The curtain rises on the 63rd Genoa International Boat Show

63rd Genoa International Boat Show © Confindustria Nautica

An exceptional line-up of speakers at the opening ceremony and inaugural conference dedicated to 'the yachting industry, the history behind the future', with government ministers Matteo Salvini, Guido Crosetto, Adolfo Urso, Francesco Lollobrigida, and Nello Musumeci. 1,318 accredited journalists and buyers from 36 countries spanning 5 continents.

The 63rd edition of Genoa International Boat Show will kick off on the scenic Terrace of the Blue Pavilion overlooking the Waterfront di Levante.

The notes of the Italian national anthem, with the traditional flag-hoisting ceremony, will mark the event organised by Confindustria Nautica (the Italian Marine Industry Association), the leading boat show on the Mediterranean the third worldwide, a shining symbol of Made in Italy excellence, of national entrepreneurship, and of a country that innovates, invests, and always looks to the future.

Commenting on the numbers and perspectives of a sector that makes Italy the world's leading exporter will be an exceptional and unprecedented institutional line-up of speakers including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructures and Transport, Matteo Salvini, Minister of Defence, Guido Crosetto, Minister of Business and Made in Italy Production, Adolfo Urso, Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, Francesco Lollobrigida, Minister for Marine Policies, Nello Musumeci, the President of the General Confederation of Italian Industries, Carlo Bonomi, and the President of ENI, Giuseppe Zafarana, alongside numerous other government representatives from national and European Parliaments, Ambassadors and Consuls from various countries.

The inaugural conference, entitled 'The Yachting Industry, the history behind the future', will be moderated by TV director and presenter Monica Maggioni and will offer a moment of reflection on the role businesses play in the industry's development and the Government's industrial policy choices. The event will be introduced by the institutional greetings of Genoa Mayor Marco Bucci, followed by those of Carlo Bonomi, President of Confindustria (the General Confederation of Italian Industries), and Guido Crosetto, Government Minister of Defence.

The conference will be divided into two panels: the first will be entitled "Economic, social and environmental challenges of our times", with the participation of Matteo Salvini - Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructures and Transport, Giuseppe Zafarana - ENI's President, and - Saverio Cecchi, President of the Italian Marine Industry Association;

the second will be dedicated to 'The Made in Italy Industry, where global projections meet local development', introduced by the greetings of Adm. Antonio Natale, Commander of the Italian Navy Schools, Adm. Nicola Carlone, Commander General of the Harbour Offices, Nello Musumeci, Minister of Marine Policies, Francesco Lollobrigida, Minister of Agriculture, with speeches by Adolfo Urso, Minister of Made in Italy Production (via video link), Edoardo Rixi, Deputy Minister of Infrastructures and Transport, Giovanni Toti, President of the Liguria Region, and Matteo Zoppas, President of the Italian Trade Agency.

Also in the Blue Pavilion, the Forum23 programme, sponsored by the European Commission, will kick off with over 120 institutional events and workshops. The first of the events, at 2.30 pm, on 21st September in the Forum Hall, will be the 'Boating Economic Forecast'. This will be an analysis of the yachting industry's growth trends, collected in the publication Nautica in Cifre - LOG, a statistical yearbook produced by the Italian Marine Industry Association's Research and Market Intelligence Department in cooperation with the Edison Foundation, and sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Infrastructures and Transport. The analysis provides companies, sector operators and institutions with the latest official economic data for the yachting industry.

The presentation will be opened by the introductory greetings of the President of the Italian Marine Industry Association, Saverio Cecchi, and the Liguria Region's Councillor for Economic Development, Andrea Benvenuti. The statistical report will then be presented by Stefano Pagani Isnardi, Head of the Italian Marine Industry Association's Research and Market Intelligence Department, and Prof. Marco Fortis, Vice-President and Director of the Edison Foundation - Cattolica University, with a speech by Riccardo Honorati Bianchi, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA.

At the Media Centre of the Blue Pavilion, at 3.30 pm, the "Yachting Regions" event will take place, focusing on yachting and nautical tourism promotion policies: organised by the Italian Marine Industry Association and the Genoa International Boat Show, the panel will be attended by Piero Formenti, Vice-President of the Italian Marine Industry Association, Giovanni Toti, President of the Liguria Region, Michele Emiliano, President of the Puglia Region (via video connection), and Pasquale Ciacciarelli, Councillor for Marine Policies of the Lazio Region (via video connection), together with the managers of the eight regional boat shows sponsored by the Italian Marine Industry Association.

In the Forum Hall, at 3.45 pm: the Conference "Yachting, Taxation and Customs " will be held, the yearly all-round update on tax and customs policies and sector regulations, organised by the Italian Marine Industry Association, in which Maurizio Balducci, Vice President of the Italian Marine Industry Association, Paolo Valerio Barbantini, Deputy Director of the Italian Revenue Agency, Paola Paliano, Head of the AEO and Large Enterprises Office of the Customs Directorate, Sara Armella, of Armella & Associati, and Ezio Vannucci, of Moores & Rowland Partner, will take the floor. The meeting will be moderated by Roberto Neglia, Head of Institutional Relations at the Italian Marine Industry Association.

Once again this year there will be no lack of meetings and panels with the protagonists of the sea at the Eberhard & Co. Theatre. Opening the events programme, at 1.30 pm, will be "North Pole Initiatives carried out by the Italian Navy - IIM", a panel organised by the Hydrographic Institute of the Italian Navy. This will be followed, at 2.30 pm, by the Press Conference of the Harbour Offices - Coast Guard entitled: "Yachting safety and the Italian Coast Guard: Figures for Summer 2023, from search and rescue to communication campaigns ". At 3.30 pm "The Blue Thread", organised by the Liguria Region and Liguria International. Finally, at 5.30 pm, a talk will be held by Max Sirena, team director & skipper of Luna Rosa Prada Pirelli.

The first day of the 63rd Genoa International Boat Show will end at 7.00 pm with a brand new edition of "Incontri in Blu. Uomini, donne e storie di Mare" (Blue Talks. Men, women and stories about the sea), an event conceived and directed by journalist and writer Fabio Pozzo, organised by the Genoa City Council, the Mu.MA Sea and Migrations Museum Institute, and Genova Cultura Scarl, and implemented with the contribution of numerous sponsors and partners at Genoa's Galata Sea Museum. After the first two events held last spring (the first of which with Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, sailing legend and the first man to single-handedly circumnavigate the globe non-stop in history, and the second one with Francesca and Rachele Fogar, a talk dedicated to their father Ambrogio Fogar), this time the Fabio Pozzo will be speaking with Massimo Perotti, Chairman and CEO of Sanlorenzo, one of the most important international shipbuilding groups with headquarters in Ameglia, Liguria. The event, upon registration, will also be broadcast live on Facebook.