La Spina

See this Link which is a RAI Tv program made on board of La Spina.

The destiny of a yacht is always written by its owner, just as the destiny of children often depends on the nature of their parents. As such, La Spina, the yacht built by Marquis Franco Spinola, can be considered as particularly fortunate, for she was born in a great family. Spinola's style and his passion for the sea gave this 12-metre class a dual nature: from the outside she appears as a daughter of the winds, ready to win great contests; on the inside she is a sumptuous abode. The effect is quite unusual, as the austere and restrained look of the deck suggests none of the luxury and comfort below.

I think this might not be coincidental, for it is typical of many grand buildings in Genoa whose facades flaunt none of the opulence within.

The project was particularly delicate because it had to ensure complete reclamation from the framework to the sail plan and the interiors, while also rediscovering the lost soul of the prestigious vessel. which appeared to have mislaid the memory of its own origins. and this was the hardest part. It was necessary to adopt the right approch, with a highly conservative form of restoration, while also being critical of the modifications that had been superimposed over the course of almost eighty years. Some of them were right, others wrong but it was always the yacht herself that called for one decision rather than another. In actual fact, it was simple, for one only needed to listen carefully in order to be sure one had found the right spirit: the one that leads to a conscientious restoration and not just a makeover or a pointless show of creativity by an architect. On the contrary, I believe that restoration is perfect when the hand of the architect is invisible.

Once the guiding spirit has been understood, every modification or replacement becomes authentic.