“Where are we going today then Marzio?” “We go wherever the wind takes us my friend.” So says Marzio Cuoco, former RAF Tornado pilot and now a charterer of luxury sailboats based in the charming port of Agropoli in Campania.
Marzio may once have ruled the skies, but these days he is much more at home on the Mediterranean with nothing more stressful than the breeze to worry about.
It’s mid-morning and we left Agropoli an hour or so back and, once the wind picked up, he cut the engine on Arisaghia our Sun Odessy yacht, opened up her sails and let her run the spectacular Cilento coast with the breeze. “I wasn’t joking before,” he tells me, “we really are going where the wind takes us!” And it seems Neptune has deemed we should travel along the coast past the ancient ruins at Paestum towards Amalfi.
I’m not what you would call an experienced mariner, but boy this is a lovely way to relax on a sunny day in Italy. Particularly when someone else is doing all the hard work. If you have enough time you could sail to Amalfi for lunch, perhaps pop across to Capri for an afternoon aperitivo and be back in Agropoli in time for dinner. Marzio has clients who spend a week on board just sailing to different beaches, swimming where the fancy takes them and eating dinner on board. His biggest boat has five cabins.
He’s just brought out some homemade food from the galley (“my wife made some snacks for us”) and we’re sat together with a bottle of excellent chilled local spumante, and frankly, all is well with the world as far as I am concerned. At least for today.
As we chat and munch on locally cured ham, olives, some scamorza (smoked) mozzarella, frittata, sun-dried tomatoes and breadsticks, I can sense how satisfying this second life has become.
I had reached the rank of brigadier general and managed to get my retirement. But I needed to do something more, I’m wasn’t ready to get the pipe and slippers. So, I moved from Naples to Agropoli, bought my first boat and after a lot of hard work we have four boats in our fleet and life is good.”
The wind changes direction and our pilot turned skipper jumps up, makes a few adjustments and we turn for home. “It’s telling us we have to go back now.”
Well, when it comes to Neptune you do as your told.
Tell me more about Sailboat Charters in Campania
Vela Dream Charters, Via San Francesca, 36 – 84043 Agropoli
Tel: (Office) +39 0974 824746 (Cell) +39 329 7711447
Vela Dream Charters offers daily, weekend and weekly excursions on fully crewed motor yachts within the Campania/Mediterranean region. Charters are available from two to ten people.
Daily excursions from €300
Weekly charters
Agropoli is the ideal starting point for a sailing charter. Thanks to its geographic position midway between Campanella’s Cape, Sorrento’s peninsula, and Cape of Palinuro. It is possible to sail towards either the Gulf of Naples including Amalfi, Sorrento, Ischia and Capri, or along the Coast of
Cilento to Acciaroli, Casal Velino, Palinuro, Marina di Camerota, Scario or the Eolian Islands.
