Seeking to avoid the aerodynamic drag induced by floats in seaplanes of floatplane design, Ing Giovanni Pegna of the Piaggio company designed a very unusual seaplane to represent Italy in the 1929 Schneider Trophy race.

A cantilever shoulder-wing monoplane, known both as the Piaggio P.7 and the Piaggio-Pegna P.c.7, his design floated up to its wings on its long, slender, watertight fuselage with the wings resting on the water, and employed twin high-incidence hydrofoils to get itself off the water during takeoff runs.

[1] Without the aerodynamic drag induced by floats or the weight they added to the aircraft, Pegna projected that the P.7 would reach high speeds.

Although some pilots refused to fly the aircraft, the Italian Schneider team's Tommaso Dal Molin conducted some water tests on Lake Garda in northern Italy.

The spray the hydroplanes generated made it difficult to see during takeoff, and persistent problems with both clutches ensued.