Yacht owner Paola Trifirò is this year's recipient of the Legacy Award at the World Superyacht Awards, in association with Acquera Club and The Glenrthoes, in Venice.
Paola Trifirò fell in love with boats during her university days when she sailed on Lake Como. This sparked a long fascination with yachting, starting with her first yacht, the seven-metre Calife, which she bought with her husband Salvatore. "A very strong boat, not too big," she told BOAT in 2015. "I had one burner (in the galley), but always had something hot. I was always organised for fantastic food." A legendary cook and host, exceptional galley spaces have been a key feature of Trifirò's boats ever since.
After Calife, the couple graduated to a 14-metre Dufour yacht, before settling on a Jongert for a few years. "It was called Black Shark; the name was not mine, but it looked like a hotel, like a first-class hotel," says Trifirò. "But there were problems. The beds were positioned in a stupid way, so we [only] kept it a couple of years."
And so a pattern of buying a bigger yacht every few years began - with Trifirò honing her growing experience into creating a roll call of exceptional yachts, including the head-turning Zefira, a 50-metre Dubois design that won Sailing Yacht of the Year in 2011, 33-metre Ribelle, complete with opulent interiors by Rémi Tessier, and the Dubois-designed Kokomo, which introduced Paola to superyacht racing.
An adventurous sailor, Trifirò has cruised the oceans from the South Pacific to the high-latitude fjords of Norway. She is also a keen racer, having competed at the Loro Piana Caribbean Superyacht Regatta and Rendezvous, Loro Piana Superyacht Regatta in Porto Cervo, Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez and the Dubois Cup, where her sailing boats turned heads and garnered admiring reviews.
A committed member of the World Superyacht Awards judging panel, Paola has devoted her time and energy to the awards since 2012. As her fellow judges attested: “Paola has built and sailed a number of spectacular superyachts and is well known and respected in the industry. She is a great personality, and through her long-term work as a judge, she has supported the industry in many ways. She is an icon, instantly recognisable and highly knowledgeable.”
Tonight, we celebrate Paola Trifirò’s remarkable life in boats with the presentation of a well-deserved Legacy Award.
Nominations for the World Superyacht Awards 2025 are now open. If you have any questions, please contact the events team.
NOMINATE A YACHTRead More/Advice from an owner: How to build a regatta-winning sailing yacht