A year of growth at Società Nautica Pietas Julia

© Giovanni Aiello | Team7Sailing

Last year I announced that Società Nautica Pietas Julia would be the first beneficiary of our Believe, Belong, Achieve Grantee Program. I spoke about coming full circle. About going home to the yacht club where my love for the sea was born and hoping that the children learning to sail in Trieste today might one day represent Italy on the world stage.

One year in and I can tell you it's already happening.

Anastasia Mutti and Leonardo Centuori - two young sailors from the same club where I learnt to sail won the 420 Mixed World Championship in 2025 and they also took home the 420 National title. To know that the  support we put behind this program helped create the conditions for that kind of result makes me really proud.

But the results on the water are only part of the story.

When we awarded SNPJ their grant, the  youth racing team had about 39 athletes. In 2025, that number grew to 55 - a 41% increase - spanning five classes: Optimist, ILCA, RS Feva, 420, and WASZP. Each one of those sailors is a young person who has found a place for themselves on the water, who is learning to compete, to lose, to get back up, and to try again.

Across the year, teams raced at the Youth World and European Championships, Italian Championships, and 420 Women’s World Championship. Many of the sailors from the club ranked in the top ten for their respective competitions; Margherita Pillan, Giulia Massari, Giulio Calligaris, Lara Petrovic and Anna Arlotta all performed extremely well.

Our grant hasn’t just gone towards the club’s racing program though. The SNPJ’s Vento Inclusivo program is at the heart of their Fair Winds for Youth program, and is dedicated to children with autism spectrum disorders and intellectual disabilities. They set a target of involving at least 10 children in the 2025 summer sailing school and by the end 11 had joined the program. With the funds, the team also put together their first Vento Inclusivo Community Day to raise awareness about autism, helping participants better understand the needs of autistic children, and their families within the Italian and local context. They also reached their goal of bringing together public institutions, private organizations and nonprofit associates and achieved a stronger interest from local institutions including the Municipality, the Regional Government. 

To support their inclusive activities, the club purchased a second-hand FEVA Quest, which can carry two or three sailors at once to allow more children to experience the same sense of freedom that I had when I first went sailing at the club, nearly 30 years ago. One of the many things that drew me to this program was SNPJ's commitment to the environment. SNPJ is dedicated to teaching young sailors not just how to race, but why the ocean deserves their respect - something that I always champion in my own work and team.

In 2025, the club launched a collaboration with BioMa, the Marine Biodiversity Center of the Miramare Marine Protected Area, running over seven weeks and engaging around 140 children in marine education activities. At the 54th Trofeo Bernetti, they opened their doors to the public with a series of talks from local researchers on citizen science, on karst geology, and on the Gulf of Trieste's environmental monitoring platform.

One of the quietest but most meaningful things happening at SNPJ right now is what I think of as the loop closing on itself. Former youth athletes are now becoming Level I instructors with one already being appointed as coach of the 420 team. The World Champion, Leonardo Centuori, is now training younger sailors in the WASZP foiling class.

2026 brings a new group of sailors: new 420 crews, new female ILCA 4 athletes, expanded WASZP training, and a National FEVA Class Regatta that SNPJ will host in May. The objectives for many of these younger sailors are simple and important: get on the start line, gain experience, and build confidence.

This is how it all started for me as well at the age of six and I am so proud to see these children grow as athletes from the same Club as I did.

I said last year that coming full circle didn't feel like an ending, instead it felt like a new beginning. Everything I've seen from SNPJ in this first year of our Believe, Belong, Achieve Grantee Program confirms that. The work, impact, and people benefiting from these programs are delivering exactly what the Believe, Belong, Achieve stands for: Believing in the ability of others and creating a space where everyone from all backgrounds belong and know they can achieve anything.