For the sixth time, Villa d’Este, the 5-star luxury hotel in Cernobbio on Lake Como, hosted Villa d’Este Style Electric Yachting, the leading event in Italy for the evolution of electric technology applied to sustainable navigation. Young university researchers, professors, designers, and shipyard managers gathered once again thanks to the commitment of the Alessandro Volta Foundation of Como, which this year is promoting numerous events in preparation in 2027 the bicentenary of the death of the inventor of the first electric generator, and the Ernesto Riva Shipyard, which is hosting a conference to take stock of electric propulsion applied to boating and identify future developments for a system of absolute relevance not only from an environmental perspective.
Innovation at the heart of a unique conference in Italy
“It’s always exciting to see how Villa d’Este can transform itself into a meeting place for passion, innovation, and ingenuity, where high-level projects capable of concretely looking to the future take shape,” said host Giuseppe Fontana, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Villa d’Este S.p.A. Opening the proceedings, Annarita Polacchini, engineer and member of the Board of Directors of the Volta Foundation, emphasized how Villa d’Este Style Electric Yachting is: “An event that stands out every year for the quality and vision of the innovative projects presented, ready to be transformed into concrete solutions.” “Innovation,” continued Annarita Polacchini, “has always been one of the core values pursued by the Foundation and takes on even greater significance this time, in view of the celebrations for the Bicentenary of Alessandro Volta, which will continue next year. This is a unique opportunity to enhance the connection between research and the market, represented on the one hand by the Universities of Bologna and Trieste and the Polytechnics of Milan and Turin, and on the other by the construction sites, with cutting-edge technologies developed with respect for the local area and for environmental and economic sustainability.”
The excellence of Italian universities
The conference kicked off with announcements from representatives of four Italian universities. The Polytechnic University of Milan was at Villa d’Este with Paolo Schito, professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and leader of the Physis PEB (Polimi Energy Boat) team, which involves around one hundred students from eight departments along with 35 companies. Physis PEB, founded in 2021, is not only designing a catamaran that will participate in the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge, the competition for boats with eco-sustainable propulsion systems held this year in the Principality from July 8th to 11th, but has also entirely designed an innovative electric motor with the apt name: Marino.
PoliTo’s projects and the UniBoat phenomenon
Matteo Lombardo, team leader of Polito H2 Fly from the Polytechnic University of Turin, also preparing a boat for the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge, highlighted the work done on a crucial element—the batteries—where the Turin team has succeeded in developing new batteries equipped with a static cooling system. Another distinguishing feature of Polito H2Fly’s work is the use of recycled carbon fibers.
For UniBoat, the University of Bologna project launched in 2019, speakers at Villa d’Este Style Electric Yachting included Nicolò Cavina, professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering, the team leader, and Chiara Minervino, a team member specializing in hydrodynamics. Minervino illustrated the new propulsion system with counter-rotating and pulling propellers developed by the team, which boasts a string of successes at the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge. With last year’s victory in the Energy Class at the Monaco competition, UniBoat brings its total number of victories to four in five editions. Furthermore, last year, UniBoat was declared “MEBC Champion 2025”, the best university team of the entire event.
The experience of UniTrieste
The opening Tech Talks of Villa d’Este Style Electric Yachting were rounded out by Vittorio Bucci, professor at the Department of Engineering and Architecture at the University of Trieste, who illustrated the university’s many projects for electric and hybrid-electric boats. These included ZELAG – Zero Emission Navigation Lagoon of Grado, a 24-seater water bus constructed of wood and powered by an electric motor that guarantees eight hours of operation at a speed of 3-4 knots. UniTrieste is also nearing completion of a 101.90-meter-long electric ferry for Italy-Croatia connections.
From experiments to new start-ups
These contributions were followed by those from various university professors attending Villa d’Este Style Electric Yachting, including Paolo Schito of the Polytechnic University of Milan, who highlighted the need to strengthen electric propulsion infrastructure. Nicolò Cavina of the University of Bologna announced the creation of a startup for the production and marketing of the Competr electric motor developed by the RedWave team, also from the University of Bologna. Last year, the RedWave team, which powered a Focchi inflatable boat, won the SeaLab Class in Monaco, an experimental category promoting pioneering solutions in sustainable boating. Giorgio Sulligoi, professor at the Department of Engineering and Architecture at the University of Trieste and coordinator of the V-access (Vessel advanced clustered and coordinated energy storage systems) project, which aims to revolutionize the energy efficiency of electric vessels through new storage systems, emphasized that electric-related projects must be intrinsically feasible, while Vittorio Bucci emphasized that the electric solution could also find interesting applications in the refit of historic vessels.
The point on electric
The subsequent roundtable discussion compared the experiences and visions of the future of a number of shipyards and companies working in the electric sector. In addition to Tommaso Lorenzini of Cantiere Ernesto Riva, one of the conference’s initiators and among the first to build fully electric boats, starting with his 2017 E-Commuter, followed by the ER-Revolution and the E-Next Tender, contributions were also made by Mauro Feltrinelli of Nautica Feltrinelli, importer of electric boats from the Austrian shipyard Frauscher, presenting the Frauscher x Porsche 790 Spectre and its designer, naval architect Harry Miesbauer. They were joined by contributions from Umberto Amos of ABC Boats, importer of Candela boats, Erio Mattrei of the eponymous shipyard on Lake Como, Salvatore Casella of Ecoline Marine, and Michel Bolpagni of Aqua superPower, a charging system company.
Team Argonauts UniBo wins the Student Award
The sixth edition of Villa d’Este Style Electric Yachting continued with water trials and a parade of boats from Villa d’Este to Como’s Tempio Voltiano. Upon returning to Villa d’Este, the Student Award ceremony was held: an award dedicated to the promotion of university research and its concrete applications.
The jury, composed of representatives from Villa d’Este, the Volta Foundation, Navigazione Lago di Como, Confindustria Como, and Cantiere Ernesto Riva, awarded the Student Award to Team Argonauts UniBo of the University of Bologna for the project deemed most worthy in terms of innovation, potential for industrial application, multidisciplinary approach, and level of prototype development.
Emilio Martinelli
