On July 4th weekend, the America’s Cup—sailing’s oldest trophy, first won by a New York yacht in 1851—returned to the Hudson River for the first time in nearly two centuries. The Italian Navy’s historic 1931 tall ship, the Amerigo Vespucci, known internationally as “the most beautiful ship in the world,” carried the Cup to New York’s harbor as part of the 250th-anniversary Sail4th naval review. Standing beside it was Marzio Perrelli, a year into the job as the first-ever CEO of the America’s Cup Partnership, and a man who spent 25 years actively avoiding sports for a living.
“I’m here because there was this big event for the 250th anniversary, and the Amerigo Vespucci was here, so we brought the Cup on it,” Perrelli told Fortune in the equally ornate teak woodwork and hand-carved ornamented lobby of New York’s Algonquin Hotel, just days after the storied ship entered New York’s harbor. “That was an opportunity to bring the Cup back to New York, where everything started almost two centuries ago.”
The Italian Navy’s training ship Amerigo Vespucci, widely dubbed “the most beautiful ship in the world”, has arrived in New York to mark the 250th anniversary celebrations of American independence.Copyright by Amerigo Vespucci, Courtesy of the America’s Cup Partnership
