The famous wooden boats can look back on a long family tradition. As early as 1842, the then twenty-year-old Pietro Riva, a skilful boat builder and eloquent businessman, founded the shipyard in Sarnico, the southernmost town on Lake Iseo in northern Italy. The company premises can still be found there today, in plain industrial halls on the thoroughfare of the town with a good 6,000 inhabitants. Only the white and turquoise colours of the buildings and a few black and white posters from the past point to Riva, the brand that still characterises many things there today. The town signs include a reference to the important name and two roundabouts with the typical wooden boat adorn the town centre. At the marina we find a life-size statue of Carlo Riva and the lakeside promenade named after him, the "Lungolago - Ing. Carlo Riva".
Riva is omnipresent, especially Carlo, who designed and built the 4,000 mahogany boats of which around 3,000 still exist today and are still present in the media. The shipyard is spread over several buildings facing Lake Iseo. Every boat hall offers a view of the fourth largest Alpine lake in Italy. A small harbour with cranes in the typical colours and lettering, two even larger lettering on the main buildings and the typical command centre with the business area and the meeting office characterise the appearance of the company from the water side. However, a tour of the hallowed halls is reserved for a select few. We have an official appointment with Riccardo Sassoli, the "Senior specialist Riva Brand Experience & Historical archive" and quickly realise that although the brand still primarily stands for the legendary wooden boats from 1952-1969, it has continued to develop steadily even after the takeover by the Ferretti Group in 2000, right up to the new edition of the Riva El Iseo with electric drive in 2024.
Tour of the hallowed halls
We start our tour in a large and high vestibule. The floor is a typical aquamarine colour, the high sliding door has a huge picture of restoration work on the ship's hull, and the walls are covered with numerous large black and white posters on film reels. We see celebrities appearing in James Bond films on these rare wooden beauties. Public tours in this room usually begin with a film, a montage of well-known Hollywood scenes.
After being greeted by Sassoli a little later, we also get to enjoy these film scenes, a must for all those who make their way on the iconic luxury boats, to which an almost 300-page coffee table book is even dedicated. The luxury version of the book costs 1,200 euros, including the film flap on the cover. The value of the brand must be reflected in all products, merchandising at a high level, according to the philosophy in Sarnico. The Riva boutique is a lucrative business area that not only covers model boats and books, but also ranges from key rings, baseball caps, tableware and back gammon games to stylish mobile phone cases with the typical wooden deck design made of mahogany and oak for 90 euros. A suitable accessory not only for Riva owners.
We walk through several exhibition halls, see one of the red and white painted racing boats from the early days, original photos of which still document the race from Venice to Padua. We see many Rivas, some of them as models, as well as photos on the walls showing the elaborate manufacturing process. We learn that a riva is made from a single mahogany tree. This is used to make panels that have to be stored until the moisture content falls below 5%. They are then moistened again for processing, laid crosswise on top of each other and in a hull mould, glued and varnished up to 35 times in very thin layers, which characterise the typical appearance. Small holes are drilled for the screws used, which are then covered with plugs of the same wood to create a closed wooden surface. Details are of great importance overall. All screws for the external chrome fittings and nameplates must always be processed with the cross facing upwards. Incidentally, brightly polished chrome is another feature that can be found on lacquered mahogany from the beginning of the 1950s. While the first models still varied in colour design, from orange, dark blue to yellow, the models from the legendary Aquarama in 1962 onwards featured the typical aquamarine. The colour of Sarnico, because while the other lakes in northern Italy tend to shimmer green or blue in the sunlight, Lake Iseo is turquoise or aquamarine.
Car and boat development influence each other not only in the development of the engines, but also in the design. Starting with the steering wheels, which are modelled on the Cadillac, to the engines, which are installed in the wooden hulls by Rolls Royce and Lamborghini, among others. Powerful engines can be found in the boats, such as the Lamborghini model with almost 700 hp or the typical red Ferrari boat with as much as 800 hp. But it also works the other way round. Boat design defines cars, small but powerful, such as the Riva model of the Fiat 500. Motorsport combines elements.
On the way to the next hall, we come across a restored Aquarama on land, remote-controlled by a shipyard employee. Suddenly we hear the typical sound of two boats being launched and tested in the water. But even here in Sarnico, development continues. We enter a small boat hall with a pool where you would expect to see dolphins. Here are two test boats of the latest generation, which were still under development at the time and which we saw again in January 2024 at boot Düsseldorf shortly before they were ready for series production. In the last shipyard building, current Riva models are finally ready for series production. Luxury yachts that at this point still allow a glimpse of the numerous cables and sophisticated technology behind the walls. Three new yachts stand one behind the other and are being built in parallel by teams of four to five people, some of them again in a wooden look, reminiscent of earlier times. Finally, we end our tour in the command centre, the conference room with a wide window front that offers a view of the entire shipyard site and the shimmering turquoise lake. The typical colours and attention to detail can also be found here. Starting with the mahogany interior, white and turquoise espresso cups with delicate lettering and colour-coordinated pastries. Almost too beautiful to try. Everything fits perfectly.
The legend continues to evolve
At boot Düsseldorf in January, we meet two acquaintances again. Riccardo Sassoli and the Riva El Iseo, the electric version of the Riva Iseo from the 1960s, now close to series production. Presented as a prototype in Monaco in 2022, the electric boat is a beautifully designed 27-foot runabout in the style of its traditional predecessor, complete in aquamarine metallic on a Riva charging station. According to the manufacturer, the El Iseo has a motor supplied by Parker Hannifin, a leading US company for drive and control technology, which has a lot to offer in terms of speed and acceleration. With an output of 250 kW to 300 kW, the boat can reach a cruising speed of 25 knots and a top speed of 40 knots, according to the shipyard, with the acceleration curve being significantly steeper than that of a comparably sized boat with a combustion engine. The El Iseo is also very efficient in terms of range and can travel for up to ten hours.
The integration of components such as the transmission and on-board control systems, as well as the management of driving and battery charging modes, was handled by Xenta, an innovation leader and also a partner of the Ferretti Group. According to Riva, the new El Iseo is a perfect combination of tradition and innovation, in the spirit of sustainability. We will test it when the new Riva is ready for series production, currently scheduled for May this year, and we are looking forward to the new perfection in the colours of Sarnico.
