By Tom Darling, Conversations with Classic Boats
Forza Riva! Introduced at the 1962 Milan Boat Show, the Aquarama redefined cool.
Go back and look at your favorite James Bond movie, preferably with Sean Connery. Chances are there’s a glamorous wooden inboard boat involved. She’s an elegant mahogany-sided speedboat with a unique back seat, a sunning platform, that bobs at the waterside. Most likely she’s a Riva, the motorboat that hearkens back to the 1960 Federico Fellini film La Dolce Vita. Riva powers on today, with many owners also prizing other glamorous Italian brands including Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Armani.
Riva factory in Sarnico, Italy, circa 1950
The boat itself was the inspiration for a worldwide reinvention of the speedboat. In the 1880s on the Adirondack Lakes favored by Gilded Age moguls, Hacker was the launch supplier from South Lake George, New York. On their heels, Chris-Craft started churning out American classics in Michigan, but the world speedboat market revolved around Riva.
The pinnacle of Sixties speedboat style
Since 1820, on the northern lakes of Italy – Como, Iseo and Garda – there has been a boat building industry turning out expensive, stylish and fast wooden boats. One brand stands above the rest, producing thousands of iconic luxuryspeedsters. This is Riva, now owned by The Ferretti Group, whose Genoa yard is better known for its sleek and powerful Eurostyle yachts, mostly over 12 meters. But Ferretti is first and foremost a family company and they may have bought Riva partly to preserve another family business of boat artisans.
My late father, an inveterate racing sailor, was always drawn to vintage wooden speedboats. Plying the waters of Quebec’s Eastern Townships, on Lake Memphremagog in his locally built craft with its ancient outboard, he longed for a real speedboat. That meant a gleaming inlaid deck, a growling, powerful inboard, and sleek lines. He coveted a Chris-Craft, with its deep red mahogany topsides and that All-American look, but he didn’t know was there was, on an Italian lake, the “Perfect Boat.” The brand name was Riva, and from the 1950s to the ’70s the Aquarama was its leading model. Alongside its cousins, the Tritone and Olympic, the Aquarama was the speedboat of choice for European society.
Everyone Loves an Aquarama: The Speedboat that Lounges Well
Let’s consider why the Aquarama captured so many speedboat fan’s hearts. See the layout, a forward cockpit loaded with auto-style chromed dials and instruments worthy of a vintage Italian racing car. It has a cockpit that’s a bit cramped – like a pair of Italian trousers – but serves up a feast of gleaming metal surrounding the sculptured wheel. And wood everywhere; decks of inlaid light and dark woods, featuring as much mahogany as possible. Add the buttery upholstery, robin’s egg blue, ubiquitous across Riva models, a signature color in the way Seafoam Green was for Herreshoff topsides. Now, this is a boat not just for speeding but for lounging. It is this middeck, the sunning section, that distinguishes the Aquarama’s profile. There’s a full two-person sunning pit perched on the deck, wood covered by upholstery. This is what attracted the sunbathers and the starlets.
Ferruccio Lamborghini (left), a tractor manufacturer-turned-sports car constructor, takes factory delivery of his Riva from Carlo Riva. The new Lamborghini Islero 400 GT sets this photo around 1968.
Photos of the boats underway and at the dock demonstrate the features of the Aquarama. It’s a made to order runabout in wood, no fiberglass “me too” out of the mold. The only real option is the owner’s selection of the inboard powerplant, a highly personal choice. For sure there are owners who go overboard on power. Ferruccio Lamborghini’s souped-up Riva had two V-12 engines of his manufacture shoehorned into it. This is Italian craftsmanship, excessive, exquisite; traditional done modern.
With twin Lamborghini V-12s gulping aria e benzina through a dozen Weber sidedraft carburetors, Ferruccio’s Aquarama must’ve made operatic thunder.
Riva in the movies
We came upon a review of the Aquarama in a recent Maxim Magazine profile (11/22) that went on in length on the glory of the Riva. In that article, the new owner’s spokesman doled out the superlatives generously. “Diva named Riva. To this day, the Aquarama (made beginning 1962) is considered the epitome of Riva boats.”
It continues: “Design history has its own razzamatazz. (A Riva legend goes as follows): “It’s 1966. Gunter Sachs – heir to an industrial fortune, bobsleigh pilot, playboy – is busy wooing Brigitte Bardot, at the time probably the most desired woman in the world. One night at full moon he has red roses rained down from a helicopter on her villa in the south of France, and then, wearing a tux, draws up at her jetty aboard.”
