Cervetti sailboats: an Italian catamaran sold under an export name
Cervetti is not an independent shipyard. It's the export name a Forlì-based Italian builder puts on its catamaran outside France and Italy, where the same hull is sold as Dufour Catamarans -- a split that traces to Fountaine Pajot's takeover of the Dufour brand, which left the Dufour Catamarans name valid in France and Italy but not elsewhere, where the Cervetti name took its place.
Origins and ownership
The builder behind both names is JJL Catamarans srl, established in 2017 in Forlì, Emilia Romagna, initially as part of the Dufour group of companies. JJL's early production centered on the Dufour 48, designed by Umberto Felci. In 2020 the shipyard changed hands; the new owners kept the Dufour 48 in production under the Dufour Catamarans name while working toward new catamaran models that would launch under the Cervetti brand.
The designers
Multihulls World credits the design studio Skyron as architect of the newer catamaran sold as the Cervetti 44 and the Dufour 44, describing it as "the little sistership to the Dufour 48," announced at the Cannes Yachting Festival. That earlier 48 remains a Felci design built at the same yard -- a different architect from a different generation, worth keeping separate from the Skyron-designed 44.
Construction through the eras
JJL Catamarans, registered at Via Monda 128 in Forlì, has built there on a 5,000-square-meter production site since 2017 and added a second, 8,000-square-meter facility in 2023; the yard has also drawn up plans for a third expansion phase meant to push total capacity past 10,000 square meters. Cervetti says it manufactures its catamarans in Italy using suppliers sourced from across the EU, building furniture in-house and installing electrical systems, engines and other mechanical components as part of final assembly, with quality checks the builder says run throughout production to catch mistakes before delivery. On the 44, Multihulls World reported hulls with inverted bows carried over from the earlier design but reworked with a greater angle and more width.
Who Cervetti is for
A Cervetti buyer is buying into JJL Catamarans' Italian production under a market-specific label -- the same design and construction program sold as Dufour Catamarans in France and Italy, just marketed under a different name everywhere else.
