ITALIAN JOB

The ketch Sahib, built on the Ligurian coast by the boatbuilding Sangermani brothers Cesare and Piero, comes from a boatyard very close to the heart of Italian sailors, Sangermani, but before you can even understand the yard, you need to consider the era that her build was set in. This was Italy in the 1950s, undergoing an economic and cultural transformation so profound that it has since been referred to as a miracle. Today, we often refer to that period as the ‘dolce vita’ (sweet life) years, forgetting just what a change Italy underwent in the 50s and 60s.

Really, this is the era that invented modern Italy, establishing the styles, objects and ideas that are so well known to the world today: state TV was launched, and Italian cinema, with directors like Federico Fellino and Vittorio De Sica and stars like Sophia Loren, was in its heyday. It was a decade that started with the country’s first ever international fashion show (in 1951), today seen as genesis for the country’s ascendency to world fashion leaders. The country’s cuisine, thanks to likes of Elizabeth David, was becoming known internationally. In 1952, a little-known car maker called Ferrari