By SUZANNE McFADDEN
Sixty years ago, when Prada's lucky charm Renzo Guidi was a boy, Punta Ala was a barren island, good for nothing but fishing.
Today the exclusive Italian seaside resort is gearing up to become the home of the America's Cup.
Two of the key players in the Prada campaign have historic ties to the home of the Luna Rossa boats, on the west coast of Italy halfway between Pisa and Rome.
Before the Second World War, Punta Ala was uninhabited, visited by no one but fishermen.
One of them was a young Guidi - now the 17th man who rides on Luna Rossa in every cup race for good luck.
Guidi, now 73, would guide his boat across to the island from his home in the nearby port of Castiglione della Pescaia, to catch fish - but not in the conventional way. He climbed to the top of the mast and threw bombs into the water - stunning his catch.
Punta Ala means "Point Wing" - and was given its name by Italian general Italo Balbo.
Balbo, at one time the commander-in-chief of the Fascist militia before the Second World War, was also famous for setting flying speed records.
The man charged with resurrecting the Italian Air Force once flew over the little island, said it looked like a wing, and named it.
Balbo died in the war, mistakenly shot down by his own forces over Libya.
His grand-daughter, Flavia Pischedda, is in Auckland today as Prada's sail loft manager.
Balbo would not recognise his Punta Ala today. A causeway now joins the island to the Tyrrhenian coast.
Twenty years ago, developers turned it into an exclusive resort. The marina has 950 berths and Yacht Club Punta Ala has about 500 members, among them Prada boss Patrizio Bertelli.
The proud president of the yacht club, Bruno Calandriello, had to watch Prada's victory in the challenger final on Italian television - he could not come to Auckland because he broke his leg.
If Prada win the America's Cup, it is unlikely the next regatta will be sailed off Punta Ala because it is too small.
Bertelli will not say where the cup could be raced.
"It is too premature."
But some of the suggestions are Isola d'Elba, the nearby island where Napoleon was once exiled for 100 days, and Naples.
Napoli, as it is called in Italy, has a huge old industrial area near Bagnoli that could be turned into a cup village.
Exclusive resort part of Prada's heritage
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.