Cantiere delle Marche Yachts History & Heritage

One of the key players behind the emergence of the yard was the Cecchini family and the family’s strong commercial shipbuilding background proved crucial. They realized at the time that the speedy, flybridge market was saturated, but that there was still a number of “old money” owners, who enjoyed long-range cruising. They also noted that whilst some builders were targeting them, it was mostly through production boats, there was very little in the way of fully custom yachts with a go-anywhere, do-anything attitude. From here Cantiere delle Marche was born.

Initially, the yard was focused on just two ranges, its traditional explorer Darwin Class yacht and the more contemporary Nauta Air line, which has since been discontinued. More recently it has expanded its fleet to include its flagship Flexplorer 140 and the RJ Range. It also takes on fully custom projects.

CdM’s yard is based in Ancona on Italy’s Adriatic Coast with around 250 employees working from its 16,000 square meter facilities which include 7,000 square meters of workshops and 1,000 square meters of docks.

The builder has played a big role in bringing explorer vessels into the mainstream, and within its first decade in business has cemented itself as one of the leading builders of explorer yachts in the world.