CREW
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Peter BurlingSkipper & Starboard HelmThree-time winner of the America’s Cup with Emirates Team New Zealand, Peter is an Olympic gold and silver medallist in the 49er class and joined Luna Rossa in June 2025 with an eye on securing a fourth straight America’s Cup win – unprecedented in the 175-year history of the event. Peter is a six-time 49er World Champion as well as an International Moth and 420 World Champion. Peter began his America’s Cup journey by winning the Youth America’s Cup in 2013. In 2017 at the age of 26 he got another record by being the youngest ever helmsman to win the America’s Cup. In 2017, soon after bringing back the Cup to New Zealand he jumped onboard Team Brunel for the 2017/18 Volvo Ocean Race finishing in 3rd position. Leading the home favourites, Luna Rossa, in Sardinia is a high-pressure role for one of the world’s most accomplished racing sailors.
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Marco GradoniHelmWinning skipper of the Youth America’s Cup, Marco is the only sailor in history to win the Optimist World Championships three times in a row. As a result, he earned the title of World Sailor of the Year in 2019. Focussed on the America’s Cup, Marco is seen as one of the rising stars of the future and is expected to perform well in Sardinia with an eye on getting a coveted helm position on the team’s AC75 for Naples. A scientific high school graduate, Marco made his debut on the Optimist at the age of 10, winning the World Championship in 2017, 2018, 2019; this extraordinary result earned him the World Sailor of The Year Award, which he received in 2019 at the age of 15 (the youngest winner ever). After a brief stint on 29ers, in 2021 he shifted to the helm of the Olympic Class 470 Mixed - paired with Alessandra Dubbini -, in which he confirmed his outstanding skills, winning the World Championship and the Junior European Championship. A lover of tactical sailing and the sea in 360°, which he loves all year round, he has always cultivated the dream of the America's Cup, which came true when he joined the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team in 2022. Skipper of the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli Youth team and co-helmsman of the AC40, he skippered the Youth America's Cup, an event reserved for under-25s. His hobbies are surfing and wing-foiling. If he were not a professional sailor, he would be a long-distance captain or a naval officer, but he has never really wanted to do anything else.
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Ruggero TitaHelmOlympic gold medallist in the Nacra 17 class in Paris 2024 and Tokyo 2021, has already earned the highly prestigious 'Collare d'Oro al Merito Sportivo' award (2018 - 2021 - 2022) and Rolex World Sailor of the Year 2022. Ruggero has a degree in Information Engineering and Business Management. At the age of 13 he won the Italian, Swiss and European champion titles in the Optimist class. He then raced in the 29er class before moving up to 49ers in which he has been multiple Italian Champion. After participating - with bowman Pietro Zucchetti - in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, he turned to the Nacra 17 where, with bowwoman Caterina Banti, with whom he has won the gold medal in Paris and Tokyo, 4 world championships and 4 European championships. Ruggero worked with Team Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli in the preparation for the 36th America's Cup challenge but was unable to compete due to the Olympics being moved to the summer of 2021. He is passionate about skiing, snowboarding and paragliding. If he were not a professional sailor, he would be a skier. The 2024 event with Luna Rossa was his first America's Cup.
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Maria GiubileiTrimmerWith a degree in Philosophy, Maria started sailing at the age of on Optimists and since then, while still cultivating other interests (she attended the conservatory and plays the guitar), she has never stopped racing. In 2017, following her classical high school diploma, she embarked on the Olympic path in the Nacra 17 class where she achieved several successes paired with Gianluigi Ugolini: two-time World Vice-Champion (2021 and 2022), three-time U24 World Champion (2018, 2019 and 2021), 2 bronze medals at the European Championships (2022 and 2023) and Gold at the Paris 2024 Test Event. Maria has a strong passion for philosophy and knowledge in general, loves nature and animals, and, if she were not a sailor, would fight for their rights full-time. In 2024 she joined the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli women's team and in the role of trimmer of the AC40 she won the Puig Women's America's Cup in Barcelona.
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Gianluigi UgoliniHelmThe newly-crowned Nacra 17 World Champion, Gianluigi, or ‘Gigi’ as he’s known, was co-helm with Marco Gradoni when Luna Rossa won the Youth America’s Cup in Barcelona in 2024. A graduate in Design, “Gigi” began sailing at the age of 5 in the Optimist class. In 2017, after completing scientific high school, he embarked on the Olympic pathway in the Nacra 17 class, where he achieved several major successes sailing with Maria Giubilei including: two-time World Championship runner-up (2021 and 2022), three-time Under-24 World Champion (2018, 2019, and 2021), one silver and two bronze medals at the European Championships (2022 and 2023), gold medal at the Paris 2024 Test Event. Gigi is deeply passionate about sport and everything related to design, but at the moment there is nothing else he would rather do besides being a sailor.
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Umberto MolinerisTrimmerUmberto started sailing at the age of 10 in the Adriatic, progressing through the youth classes (some single-handed boats, then mainly the 420 class), before moving into Olympic sailing disciplines, first the 470 and then the 49er class. In the 49er he became Italian Champion and also achieved several top-10 finishes at world level.
Later, he decided to challenge himself in other types of boats and competed in multiple professional racing circuits. In 2021, he joined the Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli team through the New Generation program and has taken part in two America’s Cup campaigns (Auckland 2021 and Barcelona 2024). He loves music and plays the piano (he attended conservatory), and he is passionate about all water sports and skiing. If he were not a professional sailor, he would still choose a job outdoors. Even though he studied economics, the idea of working in an office does not appeal to him at all.