Matteo Puppo and Matteo Capurro. Matteo & Matteo to their friends


We were born in Genoa. We know the salt, we know the sun.
We were born in Genoa. With our feet in the water and the wind in our bones.
We were born in Genoa. As bright as beacons.
We were born in Genoa. With the storm in our soul and with sails instead of thoughts. And we wait for the wind.

Matteo Puppo and Matteo Capurro. Matteo & Matteo to their friends
Matteo Puppo and Matteo Capurro are Junior European champions in the 470 category. With Slam always by their side.

Matteo Capurro spends 300 days of the year in the water. As a child, sailing for him was a fun past time, and now that he is older, sailing has become his life. Capurro is a helmsman, and on the boat he always knows where to go in the quickest time possible, as in life: he has clear set goals and does all that he can to meet them.

“I came across sailing by chance, because I was going on holiday to the coastal town of Imperia, and there were traditional courses that my parents signed me up to. I really got into it.”
Matteo Puppo and Matteo Capurro. Matteo & Matteo to their friends

With a combined age of 50, these two are more than just friends, they have a sun-soaked, salt-scented brotherhood. They have had their feet dipped in the water since they were children.

Matteo Puppo is a bowman: he is responsible for keeping the boat balanced, but in fact there are a whole host of things to balance, and the most important one is a rapport with the helmsman. Matteo follows in the footsteps of a family of sailors, and sailing the seas comes naturally to him. "For me, this sport is a way of life. My life. I've always been into sports from an early age. My interest in sailing came about because, being from Genoa, I was fascinated by the sea that was in front of me. I am from a family of sailors, and so it was easy to choose to go down this path. And also I wasn't particularly gifted at football!"
Their head trainer is their city, Genoa.

Thousands of years of history in the hull, with the bow directed on a straight course towards the future. Genoa that carries the scent that wafts from narrow, sloped Ligurian alleys, is beautiful from the sea as well as on land.

With their hands in their pockets to shelter them from the wind and sea, Matteo and Matteo are always ready to take hold of the shroud, with their gaze fixed on the horizon.

“We often talk with our boat, it’s our third crew member. When it really gets going, it comes alive, making us cry out, as we spur it on to go even faster. And when all’s done we thank our boat.”

The wind is their greatest ally.

The duo are humble, down-to-earth twenty somethings, who are no longer just athletes, but fully-fledged champions, waiting in anticipation forTokyo 2020.

“Thanks to the hard work we have put in, we are ready to make the great leap. Continuing to compete at a high level requires a great sacrifice: we can travel, and go around the world, but we have little time to spend with our family and to enjoy our interests. As well as this, there are our studies, we both study Economics. And there’s also the sea. We have the World Cup, and the European and World Championships coming up, and all this is done with a view of giving us the best chance to reach the Olympics. Our main goal is have Italy qualify for the Olympics”  Matteo and Matteo