His Riva must have done the trick. His efforts were rewarded and they soon married. La Dolce Vita sums up the Riva. The stock picture of the Aquarama is the owner in boating trunks and his companion in bikini, cruising the Cote D’Azur. Se non e vero, e ben travado. (“Even if it is not true, it is well conceived.”) – the Italians love a good story…
The Riva was both indispensable status symbol and stylish accessory for the “upper ten thousand.” This was Jean-Paul Belmondo, Sean Connery, Jean Claude Killy, and countless members of the jet set who were smitten as proud owners of an open top speedboat. On the Italian lakes, the Cote D-Azur and the Bay of St. Tropez, Rivas transported the well-tanned and well-heeled to watery exclusivity. European social magazines had pages of Riva owners sunning themselves on the Med and the Italian lakes.
Britt Ekland and Peter Sellers enjoying La Dolce Riva in Monaco, 1966
Slim Aarons, the stylish society photographer, has photos of bold-face names from Audrey Hepburn and Kirk Douglas to Michael Caine afloat in a Riva. Today’s celebrities can be seen taking a spin on a summer day on the water. “Tempi passatti” say the Italians. “These times are no more.” The Riva is pure speedboat nostalgia.
Other Rave Reviews for the Riva
The reviews for a Riva speedboat are always over the top:
“The Riva Aquarama is the most stylish boat of all time.”
(From the website of Ferretti, most recently the buyer of Wally Yachts, builder of futuristic mega offshore sailboats).
“For me, the Riva Aquarama is simply one of the most beautiful things I own,” says Alberto Galassi, CEO of The Ferretti Group. “It will never go out of style because it is a work of art created by a genius. Like the works that remain over time in our memory it amazes me every time, because it proves that man’s craftsmanship can produce stunning masterpieces that, in turn, forge the aesthetic soul of those who admire them.”
Galassi is also the son-in-law of Ferretti stakeholder Piero Ferrari (son of Enzo, Il Commendatore), who himself calls the Aquarama “a paragon of style, elegant details and high-quality construction.”
“Owning an Aquararama is more than a membership club – it’s almost a religious thing,” Galassi marvels. “When you meet other owners and end up talking about the wonders of the Aquarama, there’s a sense of belonging to a very special community.”
“The Riva evokes the coasts of Europe with visions of endless summers spent lounging on the back of the boat in the warm sun, and the gentle roar of the engine as the Aquarama cuts through the surf…”
These quotes appear in Riva Aquarama (2022), a book from top drawer French luxury publishers Assouline, coinciding with the Aquarama model’s 60th anniversary. Part of their posh Ultimate Collection, the $1,200 volume, 208 pages with over 200 illustrations, is an impressive, lavishly illustrated tribute to the legendary runabout, with an even pricier edition presented in a custom mahogany box evoking the beauty of the boat’s magnificent hull.
The book features the “countless luminaires…enchanted by the Aquarama’s spell –movie stars, royalty, European moguls.” “Of the about 760 completed Aquaramas made in the Sarnico Shipyard, Riva experts estimate around 650 are still in existence, which only adds to the boat’s legendary status. But more than just a trophy, the Aquarama is fiercely beloved by its owners and enthusiasts alike. It’s not just a boat. It’s the realization of a dream.”
Assouline takes its image seriously, Riva Aquarama comes with complimentary white gloves and a signature canvas bag with each purchase. “No boat has enjoyed the Aquarama’s elevated brand status,” the published notes claim. Online browsing confirms that. “Movies stars like Sophia Loren, Brigitte Bardot, Elizabeth Taylor and a coterie of aristocrats, including the royal family of Monaco and the Shah of Iran, were among the first to acquire it, which added to the mystique in the public’s eye. But most owners were high net worth individuals who were willing to buy an Aquarama for about the same price of a Rolls Royce Silver Cloud, then one of the most expensive cars in the world.”
Anita Ekberg, who chose zebra-pattern upholstery for her Riva, took care of her alabaster skin in the Mediterranean sunshine.
The connections between Aquarama and Ferrari go beyond even Galassi and Piero Ferrari. Carlos Sainz, the superstar Spanish racing driver currently competing in Formula One (for Scuderia Ferrari until the end of the 2024 season) also has ties to the historic craft. “The relationship between the Aquarama and the Sainz family is a very strong one,” he tells author Michael Verdon in the book. “Ever since my father (two-time World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz, Sr.) bought our Aquarama Special Hull no. 561, the boat has been enjoyed by three generations, creating endless family memories.”
