Filippi Boats (Cantiere Navale Filippi Lido S.R.L.) is an international manufacturer of rowing racing shells based in Italy. The company was founded in 1980 by Lido Filippi.
Today, the running of the boatyard is undertaken by Lido Filippi’s son David; the yard employs 60 technicians and produces just over 1100 boats each year, which supply federations worldwide.
In the previous 20 years, crews in Filippi boats have achieved over 400 medals in the World Rowing Championships and at the Olympic Games.
History
The history of Cantiere Filippi dates back to 1980, when Lido Filippi opened his own boat-building business. Filippi produced wooden rowing boats in a small shed with five other shipwrights. The boatyard is located in Donoratico on the Tyrrhenian Sea, which looks out onto the Tuscan archipelago, home to Elba, the "buen retiro" of Napoleon Bonaparte.
By the mid- to late 1980s, Cantiere Filippi was already enjoying its first international success, winning gold medals at the 1986 World Rowing Championships in Nottingham, England, and then the 1987 World Rowing Championships in Copenhagen. Cantiere Filippi additionally won gold in the coxless quadruple sculls at the 1998 Seoul Olympics.
In 1997, Cantiere Filippi was awarded the first ISO quality certification. This was a decisive step as it enabled Cantiere Filippi to guarantee both its international clientele and its 22 exclusive resellers on all five continents consistently high quality according to a clearly defined process.