Italy's classic Riva wooden motorboats

time for some travel in style Seth Doane  has sent us a postcard from Lombardi it's a nice day for boating there's nothing  like her this wooden 1970 Aquarama is not for sale this is one piece of Cedar from Lebanon  but you'd never know that from how Alberto galassi speaks this one is a single piece of  mahogany his enthusiasm for this boat Arriva wow it has everything started long before he ran  for Etsy Group which now owns the brand do you always go boating in a suit deserves it he took us  o

ut on Italy's picturesque Lake Isaiah racing past riva's Factory as perhaps only the CEO could  you want it not just a boat you wanted a Riva first of all a boat is a river there's no  other sort of boat no you sell others yeah I know but let's be honest I mean when you say  I have a Ferrari you need to say you have a car everybody knows what the Ferrari is the same  thing Riva is beyond boating and if it's a myth it's been in the hands of Royals movie stars  rock stars shakes Kinks tycoons Weav

er's Aquarama designed by Carlo Riva debuted in 1962  during the Glamorous Le Dolce Vita years of Italy's post-war boom Stars including Sophia Loren  Brigitte Bardot and Elizabeth Taylor owned Rivas and the boat itself plays a  supporting role in dozens of films oh shoot don't shoot talk about advertising Riva was featured in  Portofino last year shuttling guests at the latest Kardashian wedding they are the new Sofia  Lauren they talk to the new generation why not time are changing in times hav

e changed for  the company while these wooden Classics may be the spirit of Riva the real money today  is in super Yachts which galassi says account for around 70 percent of Riva sales but how do  you keep the sense of what made you famous in that super size that's in details details that  remind you of the previous models the style is bloody difficult job I can tell you some of those  original design choices are still echoed decades later in the anniversario model it's a limited  edition tribut

e to the Aquarama which Rivas stopped producing in 1996 spawning a new business  maintenance the costly process of keeping them up this one dates back to 1963. Richard free body  showed us this Riva dry docked for a tune-up at his Boatyard on the Thames near London  what's different about Arriva from another wooden boat that evocative feeling of the 60s  and the glamor attached it is the design they were sort of the equivalent of lovely Cadillac  on the Water free bodies company makes its own Wo

oden Boats they're beautiful these are electric  but still have some more traditional details and Extras this is our famous picnic draw which is  becoming quite a what a must-have everything you need for a picnic even a cake knife for  those afternoon teas by the river very English in Italy we saw some of that same attention to  detail Fabricio sonzonio was sending wood for the anniversario which will get 20 coats of varnish  how do you feel working on a Riva committee center it's beautiful beca

use this is the spirit  of the wood he told us you can feel it Alberto galassi is working to keep riva's  Spirit Alive though he says they'll never make an Aquarama again saying it would be a sin to  try it's a masterpiece in Italian we are obsessed I would say with beauty sometimes I say that we  are condemned to beauty and death we live around Beauty we're surrounded by Beauty something is  not nice looking something is not beautiful it gives you a shock so we can't live without sadly  most of

us will have to live without Arriva this one nearly 50 years old has gone up in value  to roughly three quarters of a million dollars but for a few minutes it was still pretty  sweet to get a taste of the Dolce Riva