Horses and carriages at the Villa Manin in Passariano/Codroipo in Friuli/Italy

Spirit of Portopiccolo wins 50th Barcolana
Largest sailboat regatta in the world in Trieste

  Trieste/Italy (2018) – Every year on the second Sunday in October the city of Trieste mutates to the Mecca of sailing. This year an estimated 300.000 people populated the city to attend the so-called Barcolana in the Gulf of Trieste, a true celebration of the sea and the sport of sailing with the main event, the largest sailboat regatta in the world. While the famous boat race is held on Sunday, the Barcolana celebration is spread out over the whole weekend. This year's Barcolana was the 50th in history and it was bigger and better than ever. The Frecce Tricolori – Italy's pride of the air, the aerobatic demonstration team of the Italian Aeronautica Militare, based at Rivolto Air Force Base, in the province of Udine, in the north-eastern Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia – initiated the race with a stunning performance. The record number of 2.689 sailboats attended the race and were cheered on by an unbelievable huge crowd at the pier, which not only enjoyed the race but also the food, the entertainment, and a beautiful fall day. Not only the city of Trieste was packed with spectators on race day, but also the surrounding cities, towns and villages where heavily congested with people who swarmed out like bees on that day, thousands wanted to see the start of the race in bird's eye view. The regatta ended with a fairytale ending, the local favorite "Spirit of Portopiccolo" with the brothers Furio and Gabriele Benussi won the race in only 57.04 minutes in front of the boats Ottica Inn, Way of Life and Viriella, the largest sailboat to ever compete in a Barcolana regatta. The end of the regatta obviously wasn't the end of the 50th Barcolana, the celebration at the pier lasted long into the night. One of the sailboat captains shared his philosophy of the Barcolana with a glass of champagne in his hand: "Even though the regatta has an official winner, nobody who participated at the Barcolana, lost, we all won today."  
Horse with carriage in front of Villa Manin in Codroipo in Friuli in Italy

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