Riva boats: An Italian "Cadillac on the water"

time for us to set sail in a postcard  from Italy compliments of our Seth Doane it's a nice day for boating Fantastico 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 Ferretti Group which now owns the brand   he took us out on Italy's picturesque Lake  Iseo racing past Riva's factory as perhaps   only the CEO could you wanted not just a  boat you wanted a Riva first of all right there's no other sort of boat no you sell  other sorts 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 it is the same thing  Riva is beyond boating Riva is a myth   he's been in the hands of Royals  movie stars rock stars shieks tycoons   Riva's Aquarama designed by Carlo Riva debuted in  1962 during the glamorous La 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 and talk about product  placement Riva was featured in Portofino this   May shuttling guests at the latest Kardashian  wedding they are the new Sofia Loren they talk   to the new generation why not time are changing  in times have 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 new Anniversario model it's a  limited edition tribute to the Aquarama which Riva   stopped producing in 1996 spawning a new business  maintenance the costly process of keeping them up   this one dates back to 1963. Richard Freebody  showed us this Riva dry docked for a tune-up   at his boatyard on the Thames near London  what's different about a Riva 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 Freebody's company makes its own   wooden boats they're beautiful these are electric  but still have some more traditional details and   extras this is our famous picnic drawer which is  becoming quite a quite a must-have I everything   you need for a picnic even a cake knife for  those afternoon teas by the river very English back in Italy we saw some of that same attention  to detail Fabrizio Sonzogno was sanding wood for   the Anniversaria which will get 20 coats of  varnish how do you feel working on a Riva it's beautiful because 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 are 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 a Riva 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 La Dolce Riva

Channel: CBS Sunday Morning

Views: 230,490

Keywords: CBS Sunday Morning, CBS News, news, riva, wooden boats, la dolce vita, motorboats, seth doane, aquarama, boats

Id: TW638tEnd1Q

Length: 5min 6sec (306 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 14 2022