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Max Sirena, Naples and the Luna Rossa dream

From September’s Preliminary Regatta to the 2027 America’s Cup, Max Sirena talks about his bond with Luna Rossa and Naples’ role in the future of Italian sailing

Max Sirena looks towards the 2027 America’s Cup in Naples with one clear goal: winning with Luna Rossa and turning the event into an opportunity for Italian sailing

For Max Sirena, the 2027 America’s Cup will not simply be another edition of the oldest trophy in international sailing. It will be the first held in Italy, in front of an Italian crowd, with Luna Rossa once again carrying the expectations of an entire country.

His objective could hardly be clearer: to lift the trophy under the Italian flag.

Behind that ambition, however, lies something that goes far beyond the sporting result. There is a relationship with Luna Rossa built over almost thirty years, a deep personal bond with Patrizio Bertelli and the awareness that Naples could turn the Cup into something much larger than a series of races.

Luna Rossa as a second family

Sirena speaks about the Italian team in terms rarely heard in the highly technical language of professional sport.

For him, Luna Rossa is a second family, almost a second mother. It is a project in which career, personal relationships, victories and defeats have become almost impossible to separate.

That is also why the 2027 challenge will carry a special meaning. After decades of pursuing the America’s Cup around the world, the Italian team will finally be able to compete for it in home waters.

For Sirena, that also brings greater responsibility. Luna Rossa will represent more than a sailing team: it will be a technical and sporting movement carrying the Italian colours in front of its home crowd.

The Cup can be won before reaching the water

The America’s Cup is often described through speed, foils, manoeuvres and technological innovation. Sirena, however, points out that an important part of the competition takes place away from the racecourse.

Technical decisions, development programmes, team organisation and the ability to read rival campaigns can profoundly influence what later happens on the water.

Psychology also plays an unusually important role. Every detail can become information, every decision can put pressure on an opponent, and choices made ashore can ultimately determine the sporting result.

The Naples Preliminary Regatta will serve this purpose as well: watching, comparing and understanding how the balance between the teams is evolving on the road to 2027.

Naples gets its first full rehearsal

From 24 to 27 September 2026, the Bay of Naples will host the Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup Preliminary Regatta, the second event on the Road to Naples after the opening regatta in Sardinia.

Racing will take place aboard AC40 one-design yachts, capable of speeds above 40 knots. Following the official practice day on 24 September, up to three fleet races are scheduled for Friday 25, another three on Saturday 26 and as many as two on Sunday 27, followed by a final match race between the two leading teams.

For Luna Rossa, it will also provide the opportunity to build on its performance in the opening Preliminary Regatta of the cycle in Sardinia.

More importantly, it will allow the team to continue learning a racecourse that is destined to become increasingly familiar. Luna Rossa has already begun training in Naples with two AC40s, gaining early experience of the conditions in the Gulf.

Racing in front of the city

Naples will not simply provide the background to the event.

The racecourse will sit close to the shore and much of the action will be visible from the city’s waterfront. A free Race Village will accompany the Preliminary Regatta, bringing team activity and live coverage of the racing directly to spectators.

This could significantly change the relationship between the America’s Cup and its audience.

Modern Cup yachts are extraordinarily complex and extremely fast technological machines, but racing so close to the city gives people who do not normally follow sailing an opportunity to experience them first-hand.

Sirena sees the Italian public and the energy of Naples as one of the potential additional strengths of the event.

Taking sailing beyond the coastline

When discussing the America’s Cup, Sirena also places considerable emphasis on a less spectacular but perhaps more important long-term objective: younger generations.

The ambition is not simply to attract children already living close to marinas or sailing clubs, but also to reach those who have very limited contact with the sea.

In his view, sailing becomes a school for life: it teaches responsibility, teamwork, the ability to respond to changing conditions and respect for the environment in which sailors compete.

An event of the scale of the America’s Cup can therefore create curiosity before it creates new sailors.

A Cup that is changing on board as well

The 38th America’s Cup cycle is also introducing an important evolution in crew pathways.

The AC40 Preliminary Regattas allow teams to field Women & Youth crews, creating a more structured route for female and younger sailors within America’s Cup campaigns.

Sirena regards this as an important historic step.

It is not simply about participation, but about developing a new generation of athletes and professionals who can play an increasingly important role in future editions of the America’s Cup.

Bagnoli, the Cup beyond sailing

There is another element that makes Naples 2027 different from many previous editions.

The America’s Cup forms part of the wider transformation of Bagnoli, an area that has spent decades at the centre of redevelopment and regeneration plans.

Sirena believes an international event of this scale can help accelerate processes extending far beyond sport.

For the 2026 Preliminary Regatta, teams will be hosted in the Nisida area, while preparations for 2027 are progressing alongside the work connected with the following year’s main event.

This may prove to be one of the most interesting aspects of the Naples America’s Cup: the sea will be at the centre of the spectacle, but its effects could reach far beyond the starting line.

The Italian dream beneath Vesuvius

The 38th America’s Cup will mark a historic first: the Louis Vuitton Cup and America’s Cup Match will be raced in Italy, in the waters off Naples, with Vesuvius and the city’s waterfront creating a setting unlike almost any previous edition.

For Luna Rossa, it will also be the opportunity to pursue a dream almost thirty years in the making in the place where the support of the Italian public may be stronger than ever.

Max Sirena believes it could become the most beautiful America’s Cup ever.

Whether it will also become the one Italy has been waiting for so long will only be known in 2027.

In Naples, however, the countdown has already begun.

11 September 2026
© MED Yachting Editorial Team
Max Sirena, Naples and the Luna Rossa dream
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