Builder, Champion, Symbol of Lake Como: Tullio Abbate

When you are born on the shores of Lake Como, the lake gets into your bones and you cannot help but follow its call. An indissoluble bond, appearing even more powerful if you are part of a family dedicating its passion and daily work to the lake. Just like in the case of Tullio Abbate.

Guido Abbate’s Innovation: Motorboats

Born in Mezzegra, in Tremezzina, in 1944, Tullio Abbate was immediately accustomed to sailing on the calm waters of Lake Como: starting with the great-grandparents, the family was always engaged in the construction of boats for transporting goods, rowing boats and sailing boats, and Tullio’s father, Guido Abbate, was the founder of the Portezza shipyard. Always at his side, Tullio observed his father bring innovation to the field; he mounted engines on the boats and created aesthetically striking, fast and powerful boat models.

Thanks to the “Pamblo”, a motorboat equipped with 80hp capable of reaching 80 km/h Guido Abbate, builder and driver, won the first gold medal of the Italian Motorboat Federation in 1946. A first – essential – victory, that inspired Guido to try to mount the engine of a sports car on his boats. This idea was realized with the “Laura” motorboat, equipped with the Alfa Romeo Fangio engine and with which the driver Mario Verga managed to break the world record reaching 226 km/h.

The Victories of the Abbate Family, Undisputed Champions on the Lake

The idea of mounting engines intended for the automotive world on the boats brought luck to the Abbate family: for three consecutive years Guido Abbate won the famous “Centomiglia del Lario” and Tullio Abbate, following in his footsteps and driving his boats, won the same race eleven times. And that is not all; Tullio’s ability as a driver combined with the extraordinary performance of the boats of the family lead him to set new world speed records and to triumph in countless European and World championships.

Fiberglass instead of Wood: Establishment of the Tullio Abbate Shipyard

In addition to being an experienced driver, Tullio was also a skilful builder: he worked on site and took care of the construction of the boats personally which made him consider the materials. He began searching for materials that combined strength and lightness and found the answer in fiberglass (which was in popular in American boats in the 1960s-70s). However, the wish to abandon wood created a disagreement between Tullio and his father, leading to the choice of the former to establish a new shipyard – right in front of the family one – in which he built fiberglass motorboats.

Offshore and Formula 1: an Indissoluble Bond

The love for speed also lead Tullio to approach the world of Formula 1 and its drivers, with whom, in addition to the passion for “going fast”, he shared an interest in engines and a wish to work on the boats personally. Thus Tullio was able to mount Ferrari, Lamborghini and Porsche engines on his motorboats and some of the best Formula 1 drivers became first Tullio’s clients and then close friends. This is the case of for instance of Gilles Villeneuve who had two 700 hp Ford engines delivered to the shipyard and – working together with Tullio Abbate – created the “No Problem” inboard. To another champion and close friend, Ayrton Senna, Tullio dedicated the racing boat “Senna 42 Evolution”, capable of reaching 75 knots. But the list of celebrities who wanted a Tullio Abbate boat is long: Schumacher, Piquet, Rosberg, Maradona, Prost, Mancini, Vialli, Stefano Casiraghi, Sylvester Stallone and Madonna – illustrating the success achieved by the Tullio Abbate motorboats.

The Tullio Abbate Motorboats, a Symbol of the Lake Como Lifestyle

During the years the shipyard has built around 9,000 boats, all light and fast but at the same time solid and safe. Among all the models, Tullio Abbate declared to have a soft spot for “Sea Star”, the first motorboat from 1969. For more than fifty years Tullio Abbate boats have been synonymous with exclusivity, customization, high technology and speed; these include the top models “Mito 23”, “Sunshine 30”, “Soleil 42”, “Villa d’Este”, “Elite 27” and the most recent evolutions of the Tullio Abbate technology such as the “Flash 755” and the “Weekender 52”. All of them are designed, built and tested on the waters of Lake Como!

On the shores of Lake Como the tradition of the Abbate family is continuing despite the passing of Tullio Abbate in 2020: a loss that deeply marked the people on Lake Como. One just has to observe the lake on a clear day to see the Tullio Abbate boats racing from Menaggio to Como!