Italy Yacht Charter

Crewed catamarans, motor yachts and superyachts from the Amalfi Coast to the Costa Smeralda. Broker-led since 1992.

Reviewed by Adrian Sneed, Charter Broker at Sneed Charters — a family brokerage arranging crewed yacht charters in the Mediterranean since 1992.

Where to charter in Italy

Five grounds, and they do not cruise alike. The Amalfi Coast and the Aeolians are short-hop island circuits. Sardinia is a permit regime as much as a cruising ground. The Ligurian Riviera is a day-trip coast with a protected area in the middle of it. The Tuscan archipelago is the quietest and the least visited.

The Amalfi Coast has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997, covering 11,231 hectares across fifteen municipalities. The Aeolian Islands were inscribed in 2000 — they are the type locality for the Vulcanian and Strombolian eruption styles, which is why the geology reads the way it does from the deck.

The trade-off worth saying out loud: Italy gives you the best coastline in the Mediterranean and charges you 22% for it. If the shore programme is the point, that is money well spent. If you mainly want to be at anchor, Greece and Croatia deliver a comparable week at 13%.

If Italy turns out not to be the right water for you, we broker the whole basin — see our Mediterranean yacht charter guide.

What an Italian charter costs, and what the tax adds

Weekly rates track the rest of the Mediterranean — roughly €15,000 for a crewed catamaran to €500,000 and beyond for a large superyacht, quoted on MYBA terms plus an APA of 25–35%. What is specific to Italy is the tax on top.

Charter VAT in Italy is 22%, applied to the charter fee. On a €60,000 week that is €13,200, against €7,800 for the same yacht boarding in Greece or Croatia. That gap — about €5,400 — is the single largest line item you can move by changing where the week starts.

The lump-sum reduction is gone. Italy used to presume how much of a charter took place outside EU waters, based on the yacht’s length and propulsion; for yachts over 24 metres the effective rate commonly quoted was around 6.6%. That regime was repealed through Law 160/2019 and Decree-Law 76/2020 and ceased to apply from 1 November 2020. Any quote you are shown that still cites 6.6% is more than five years out of date, and we would want to know what else on it is stale.

The relief that does still exist, and what it asks of you

Relief for the portion of a charter spent outside EU territorial waters survives, but it is now evidence-based. Under the Agenzia delle Entrate ruling of 29 October 2020, a short-term charter on a yacht with satellite tracking can rely on GPS and AIS data alone. Without satellite systems, the contract has to be supported by at least two of: the navigation log, dated digital photographs of the vessel’s position — a minimum of two per week — mooring documentation at a non-EU port, or receipts for goods and services bought outside the EU.

None of that is yours to administer. It belongs to the yacht and her managers. But it is worth knowing that the relief is real, that it is conditional, and that a yacht whose operation is casual about record-keeping may not be able to claim it.

The marine parks decide where you can actually moor

Italy has 32 marine protected areas, zoned A, B and C: Zone A is an integral reserve where navigation and anchoring are both prohibited, Zone B is regulated, Zone C is a buffer. On an Italian charter these zones do more to shape the itinerary than the weather does.

Portofino — the one nobody mentions

The Portofino marine protected area publishes a mooring tariff that stops at 24 metres, and most of its buoys are limited to vessels under 7.5 metres. In Zone A, navigation, anchoring and mooring are all prohibited. In Zone B, yachts above the eco-compatibility thresholds may transit only perpendicular to the shore at five knots, to reach the San Fruttuoso moorings. In Zone C, anchoring is permitted only 100 metres or more from shore.

The honest version: a charter yacht of any real size cannot moor inside the Portofino MPA. You visit Portofino by tender from Santa Margherita Ligure, which is a couple of miles away and where the yacht can actually lie. Brokers who put Portofino on an itinerary without saying this are setting up a disappointing afternoon.

La Maddalena — a permit, priced by the metre

Sardinia’s La Maddalena National Park charges for access by length of the vessel. For 2026 the daily permit runs €4.50 per metre for yachts of 24 to 35 metres and €5.00 per metre above 35 metres; a seven-day permit for a yacht in the 40-metre-plus band is €760. Buying online takes 5% off, and sailing vessels get 40%.

New rules for 2026 also cap commercial activity inside the park: charter permits have been cut to 450, day-boat rentals are limited to 700 units a day in the marine areas, and tender landings on beaches are prohibited — landings are permitted only at docks and piers, and only between 17:00 and 09:00. Operating without a permit carries fines of €1,032 to €3,098.

Posidonia: what is true, and what is not

You will read that Italy fines yachts tens of thousands of euros for anchoring over posidonia seagrass. That is France, not Italy. The widely circulated €90,000 case was in Corsica, under French law, which does prohibit anchoring in protected posidonia for vessels of 24 metres and above with fines up to €150,000.

Italy’s position in 2026 is different and weaker. Law 70 of 7 May 2026 establishes the principle that anchoring must not damage marine habitats and names posidonia expressly — but as WWF Italia has pointed out, it attaches no sanctions, no restoration obligation and no binding use of the national seagrass mapping. In practice, enforceable anchoring restrictions in Italy are set marine-park by marine-park and by local Capitaneria ordinance, not by a national fine regime. That is a real distinction, and any captain working these waters regularly knows which local rules bite.

When to go

The season runs May to October. A useful objective marker: the marina at Capri prices its high season as 16 May to 15 September, with shoulder rates in the first half of May and from mid-September to mid-October. That is the industry’s own read on when demand peaks, expressed in money rather than opinion.

Around Naples, air temperatures average roughly 18–28°C in June and 17–27°C in September, with sea temperature peaking near 27°C in August and holding well into September. September remains the week we recommend most often in Italy for the same reason we recommend it everywhere in the Mediterranean: the water is still warm, the ports have emptied, and you pay shoulder rates.

Worth knowing: the Mediterranean has warmed roughly 1.4°C since the 1980s, faster than any other European sea region, and 2024 and 2025 were the two warmest years on record for the basin. Warm water is pleasant to swim in and is also what fuels the sharper late-summer weather.

Where your week starts

Most Italian charters board at Naples, Salerno, Olbia, Palermo or Genoa. The starting port fixes Italian VAT at 22% for the whole charter, so a week that begins in Italy is taxed at 22% even if most of it is spent elsewhere.

Two practical notes. Capri takes yachts up to 60 metres with 8 metres of depth, but access requires a prior call under the harbour ordinances, commercial ferry traffic has priority, and there is a two-knot speed limit inside. It is not a port you turn up at. Salerno’s Marina d’Arechi is the practical superyacht base for the Amalfi Coast — a dedicated quay for yachts from 32 to 100 metres, 8 metres of depth, a 170-metre entrance, bunkering and a helipad, close to Salerno Costa d’Amalfi airport.

What changed in 2026

Non-EU yachts can now charter under temporary admission. Customs circular ADM 11/2026 of 15 May 2026 allows non-EU-flagged commercial yachts to charter in Italy under temporary admission rather than requiring full importation, and excludes time spent in a shipyard under inward processing from the 18-month clock. The conditions attached — specifically who aboard must be established outside the EU — are read differently by different advisers, so this is one to confirm per yacht rather than assume.

A new foreign-flag navigability test. Law 70/2026 introduced Article 26-ter of the pleasure-craft code, requiring foreign-flagged craft up to 24 metres owned by Italian residents or entities to prove navigability. It is being challenged on EU-law grounds. It does not affect a foreign guest chartering a commercially operated yacht, and we mention it only because it is being reported as though it does.

Frequently asked questions