotiis for the interior design is the result of a rather long path that started in 2014, when we started a scouting process outside the yachting sector in the world of residential, retail and luxury hotel design,” says Federico Lantero, brand manager for Azimut Yachts. “One of the points of contact with De Cotiis is a shared interest in fiberglass, which is the main construction material for Azimut and one of the designer’s favorite materials.”

In his work, De Cotiis aims for what he describes as “perfect imperfection” through deconstruction, reconstruction and reappropriating salvaged materials marked by time and wear. This process is evident in the way fiberglass was used to produce furniture on the Magellano 25 Metri. Successive layers of hand-laminated fiber and parchment-colored resin result in minute inclusions that, when buffed to a polished finish, resemble organic materials that occur in nature, such as amber. For the low coffee tables in the open-space main salon, powdered bronze was worked into the resin for a metallic finish.

De Cotiis also worked on the perception of depth and continuity. The mirrored stairwell, for example, deconstructs what is usually a confined space. Polished brass accents highlight the asymmetrical shapes of the furniture, and wall panels of ribbed wood arranged vertically increase the perception of height.

Despite the interior’s artsy origins, it sits comfortably with the marine environment outside. For instance, the brushed verde alpi marble used in the owner’s bathroom and for the surface of the main dining table is a dramatic green stone with white veining that recalls a foam-flecked sea.

The Magellano 25 Metri nudges into superyacht territory where bespoke design is the norm. Azimut is not the first series boatbuilder to call in a designer from outside the industry, and it will not be the last as rival brands compete to meet the needs of an evolving market hungry for more original and expressive solutions. ◊

For more information: azimutyachts.com

This article was originally published in the Fall 2020 issue.