Sanlorenzo was founded in 1958 in Tuscany and passed to Giovanni Jannetti in 1972, under whom it launched its first fibreglass hull in 1985 and moved its headquarters to Ameglia, near La Spezia, in 1999. In 2005 the current executive chairman, Massimo Perotti, acquired the company and set its modern course. The yard builds yachts from roughly 24 to 70 metres. Throughout, it has kept output deliberately limited, delivering a small number of made-to-measure boats each year rather than chasing volume.
That scarcity is central to how Sanlorenzo is understood. Each yacht is built to a specific owner's brief rather than to stock, which keeps the yard closer to the world of tailoring than to mass production. In 2019 the company listed on the Milan stock exchange at 16 euro a share, giving it the capital to grow while holding to its measured pace. Building sites are spread across Ameglia, La Spezia, Viareggio, Massa and Pisa, each with its own role in the range.
Sanlorenzo is organised into three divisions. The Yacht Division builds composite planing yachts from around 24 to 38 metres, covering the SL, SX and SD lines. The Superyacht Division builds larger aluminium and steel yachts, including the Alloy and Steel ranges. The Bluegame Division, part of the group since 2018, makes smaller sport utility boats, and the yard has also expanded into sailing through its stake in Nautor Swan.
Binding the ranges together is a consistent design identity. Piero Lissoni has served as art director since 2018, bringing a spare, residential aesthetic to interiors and to how the brand presents itself. Zuccon International Project has been a long-standing partner for exterior design and for concepts such as the asymmetric layout. The look across the fleet is calm and material-led rather than showy.
Sanlorenzo has made sustainability a stated priority through a programme it calls the Road to 2030, aimed at steadily cutting the environmental impact of its yachts. In 2021 it signed an exclusive agreement with Siemens Energy to develop fuel-cell technology for yachts. The result reached the water in 2024 as the 50Steel, presented as the first superyacht to use a reformer fuel-cell system that draws hydrogen from green methanol to power its onboard systems with no local emissions. The yard has said it aims to deliver a yacht with fully carbon-neutral propulsion by 2030.
That research feeds back into the wider fleet in more everyday ways, through hybrid pod drives, solar panels, battery banks and exhaust treatment across the ranges. Commercially, Sanlorenzo remains unusual as an independent, owner-controlled builder in a sector increasingly held by large groups. Its argument to buyers rests on scarcity and design, backed by a credible path on emissions, rather than on being the biggest name afloat.
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