INQUIRY: Berths in Italy, the wind has changed

Keeping your boat in an Italian marina has never been more convenient. The trend, which we already foretold to you last year, is being consolidated this season thanks in part to news from Greece and France. The former has just instituted a new nautical tax not on possession but on the presence in Hellenic waters of vessels, regardless of nationality. Our transalpine cousins, on the other hand, have seen the Ministry of Budget (the equivalent of our Ministry of Finance) increase taxation on ports, basically raising property values. A cost that each port (and this is what is causing a lot of confusion in France) will have to bear differently depending on how much its value will be estimated in the territory. An expense that, especially in municipal facilities, will go to the individual boater’s boat cost.

THE ITALIAN SITUATION
Apart from the changed conditions of our neighbors, the improvement of the Italian port situation starts from further back: In fact, in recent years we have had an impressive increase in the number of berths: this has increased from about 60,000 berths (6 to 24 meters) in 2007 to more than 83,000 today, divided among 194 marinas. If we also add to these the availability of berths from facilities equipped in pre-existing ports, the number of berths almost doubles to an impressive 161,000.

To understand better, we are talking about state-owned concessions from cooperatives, boat clubs, and small companies that have converted obsolete and unsafe moorings (perhaps at the buoy) with efficient floating docks and good service at the dock as well. where are the marinas in italy The 194 marinas we mentioned are, of course, not evenly located along our coasts. We thus find that in the aforementioned northern Adriatic, there are more but smaller marinas (46 marinas with an average of 362 berths), while the largest marinas are found along the central Tyrrhenian Sea: here 10 facilities can accommodate an average of 698 boats. It is not for nothing that this is where we have seen the birth of several new marinas in the last decade, especially along the Lazio coast.

HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT MARINA
The world of ports is much more complex than it seems, and it is not certain that a marina in which you are comfortable is also good for another shipowner. The first major division is really about the marina and the marinas, which are sometimes confused or, even, lumped together. A marina is defined as an equipped harbor that, in addition to berths, offers a whole range of services, ranging from restaurants to stores, offices, and even actual residential neighborhoods with houses for rent or sale. In short, a true community center open to everyone, not just boat owners, and offering all the amenities of a small town. The marina, on the other hand, is a facility devoted almost exclusively to boat mooring, perhaps open to the public, but without any real amenities; it differs in essence from the industrial or commercial port. The marina of Lavagna in Liguria is a typical example of this, where among the docks one sees mostly boats and fewer stores and venues, partly because it is tightly integrated into the urban fabric. This is precisely another aspect to be taken into account. We said that these kinds of facilities already offer many services, but a nice marina located in the center can bring added value to the city itself, attracting tourists from sea and land. In contrast, a marina located far from population centers will need to have more services and, in addition to a complex of housing units, hotels to provide convenient accommodations for those who arrive, perhaps from afar, and who perforce must stay near the mooring of their boat. One example is the Cala De’ Medici marina in the province of Livorno, which offers among other things an infirmary, meeting room, bar, and even a bookstore.

LET’S TALK A LITTLE BIT ABOUT PRICES
The increased availability of berths in recent years has coincided with a slowdown in the production of new boats: the ports that were already under construction served precisely to absorb the growing Italian boat fleet. The growth was no longer there, thus leading to an oversupply of qualified berths. this is how mooring prices, once significantly higher than in other countries in the Mediterranean region, have calmed, despite higher taxation. Then there is another aspect that should not be underestimated, which is the increased bargaining power on the part of shipowners. List prices in most cases are not found to have increased, in fact sometimes even dropped by a few percentage points. But at the renewal stage, you can often even squeeze out discounts of around 10 percent of the starting cost. The most expensive marinas remain on average in the Ligurian basin and the Tyrrhenian Sea in general (but still in line with those in, for example, Corsica), compared to what happens in the Adriatic.

LOW COST FLIGHTS AND THE “SARDINIA CASE”
The explosion of low-cost airlines has given rise to a brand-new phenomenon that is now gaining momentum: in fact, there are many shipowners who change their home port every two or three seasons, choosing based on proximity from an airport. Let’s take an example: a flight from Milan to Trapani, Palermo or Catania can be found starting at about 40 euros. In this way a shipowner can regularly change sailing areas. Partly included in this discussion is the so-called “Sardinia case.” The island’s 38 marinas (with a total capacity of 13,472 berths) are considered by many to be among the most expensive in Italy. This is a mistake — in the middle. Indeed, if only the summer months are considered, the argument runs, but in the perspective of an annual berth, the issue changes dramatically. In fact, prices drop significantly in the winter months, so much so that the total cost on an annual basis for a twelve-meter is between 3,000 and 4,500 euros. Less is spent only in the southern Adriatic and Ionian marinas.

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