Stella Polareis a yacht designed by the prestigious designersSparkman & Stephens under the R.O.R.C.1^st Class rating rule. She was launched on September 15, 1965 from the Sangermani Shipyards, Lavagna, and delivered to the Italian Navy on October 8, 1965, to be assigned as sail training yacht for the Navy Officers and personnel.

Her name, Stella Polare, evokes the ship commanded first by Admiral Luigi di Savoia, Duca degli Abruzzi, and then by Lieutenant Commander Umberto Cagni who, in 1900 sailed as far as 382 Km south of the North Pole, thus complying with the good omen that her name implied. Stella Polare is a Marconi or Bermudan “Yawl.”

The structure of the ship is in mahogany, the keel and upper stern in iroko, the planking in mahogany, the stem post in durmast and the deck in teak. Her main and mizzen masts are in duralumin and their upper decks measure respectively 24.08 and 11.3 m. She is 21.47 m. long, 4.89 m. wide, with a 3 m. draft. Stella Polare’s displacement is about 48 tons. Her sail surface is 488 sq. m. in downwind sailing, and 262 sq. m. in sidewind sailing. Supporting the sail propulsion is a 200 hp. turbo diesel engine performing a circa 7 knots cruising speed.

She can accommodate up to 16 passengers and is fitted with all the nautical, seafaring and logistic material necessary to entirely self-sufficient long journeys. This small training yacht boasts a glorious history of courage and determination.

During her first participation in the 1966 “Giraglia” off shore regatta, Stella Polare won the historic competition and set a new record (243 miles in 29 hours) that stood for almost 20 years. In 1968 she won the Bermuda–Travemunde Atlantic race – on the Hamilton course, north of the British Islands, competing with the world’s most state-of-the-art and combative offshore yachts in the world. During the 1970 training campaign, Stella Polarewon the classic “Palma de Mallorca-Cabrea-Palma de Mallorca” race. No better omens could have come true as in the next regatta, organized by the "Sail Training Association": a 1,450 mile race where the Italian vessel won in both corrected andreal time against all odds.

In the following years Stella Polare has been sailing the world over in service of the Italian Navy sail sport, reaping successes that form the history of the Italian Yachting of the second half of the last century.

In the past years the vessel has undergone some refurbishing and improvements, such as the fitting on board of a 7 Kw generator, a reverse osmosis desalination plant, and GPS technology supported cartographic sailing systems. On the other hand, the mahogany interiors have not been changed as a token of the classicality and accuracy adopted by the designers and builders of Stella Polare. Over  forty years into service, and ITS Stella Polare is still carrying out her tasks of nautical training of the Naval Academy Cadets. During the school year the vessel sets sail daily with the Academy Cadets in the waters of the Tuscan Archipelago.

In summer Stella Polarecarries out a three-month long Training Campaign for the aspiring Midshipmen who have completed the third form of their Training Course. Along with the training activities, Stella Polare, as a member of the Italian Vintage Yachts Association (AIVE), participates in the vintage yachts rallies and the major international regattas, aiming at goals that can compare with the successes she has brilliantly attained in the past.