The book ‘50 volte Cinquecento’ (50 times Cinquecento) written by Silvia Traunero and Adriana Quarti is being published by Nutrimenti Mare.
The Cinquecento, originally known as the 500×2, was launched at the Circolo Nautico Santa Margherita in Caorle on 21 June 1975, with a seemingly simple formula: a 500-nautical-mile regatta for just two sailors aboard boats with sealed engines, which the alchemy of the Adriatic, with its variability, has transformed into a cutting-edge challenge, highly technical and difficult to interpret.
The route, unchanged since the first edition, sees the competitors start from the coast off Caorle (Venice), then pass the island of Sansego (Susak) in Croatian waters and then down to the Tremiti Islands archipelago, which must be circumnavigated, before returning to Caorle in about 4-5 days of non-stop racing.
In the documentary book, the two Venetian journalists have given ample space to the testimonies of the protagonists: alongside the account of each year are the amarcord, stories obtained through interviews, or extracts from the logbook, or even writings penned by the skippers themselves especially for the book.
The result is a 288-page volume that also includes around 200 images, some excerpts from nautical magazines and lots of information and anecdotes that trace the history of boating and offshore sailing over the last fifty years. The volume is completed by a detailed list of all participants, boats and skippers for each year.
The introduction to “50 volte Cinquecento” was written by journalist Giulio Guazzini.
The official presentation of the book will take place on Friday 24 November at the Civic Centre in Caorle.
