Dear Mr. NOZAWA Takayuki, CEO of the Yasuda Shipyard Group,
Dear Mr. MATSUI Shoichiro, Mayor of Shimoda,
Ladies and Gentlemen, dear friends,
It is a great honor to be here with you tonight.
My wife Sabina and I are very grateful for the invitation to the 2022 Shimoda Rendezvous, which represents an important occasion to celebrate a longstanding relation between Italy’s and Japan’s entrepreneurs.
It is also a real pleasure for me, as Ambassador of Italy, to see here represented the Made in Italy at its best.
The Azimut luxury yachts, the Dallara sports cars, the B&B modern furniture are among the most innovative and creative Italian brands, absolute leaders in their sectors.
Those brands have been shaping and driving the future, giving to their customers the sense and the touch of the Italian lifestyle.
Azimut, in particular, combines three main characteristics of the Made in Italy: ingenuity, which means research and advanced technology; aesthetics, which leads to the concepts of beauty, design and elegance; and tradition, implying the passion underlying the story of the Azimut Founder, Mr. Paolo Vitelli, who believed and tenaciously turned his idea into a successful story.
Thanks to this brilliant Italian entrepreneur, as well as to the collaborations with world famous designers such as Pininfarina e Stefano Righini, Azimut has been recognized – consecutively for the last 22 years – as the world’s leading producer of mega yacht.
On top of that, the Azimut Grande Trideck has been awarded last May as “Boat of the Year”, being the most sustainable superyacht.
Let me conclude by inviting all of you to raise the glasses and to make a toast to the enduring friendship between Italy and Japan, wishing Azimut and all the Made in Italy brands to grow in Japan even stronger.
Campai, Salute!