ON BOARD WITH Aldo Melpignano
For this Roman businessman, exploring the seas under canvas is the key to happiness. Tristan Rutherford talks to the owner of Imagine about luxury tourism, Italian heritage and the joy of sailing
Chartering in the 1980s was “a very analogue experience”, remembers Aldo Melpignano. Every spring, his parents would wait for a hefty yacht brochure to arrive from Camper & Nicholsons in London to their address in Rome. “After looking at each page, my parents would call the broker in Monaco,” explains Melpignano. “They would tell you a little bit more about the boat or the crew but that was all you knew.”
Melpignano’s parents grew up in the sun-drenched Italian province of Puglia. “My father was a seaside guy,” explains his son, now 43. “He studied in Rome then set up a law practice. But we were in the water all the time, sometimes sailing in little wooden fishing boats.” Melpignano Snr’s business started going well when Aldo was “seven or eight”, and the family started to charter every summer for two weeks.
“A favourite charter was ,” recalls Melpignano. The 39-metre (now and currently for sale), was built in 1930 in
