The first recorded sailing race in Italy was held on Lake Como on the 2nd of August 1850.

The first recorded sailing race in Italy was held on Lake Como on August 2, 1850. In 1872, the Società Regate Club, the oldest Italian sailing club, was founded on Lake Como. 
This room houses the boats which played such an important role in regattas on Lake Como: the majestic English racers from the late 1800s, the One designs, Stars, Snipes and Dinghies.

The most striking of all is Cisko-Yu, an English Racer from 1896 which belonged to Carcano, the designer of the Moto Guzzi and the Star Merope which won the gold at the Olympics helmed by Agostino Straulino, the greatest Italian sailor of all time.

The story of a victory: 
Straulino tells us about how he got his gold medal.

It was 1952, the best year in my sporting life! 
I won the national title as well as the European and World titles and then the Olympics too. I owed so much to Nico for that great achievement. 
I had time to get down to serious training when I was assigned to the Maritime Command in Taranto. I used to go out especially at night, and I did it on purpose, because the darkness heightens that awareness without which it is impossible to tack upwind properly. The boat goes when the sails are set right, at night it is harder to find yourself in these conditions, you just have to go on your own sensitivity when evaluating the sea conditions, the strength and direction of the wind. ... to be continued.

The Priest who won regattas

Don Luigi cared little for the gossip of the narrow-minded parishioners scandalised at the sight of him heading home to the priest’s house in his cassock soaked to the skin. Nor did the disapproval of his superiors deter him from taking out his Primola on the fine days when the Breva was blowing or the thermal came down in the evening from Valsassina. And that the Curia frowned upon his passion for sailing is clear from the list of participants in an 1894 regatta where, alongside the name of the boat Primola, which had come first overall, the name of the owner and sailor has been ommitted in favour of merely the letters N.N. nomen nescio, or anonymous.
... to be continued...