Italian Sailing Federation and Blue Marina Awards Partner for More Sustainable, Inclusive and Safer Marinas
The Italian Sailing Federation (FIV) and Blue Marina Awards have signed a cooperation agreement to promote a shared vision focused on environmental sustainability, the enhancement of marina infrastructure as places of excellence, tourism hospitality, sport, social inclusion, safety, and maritime culture.
The agreement stems from a common ambition to strengthen the connection between sport, the environment, and coastal territories, recognizing marinas and tourist ports not only as strategic infrastructure nodes, but as true cultural, educational, and social assets: open spaces for communities, capable of encouraging access to the sea and to sport in an equitable, safe, and barrier-free way.
Through this collaboration, FIV and Blue Marina Awards aim to develop joint initiatives designed to promote environmental best practices, training activities, and awareness on sustainability and inclusion, while supporting recreational boating in general and sailing in particular as tools for education, participation, wellbeing, and personal growth.
In this way, high-performing marinas become active spaces where sport, tourism, and local communities connect. They become places in which service quality, environmental responsibility, accessibility, safety, and innovation are integrated with sporting practice and with the promotion of a more conscious, responsible, and inclusive maritime culture.
The agreement also strengthens the role of sport within excellent marina infrastructure, recognizing sailing as a discipline that naturally aligns with ESG principles, marine environmental protection, the inclusion of people with disabilities, and the education of younger generations, while contributing to the sustainable development of coastal territories.
A Strategic Alliance Between Sailing, the Blue Economy and the Marina Sector
The partnership between FIV and Blue Marina Awards reflects a clear strategic direction: to foster a model of marina development in which sport, sustainable tourism, innovation, and maritime culture reinforce one another.
Marinas and tourist ports are increasingly being called to evolve. They are no longer simply service infrastructure, but places capable of generating value for coastal destinations, offering quality experiences, ensuring safety and accessibility, and actively contributing to the protection of the marine environment. In this context, sailing becomes a natural ally: an educational and inclusive sport, fully consistent with ESG principles and with the vision of a responsible blue economy.
Objectives and Areas of Cooperation
The Memorandum of Understanding is intended to encourage synergies and shared initiatives in the fields of marinas, maritime culture, sailing, and the sustainable development of coastal territories.
More specifically, the parties intend to work together to:
promote the sustainable, high-quality, and responsible development of marinas and tourist ports;
enhance sailing and maritime culture as drivers of social, cultural, and economic growth;
encourage the dissemination of blue economy principles across local and regional contexts;
support institutional, technical-scientific, training, and promotional initiatives of mutual interest.
The collaboration will develop, on a non-exclusive basis, across several complementary areas: institutional cooperation; technical and scientific activities related to data observatories, flow indicators, and the analysis of visitor and territorial dynamics; promotional and place-based initiatives involving events and local communities; training activities on safety, hospitality, and sustainability; and communication actions aimed at coordinated enhancement and visibility.
Sustainable Marinas: Where Quality, Hospitality and Sport Become One Experience
One of the central elements of the agreement is the promotion of virtuous marinas: facilities that invest in high standards of services, environmental sustainability, accessibility, and innovation, integrating them with sport and with initiatives designed for local communities.
Within this vision, the marina becomes a territorial hub: a place where maritime culture is built, responsible behaviours are encouraged, participation opportunities are created, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and the tourism attractiveness of the coastal destination is strengthened.
Blue Marina Awards and the Italian Sailing Federation: Complementary Roles for Concrete Impact
Through this joint action, Blue Marina Awards further strengthens its role as a reference platform for the enhancement of marinas adopting advanced criteria in quality, sustainability, accessibility, hospitality, and innovation, while the Italian Sailing Federation confirms its institutional commitment to promoting a sporting model linked to the sea that is sustainable, inclusive, and future-oriented.
This is an alliance that looks to the future of the sea, coastal territories, and sport, with the shared objective of generating cultural, environmental, and social value starting from the excellence of the places that live by the sea every day.
Statements
Francesco Ettorre, President of FIV:
“This agreement strengthens the dialogue between the sailing system and coastal territories, enhancing projects that combine maritime culture, sustainability, and community growth. It is a concrete step toward bringing the benefits of sailing to the places where tourism already lives and pursues excellence.”
Walter Vassallo, President of Blue Marina Awards:
“The Protocol with the Italian Sailing Federation consolidates a shared vision: more sustainable, welcoming, innovative, and safer marinas. Blue Marina Awards, as a national ecosystem also built on data and indicators, brings together expertise and project capacity to accelerate the quality and competitiveness of the entire sector.”
