In this episode of the Giro di Boa Podcast, we are chatting with architect Tommaso Spadolini, yacht designer and sailor. A love of boating and the water which began when he was a child, led to a career of over forty years working “among the waves”. “I’m the youngest of five children – explains Tommaso Spadolini – and on Saturday I would go with my dad (editor’s note: Pierluigi Spadolini, a great architect and icon of design) to the shipyards the boats were coming on. My love for boating began when I saw him drawing on pieces of wood.”

Hand drawing only!

Hand drawing only. This is the starting point for the famous yacht designer. Brain, pencil and paper are the three fundamental elements and since inspiration can strike anywhere, especially when one works in the marvellous Florence, where his offices are located, it is quite common for him to pull out his pencil and draw on a scrap of paper, or place mat, the outline or a sketch of a future icon. Luckily, his wife helps him collect and keeps all his precious work!

And yet, at one time in his life, Tommaso Spadolini decided to move away from the destiny he had chosen for himself as a child. After finishing secondary school, the yacht designer decided on a different educational path. “Almost all of my siblings – he says – chose architecture, I said to myself, ‘no way!’ so I enrolled in Geology. The best part is – he laughs – that after a year and a half of hammering rocks, I said enough is enough, end transferred to Architecture!” And good thing too, we say!

“The most exciting design? The Fortuna for Juan Carlos”

Clean and essential. This is Tommaso Spadolini’s style when he creates vessels that respect the water, the waves and the wind. The first design for the yacht designer was for the Barberis shipyard in La Spezia.

“Giancarlo Barberis called me – he says – and asked me to give him some advice on how to design the external graphics for the various shows he had to do, since he didn’t like white boats.  Then he gave me the job to do the interior of the Barberis 43 and 53 motoryachts. And that was my very first job on my own.” From then on, his career took off, and he travelled the world working with some of the most important shipyards. When we ask him which design was his favourite, Spadolini had no doubts: The “Fortuna”, the yacht he designed for Juan Carlos, King of Spain, “We still hold – he notes – the world speed record with 74.8 knots.” 

“My wife says that I have salt in my veins”

Tommaso Spadolini is not just a yacht designer, the water is a true passion for him. The architect has participated in and won a number of races. The first he mentions during our chat is the 1976 Middle Sea Race, where he came in first in class and overall first. This is another passion he inherited from his father. “My wife – he shares – says that I have salt in my veins” The sea is an extension of my self. Give me a boat and I will take you wherever you want!”

Listen to the full interview with Tommaso Spadolini in the thirteenth episode of the Giro di Boa podcast.

The “Giro di Boa” podcast is broadcast with the support of Pantaneius, a leading European yacht insurance company.