Few regattas anywhere in the world can claim a setting like this. The Coppa Ponte Vecchio takes place on the Arno River in the historic centre of Florence, where competitors race a 400-metre windward-leeward course that threads directly through the medieval stone arches of the Ponte Vecchio, with the Uffizi Gallery as a backdrop. It is, by any measure, one of the most extraordinary venues in classic sailing.
The seventh edition concluded on June 2, 2026, organised by the Viareggio Historic Sails Association (Vele Storiche Viareggio) in collaboration with the Società Canottieri Firenze, a prestigious rowing club founded in 1886 on the Arno’s south bank. Competitors launch from the club’s riverside lawn and sail a tight “bastone” format under the light, unpredictable breezes that funnel through the city’s canyon of Renaissance stone and terracotta.
The regatta is reserved exclusively for the Dinghy 12′ class, which gives the event much of its character. Designed by George Cockshott in 1913, these 12-foot (3.66m) single-handed cat-rigged dinghies are among the most enduring small-boat designs in sailing history. In Italy the class is remarkably active, with more than 200 registered helmsmen and over 100 regattas on the national calendar each year. The boats at the Coppa Ponte Vecchio range from lovingly restored mahogany and teak classics to fibreglass vintage hulls, often carrying traditional wooden spars and trim. Against Florence’s Renaissance skyline, they look precisely as they should.
Now held biennially, the event is organised by Vele Storiche Viareggio, a Tuscan association established in 2005 and dedicated to preserving vintage and traditional yachts. The Coppa Ponte Vecchio has become one of its signature occasions, drawing owners, sailors and spectators to the Arno’s banks for a day that blends competition, history and culture. The 2026 edition closed with a special conference on the America’s Cup, presented by Francesca Lodigiani, Italy’s most widely credentialled America’s Cup journalist, looking ahead to the 38th edition scheduled for Naples in July 2027.
Giuseppe Olivi from Padua won the seventh edition aboard Casmaran Duri i Banchi, ahead of Titti Carmagnani’s Forza & Coraggio and Nicolò Orsini Baroni’s 1986-built Gagà.
