Tilli Antonelli on the World of WIDER

By Ben Roberts

Sat on the sundeck of the new WIDER 150 superyacht in Monaco, WIDER Founder & CEO Tilli Antonelli explains how the brand is producing true next generation superyachts.

Tilli Antonelli - the man whose expertise introduced Pershing to the world - has continued his ongoing collaboration with designer Fulvio De Simoni to bring a different vision of yachting to the water.

“Nobody needs to buy a yacht,” explains Antonelli. “You buy a yacht because you feel something watching it, stepping on it and this is what we want to do with our product. To translate the emotion we have building our product into the market.”

Delivered in April 2016, the first WIDER superyacht Bartali was this week announced to be the quietest yacht ever built to RINA Comfort Class, and the first yacht to obtain a perfect score for levels of sound and vibration. This is just one aspect of a vessel with innovation in its DNA, and the flagship for WIDER’s creativity in design.

“In 2010, I thought the only way to do something different - apart from the lines which is a matter of taste - [was] to create something really efficient and green, which is the diesel electric propulsion.

“With the battery pack you can stay at anchor in a bay, you can run everything for 8 hours with no generators running at all, in complete silence, with no smoke or smell from exhaust. To fully recharge the batteries it takes an hour and 45 mins and then you have another 8 hours to sleep in silence. This is amazing.”

This is the first step to give to the market something which is extremely efficient in terms of use and consumption [...] to build something different with an engine room in the front.”


By placing the propulsion systems and technical spaces forward, WIDER Yachts have opened up a vast amount of space throughout the 150, and placed incredible care into how each area is used.

“We have made a lot of space for the cabins, [and] we have made a lot of space for the big garage,” adds Antonelli. “For a 47 metre yacht, we can house a tender of 32 feet plus swimming pool. This is because the space needed for this kind of propulsion has shrunk compared to a regular propulsion system.”

The WIDER 150 features lateral walkway wings which extend over the water, allowing for a full beam Sky Lounge – meaning huge volume inside yet privacy for the owner thanks to the crew passages to the upper deck aft and sundeck, something that all other yachts of similar size need to compromise upon - and an owner’s ‘apartment’ with folding balcony and a large opening window.

Her beach club is a marvel of modern engineering. At sea, this space houses the WIDER 32 rigid tender, however once the water floods the pool the tender can drive out and leaves behind a private pool and beach area with two lateral platforms that fold down to extend the space even further.

“In terms of functionality, the extension of the wings gives a lot more comfort to give a full-beam sky lounge and still have a side passage for the crew. The beach area is another point, where we tried to bring customers back to the sea level. A lot of the new construction projects have several decks, and you are more likely to smell the mountains than the sea. So we try to bring people back to the sea.”

When asked about how WIDER do things differently, the charismatic Tilli Antonelli said: “First of all, for this size yacht, the full aluminium construction. Second, the good care on the installation, and third, we think we achieve a good finish and quality of interiors. We are really watching the Dutch shipyards, we appreciate very much their product. We think we can do an even product, I don’t say better but I think we can do something at the same level."

After taking the WIDER 150 out across the Mediterranean on her first sea trial, we look forward to providing you with a full insight into the yacht as well as the 165 which is also under construction at the Italian shipyard.

"A lot of the new construction projects have several decks, and you are more likely to smell the mountains than the sea. So we try to bring people back to the sea."

Tilli Antonelli - Founder & CEO of WIDER

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"A lot of the new construction projects have several decks, and you are more likely to smell the mountains than the sea. So we try to bring people back to the sea."

Tilli Antonelli - Founder & CEO of WIDER
By Ben Roberts