Benetti Motopanfilo 37M

About the Benetti Motopanfilo 37M

Benetti launched the first Motopanfilo 37M at Viareggio in 2021 as a deliberate look backwards. The name is simply Italian for 'motor yacht', and the design revives the timber gentleman's cruisers that built Benetti's reputation in the 1960s. Francesco Struglia shaped the exterior with Benetti's own team, while Rome architects Lazzarini Pickering handled the interiors — pale timber and curved ceilings ribbed like the inside of a wooden hull. Beneath the retro lines sits a modern 37-metre fibreglass yacht with twin MAN V12 engines and a 3,800-nautical-mile range at 10 knots, enough to cross an ocean.

Life aboard spreads across four decks. The owner sleeps forward on the main deck in a suite with a study and a bathroom spanning the boat's full width; four double guest cabins sit on the deck below, their walls following the gentle curve of the hull. The main saloon opens straight onto the rear deck, the upper deck holds a quieter lounge and an open-air dining table, and a small observation deck perches above the sundeck for sunset drinks. At anchor the back of the boat folds down into a beach club — a swim platform at the waterline — with a pull-out bar. Ten guests, up to seven crew.

The Motopanfilo 37M is built as a semi-custom series — the sixth hull launched in December 2023 — so each boat shares proven engineering while owners tailor the layout and finishes. Its natural rivals are Sanlorenzo's SD118 and SD126 and Azimut's Grande Trideck, but none of them matches its range, and none looks anything like it. That is the real reason to pick this one: in an anchorage full of near-identical white wedges, the Motopanfilo reads as a classic that happens to be new, with the reliability and quiet modern systems of a current production yacht.

It suits owners and charterers who want classic Riviera character with modern reliability and genuine ocean-crossing range — people who choose a yacht for its story rather than its sheer size.