At the beginning of the nineteenth century a new fashion was established in England: go to sea using boats that are leaner and faster and seem to almost fly through the waves. The sea voyage, always, had been fatigue and suffering: at the dawn of the new century, exploiting new types of boats born from the experience of privateers, smugglers and their pursuers, it turns out that sailing can be a pleasure, an extraordinary feeling. That’s how a new sport and a new kind of sportsman, the yachtsman, is born. However, it is hard to assert itself in Italy: Beppe Croce will be a passionate precursor. Passed away in 1986, unforgettable figure of the Italian and international sailing, creator of mythical regattas, began to collect the evidence of this nascent period of sports sailing, to become a collector of international level, owner of a collection that embraces a century of life, between the first half of the nineteenth century and the first decades of the twentieth century.
By the will of the Croce family, the oil paintings, watercolors and lithographs of the Beppe Croce collection, have been granted on loan to the Galata Museo del Mare, which is proud to host and expose them to the public’s attention.