Let’s shed a tear for poor Paul Allen, the multi-billionaire Microsoft founder whose Espen Oeino-designed, Lurssen-built megayacht Octopus just got bumped down a place on the list of the world’s largest yachts thanks to the launch of a new 134-metre ship from Fincantieri. The new behemoth, the largest yacht ever built in Italy, is now the 8th largest yacht in the world, right behind the famous Savarona, built by Blohm + Voss in 1931 for an American heiress and now owned by the Republic of Turkey. Depending on which ranking you put faith in, Serene may in fact have bumped Allen and his 126-metre toy out of the top 10 altogether.
Also designed by Oeino, the Serene, which took four years to complete, has seven decks, a tender hangar and two helipads. The high-tech yacht features a large seawater swimming pool and a submarine with a diving depth of up to 100 metres. The 4,500 square metre interior boasts super-luxe accommodations and entertaining spaces designed by Pascale Reymond from Reymond Langton Design. Also bumped down the list thanks to Serene is Andrey Melnichenko’s eye-popping Phillipe Starck-designed ‘A’. As with all things nautical, however, Serene’s supremacy will be shortlived; Fincantieri is already hard at work on an even larger 140-metre craft dubbed Victory.
