The first Italian harbour east of the border
Yacht marble restoration in Sanremo answers a very particular rhythm. Portosole sits about fifteen nautical miles from Monaco, close enough for yachts to move between the two in a morning, yet with Italian berthing and yard costs. Many yachts spend the weeks before and after the summer here, some winter here, and every spring the charter fleet gathers on its pontoons for the MYBA Charter Show. Each of those moments puts the interior under pressure.
Spring means brokers, charter managers and prospective guests walking through the saloon in a single week. Summer means guests, sunscreen, rosé and citrus on the bar. Autumn means a yacht coming back tired, with dull floors and limescale in every shower. Our team travels to your yacht in Sanremo for each of these moments, and fits its work around the crew rather than the other way round.
Where we work in Sanremo
- Portosole Sanremo
- Porto Vecchio di Sanremo
Sanremo has two harbours side by side, and they play very different roles for a yacht.
Portosole
Built from the 1970s between the municipal harbour and Punta San Martino, Portosole is the town’s large private marina, with around 800 berths and room for yachts up to about 90 metres in depths of 2.5 to 7 metres. It has 24-hour security, a fuel station, a shopping and restaurant gallery, and crew services on the quay. Since 2019 it has been owned by the Reuben Brothers group. Marble work here is mostly done alongside: the team arrives by road, parks near the pontoon and carries its equipment on board in the quiet hours the captain chooses.
The marina is changing. Its management announced works on part of the outer breakwater from June 2026 so that berths there can take yachts of up to around 55 metres, where the current larger berths stop around 35 to 40 metres. Portosole also won the tender to redevelop the neighbouring old harbour, with around sixty large-yacht berths planned over the coming years.
The Portosole yard
Inside the marina, on the east mole, a shipyard operated by Portosole handles refit and maintenance, with a 600-tonne Syncrolift able to haul yachts up to about 60 metres, and a second, independent yard serves smaller boats. Plans announced for 2026 include new rails to double the space on land. For us, this is useful: a yacht hauled out for antifouling or a shaft job is a yacht without guests, and a good moment to restore the marble on board in parallel.
Porto Vecchio
The old harbour, on Molo Sud below the town centre, was Sanremo’s commercial heart for centuries. Today it shelters the Yacht Club Sanremo, local boats, fishing craft and transit berths, rather than large yachts. It matters mostly as the area that will change most in the next years, as the redevelopment brings larger berths into it.
At anchor and in the workshop
In settled summer weather yachts also lie off the Riviera dei Fiori. If the captain can organise a tender and the sea allows a safe transfer, the team can work at anchor. A loose table top or a vanity slab can also be taken to a workshop near the yacht and brought back finished. We come to your yacht, wherever she is.
A Riviera port that lives off its neighbour
Sanremo works as an annex to the Monaco and Riviera calendar. Portosole’s own management describes the marina as a pre-season and post-season hub for charter yachts, and as a base during major events such as the Monaco Grand Prix, when berths further west are scarce and expensive. Large charter yachts usually spend July and August on the French Riviera, in Sardinia or on the Amalfi Coast, then come back to Liguria.
That pattern decides when marble can be treated. The work rarely happens in high summer. It happens in the window between the end of the yard period and the first charter, in the days after the Grand Prix, or in October when the yacht returns and the crew start their end-of-season jobs list.
One note for clarity: if your yacht is berthed in Monaco or elsewhere on the French Riviera, she is looked after by our French team. This page covers Sanremo and the Italian Riviera.
Our services in Sanremo
Each service has its own page. In Sanremo, the most frequent requests concern the following.
- Marble polishing before the spring show and the first charter, so that the saloon floor and the bar read as new.
- Etch mark removal after the season: rings from glasses, lemon and wine marks, perfume on a vanity, limescale on shower walls.
- Marble repair of chips on stair nosings and cracks in a vanity top, filled with tinted resin.
- Crystallisation of calcareous marble floors that take heavy foot traffic during shows and charters.
- Water and oil repellent protection once the stone has been restored, so it holds through the summer.
- Maintenance contracts for yachts that winter in Portosole and want regular visits rather than one large job.
We treat marble, onyx, travertine, granite and quartzite with the same care. Nothing else: no teak, no carpets, no woodwork.
Getting the interior ready for the MYBA Charter Show
The MYBA Charter Show returned to Portosole in April 2025, at the marina where the event first began, and has signed to stay until at least 2028. The 2026 edition ran from 27 to 30 April. For four days, charter brokers from around the world walk through the yachts on display, often in their socks, sometimes dozens in an afternoon.
A marble floor or a bar top is one of the first things a broker notices and photographs. We suggest treating the stone one or two weeks before the show, after any spring yard work, so that the protection has fully cured. During show week itself, a short visit can deal with a fresh mark discreetly, outside viewing hours.
Planning across the Sanremo year
March and April. Yachts leave their winter berth or the yard and prepare for the show. This is the busiest time for polishing and protection, so book early.
May. The Grand Prix weekend fills the Riviera; yachts using Portosole as a base come and go. Short visits only, timed with the crew.
June to August. Most charter yachts are away. Yachts that stay local, and private yachts used by their owners, may need an urgent treatment between two trips: an etch mark, a stained shower tray.
September to November. Yachts come back. The end-of-season list is the right moment for a full survey of the stone, repairs and a deep polish while the crew are still aboard.
Winter. For yachts wintering in Portosole or hauled out at its yard, longer work can run without any pressure from guests.
Before we board in Portosole
- Berth or pontoon number, and the hours the crew prefer us on board
- Names of the people boarding, sent to the captain for the marina and gangway
- Whether the yacht is afloat, on the Syncrolift or in the yard
- Surfaces concerned: floors, bathrooms, bar and tables, stairs
- Guests or charter dates to work around
- Areas to protect: joinery, carpets, adjacent floors
- NDA required or not
Our complete method is set out on the page how we work on board. Captains and chief stews may also want to read our page for crew, and the other Italian ports are on the Italy page.
Sanremo: frequent questions
Can you have the marble ready before the MYBA Charter Show at Portosole?
Yes, if we know early enough. Spring is busy, so we recommend booking several weeks ahead and finishing one to two weeks before the show so the sealer has cured.
Our yacht is on the Portosole Syncrolift for a few days. Can you work at the same time?
Yes, with the yard’s agreement. Work inside the yacht can usually run in parallel with jobs on the hull, provided we agree access and timing with the yard.
We use Sanremo as a base during the Monaco Grand Prix. Is a visit possible that week?
A short visit is possible, between guest movements. Heavier work is better planned before or after the event.
We are berthed in Monaco, not in Sanremo. Do you come?
Yachts in Monaco and on the French Riviera are looked after by our French team. Contact us anyway and we will pass the request on.
Does the yacht need to be empty of guests?
For a full floor or a bathroom, yes, ideally. For an etch mark or a single table, the team can work discreetly while the owner or guests are elsewhere on board.
Is there a local office or phone number in Sanremo?
Not at present. Our team travels to your yacht in Sanremo; requests go through the WhatsApp number and the form on this page.
Work in Sanremo is carried out today by the travelling team of Les Traitements du Sud, the stone-care company that looks after yachts on the Côte d’Azur. Confidentiality agreement on request; no yacht name or face is published without consent.
Works in Sanremo are carried out by Les Traitements du Sud (France), travelling team.
Your yacht in Sanremo
Send us a few photos and your dates in Portosole. We come back with an opinion and a slot.