Luigi Mino Poggi

Luigi Mino Poggi was an Italian sailor. He was one of the six members of the Italian boat, Italia, which won the first Olympic gold medal in the history of Italian sailing in Kiel in 1936 and the 53rd overall for Italy. The boat, built at the Attilio Costaguta shipyard in Genova Voltri, was launched on 20 June 1936, just under two months before the Games, and transported by train to Germany. In the Kiel fjord on the Baltic Sea it immediately proved to be a yacht with excellent performance, especially with medium-strong winds.

There was great indecision for the final result since, in the fifth race, there were a series of protests from the crews of other vessels. During this day there were many collisions between close hulls but the regattas continued in the following days without a jury verdict.

This issue was resolved at the end of all of the races. Thanks to the filming from above by German director Leni Riefenstahl, in an airship struggling with the official film of the Olympic Games, the jury could better ascertain the responsibility of that event and decreed that the collision of Italia with the Norwegian boat had been inevitable because it had been provoked by the Danish boat Anitra. In not being given the penalty, the Italian boat managed to clinch victory. The win at the Berlin Olympics remains unique, because it was won by an Italian crew with a boat designed and built in Italy. Italia can still be admired sailing in the waters of the Gulf of Napoli and is moored in Molosiglio in the nautical base of the Naval League and has been recognized by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage as a “historical asset”. In memory of Poggi, a member of the Italian Yacht Club, the Poggi Cup is organized every year in Genova, reserved for the 420, 470 and Laser classes.