Who knew? Andrea Bocelli, one of the greatest musical talents in the world, loves to go cruising. The Italian tenor, who’s been blind since he was 12, just bought his latest boat, a steel-hulled 86-foot expedition boat built by Cantiere della Marche in 2015. Named Stella del Nord, the boat is the fourth in the Italian yard’s 86 series, and it’s the eighth boat that Bocelli has bought in the past 19 years.
Bocelli told the yard he wanted to do more long-range cruising with his family, and he traded in the 72-foot Gamma named Libertas that he bought new in 2014. Powered by twin 365-hp CAT diesels, Stella del Nord has a top speed of 11.5 knots, and it has an impressive range of 6,700 nm at 8.5 knots.
The singer’s new boat has four staterooms, including an amidships master, plus room for five crew in two more cabins. It has two salons, one on the main deck and one on the upper-deck skylounge that is set up as a library with three sofas. The yacht also has a spacious sundeck and room for a 16-foot tender on the upper deck. Stella del Nord has a displacement of 195 tons, a 24’ 3” beam and a 7’ 5” draft. There’s no word whether Bocelli transferred his Yamaha electric piano from his old boat to the new one.
After he bought the boat at the CdM yard in Lavagna in northern Italy, Bocelli cruised to Naples, running into a late spring storm but arriving in time for his scheduled concert at Naples’ opera house. He now is starting a new U.S. tour, without the boat, in Sacramento, California, on June 15. It’s bound to be a treat. Once, after performing with him, Celine Dion said, “If God would have a singing voice, he must sound a lot like Andrea Bocelli.” Read more:
