The "unaffected artist", wrote YACHT in an opulent portrait of the great little man from Italy, is "a friend, companion and partner to all those who count for something in sailing and society. He is courted by sports stars, nobility and celebrities - the likeable man with the bright smile has even had an audience with the Pope."
But there was more: Costa, although extremely prominent himself, by no means preferred to surround himself with social celebrities, on the contrary - he was always involved as an advocate for those who were not in the limelight. He had a big heart. For example, Costa regularly donated works worth several thousand euros to the YACHT Handicap campaign for disabled sailors, he gave part of his earnings to help starving children, worked with Unicef and also organised a fundraising campaign for the victims of the 2004 tsunami in South East Asia.
Above all, he was a philanthropist.
He discovered his artistic streak in his twenties, was inspired by Matisse and Picasso, created designs for famous fashion designers such as Dior and Valentino and worked for film directors such as Federico Fellini and Stanley Kubrick.
His works are characterised by an idiosyncratic visual language, dominated by coloured surfaces. They have even adorned the Vatican and various royal houses. In this style, Costa accompanied sailing in all its facets from the 1970s onwards. Whether at the J24 World Championships, the Olympics, the Whitbread Race or the America's Cup, Costa and sailing were one and the same. The organisers of the world's biggest events engaged him as their official artist. He also contributed his own painting to the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the founding of YACHT in 2004.
Sailing took Costa to Germany several times, including to Kiel. The Italian fell in love with the northern German landscape and settled there. He set up his own gallery in Laboe and from then on lived partly here and partly in his home country, and was present at every German boat show.
He turned his life motto into a kind of trademark: "Arte Vita", the art of living. And he mastered it, a man of small stature, but with a huge, engagingly positive aura, always cheerful, always open, always warm.
For some time now, his failing health had been giving him a hard time. His family brought him home to his native Rome. Franco Costa went on his last journey there yesterday. He was 80 years old.
