Riva Aquarama
The mahogany boat from Sarnico that became a symbol of the Riviera and the good life in the 1960s.
Carlo Riva took over the family yard on Lake Iseo after the war and turned it into a series builder of motorboats, with the American Chris-Craft as a model but with Italian form. The Aquarama, launched in 1962, was his great boat: eight metres long, with two engines and room for sunbathing, swimming and water-skiing.
The boat was built of mahogany long after plastic had taken over, and every hull was varnished and sanded again and again. Film stars, royalty and industrialists bought it, and today a well-preserved Aquarama is a collector’s piece on a par with a classic sports car.
Materials: Mahogany varnished in many coats, chrome, two inboard engines
Manufacture: Built by hand at the Riva yard on Lake Iseo; just over 700 were built between 1962 and 1996.
The windscreen that wraps around the helm like a car’s.
The padded sun deck over the engines at the stern.
The mahogany deck with pale seams and the gleaming chrome fittings.