A few days ago exclusive yachts met an exclusive city. The American owners of Riva yachts gathered in Miami to celebrate their yachts and to feel like kings.
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Which is not hard task when talking about yachts that, to put it that way, naturally belong to kings, sultans, actors and other owners that are very special in some way.
Although back in 1842 there were more kings than today, and there was a boy named Pietro Riva that way as distant from the kings as he could be. But, it was his destiny to come a step closer. On the coast of an Italian lake young Pietro came to bring life to boats destroyed in a storm, boat that everyone else couldn't repair. As the time shown, Pietro was a combination of Leonardo da Vinci and Harry Houdini. His miracle touch healed boats, and that was good. Then, an idea of making boats that nobody built before was born, and that was better.
The birthday of the idea is in the shadows of time, but Riva was born. When the Pietro's son Ernesto took over Riva in 1880's he followed the path of his father but extended it even further. Ernesto added some innovation in his boats and handed over the company to Serafino. He added another dimension and that was racing. He built a racing boat, stopped producing passengers boat, and with that move Riva achieved a lot of success. Riva boat won many competitions, and as Pietro's family are obviously gifted they took a step forward: Riva started to built yachts for free time.
On the wings of post-war enthusiasm and excellent craftsmanship, as early as 1950 Riva was recognized as one of the status symbols. Those yacht were elegant, crafted with passion and precision, they were fast and nice. No wonder then that Riva became the favourite boat for kings, sultans, actors, jet setters, businessmen and idols of other kinds. It is impossible to tell a story about Riva and not to mention beautiful Sophia Loren, gentleman Sean Connery, his majesty King Hussein of Jordan, Welsh actor that did some movies in Hollywood Richard Burton... You got the picture.
Riva is not a boat, it is a class of its own. The combination of design and craftsmanship, along with soul, is what make those yachts good enough to carry the name Riva. Those yacht are elegant, true, well-built, true again, they look good, that's true, too. But they have personality. When you sit in it, time stops, you turn to king and your lady to queen and magical voyage may start. Does any of Riva yachts has bad side? Yes. It is hard to return back to normal life. Even when your beloved Corvette waits at the dock. Let's make another round, my queen... ■