Riva, The Early Days
Carlo Riva was born in 1922 on Lake Iseo in the Italian lake district, the eldest son of wood carver Serafino Riva. The shipyard was in Sarnico, tucked into the southwest corner of Lake Iseo, about 60 miles northeast of Milan. The elder Riva mainly built racing boats to order, testing them himself in races. When Carlo took over in 1949, he started building a series of planked mahogany “pleasure boats.”
The makings of a post-World War II Riva were ironically American. Carlo was a great admirer of the runabouts built by Chris-Craft in Michigan, and amid post-war Italian scarcity he had to source engines through them. But the design remained pure Riva. There was the driving compartment, and that ideal reclining area, to be used for sunbathing and a base from which to direct water skiing. A wooden Riva speedboat not only had an unmistakable look, but Carlo optimized the lines of the hull so that the bow wave formed a perfect V. Not only did the wave look great, but it was also ideal for launching one or two water skiers.
Brigitte Bardot cruising with friends
The classic Rivas boast a hull of seamless dark red mahogany planks (or sheets). A powerful inboard engine with a glorious, deep full-throated growl provides the speed. A lot of chrome, a strip panorama windscreen, curved and tapered beautifully on the sides, a classy dashboard with the two-tone wheel, leather seats and the signature upholstered reclining area tapering behind to a slender stern, the whole announcing the craft as a member of the Riva family.
In a recent Maxim article, the author calls the Riva look “the Italian sense of style, perfected, combined with the precision of Swiss clockwork and the reliability of the U.S. top-end engines.” (The engines were generally powerful 8-cylinder Chryslers or for more power, the aforementioned V-12 Lamborghini.)
Via, a 1958 Riva Tritone once the family boat of Princess Grace and Prince Rainier III of Monaco, was ordered with red and white boot stripes to match the principality’s flag.
Beginning in 1952, models were given names such as “Sabina,” “Aniston” (after a house in Milan), and “Florida” (our state). From 1958 onwards, the hulls were no longer made of planks but of laminated wood panels using Pirelli presses. (It is this curvy, smooth shiny skin that gives the Riva its trademark look.)
When the Aquarama was first presented at the Milan Boat Show in 1962, Riva was The Italian speedboat brand. To this day, the Aquarama is considered the epitome of a Riva and it swiftly became the ultimate object of desire among the rich and fancy. The origin of the name? There are multiple theories, but Aquarama certainly became the speedboat name of the moment in the 1960s, to be followed by more powerful models such as the Aquarama Super.
From 1958, before the Aquarama model was born, this svelte, curvy exterior became the signature look of Riva. The “Junio” came onto the market in 1966 with the intent of extending the Riva appeal to the younger generation, who had been attracted to the strength and convenience of fiberglass hulls. It was at that time that the Aquarama emerged with its pastel upholstery, two-cockpit deck, gleaming chrome instrumentation, and God’s own tumblehome.
The company created a new model in 1968 for the Mexican Olympics, and entry into the North American scene. With the “Olympic,” Riva announced its place in the Western Hemisphere. But Riva was to remain a European brand as U.S. speedboat builders pushed fiberglass for the American market. Carlo Riva (1922-2017) would soon sell the company that had been owned by his family since the 19th century, staying on as an advisor until 1971.
Now owned by The Ferretti Group, Riva remains the ultimate in speedboat style.
Sports Car for Euro Waterways
The Riva line is best thought of as sports cars for European waterways, akin to Ferrari or Maserati. Elegance, a sincere sense of style and masterful craftsmanship contributed to an iconic boat still unparalleled in this day of international, cross-border boatbuilding. The limitations on growth are the supply of the best materials, and keeping a workforce of craftsmen. For most of us North American boaters, our view of a Riva is online. Pinterest and YouTube offer tantalizing pages of the Riva flotilla in action. All we can do is dream and say, “Ciao, Riva.” ■
Not a formally trained historian nevertheless a boat storyteller, collecting and reciting stories for the boating curious, Tom Darling hosts Conversations with Classic Boats, “the podcast that talks to boats.” Tune in via Apple Podcast, Google Podcast or Spotify, or online at conversationswithclassicboats.com.
Sources: Maxim, November 2022, Aquarama
Assouline, Collection Riva Aquarama
Images obtained from Rolex.com
