Carlo Riva

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Lettering Riva boats

Carlo Riva (born February 24, 1922 in Sarnico on Lake Iseo , Province of Bergamo , Italy; † April 10, 2017 ibid) was an Italian boat builder and designer who continued the Riva shipyard founded by his great-grandfather Pietro Riva .

Life

Carlo Riva was born as the eldest son of the shipyard owner Serafino Riva. His father mainly built racing boats to order, but also took part in races himself. Carlo Riva took over the family passion, he was particularly interested in the American runabouts from the Chris Craft company . He studied at the Cremona Technical University. Amid dramatic conflicts, Carlo Riva took over the shipyard from his father in 1949 and began to build not one-off but series production of pleasure boats made of mahogany . Initially named with two-digit letter codes, the model series were given resounding names from 1952: the first Sebino after the old name of Lake Iseo , the elegant boat with the closed hull Ariston (Greek: “The best”) after a Milan cinema. Florida developed from Sebino , after the place of longing for many in the early 1950s. The Aquarama with a sunbathing area was developed from the twin-engine tritone with the closed aft deck ; its panoramic windshield was reminiscent of the Cinerama wide-screen cinema, which was popular at the time . Instead of planks, from 1958 the boat hulls were built from form-glued sides, manufactured in Pirelli presses (armored laminate) .

The 1960s brought Carlo Riva and his shipyard the greatest commercial success. Prominent owners of several Riva boats were u. a. Brigitte Bardot and Gunter Sachs . The Junior came onto the market in 1966 , it appealed primarily to wealthy adolescents and, with its white painted sides, was a first homage to the emerging GRP hulls. As the last production model, the Olympic was launched in the year of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico .

In 1969 Carlo Riva sold the shipyard, which had been family-owned since the 19th century, to an American investor group under Whittaker under the influence of strike events, but remained in Sarnico as managing director until 1971. Then his brother-in-law Gino Gervasoni took over the management. Carlo Riva continued to devote himself to the design of elegant yachts and, together with his daughters Lia Ferrarese in Monaco and Pia Dall'Asta in Rapallo, to the competent service for the classic Riva boats. His grandson Anselmo Vigani runs RAM (Revisione Assistenza Motoscafi) right next to the RIVA shipyard in Sarnico, which is still in operation and which now builds much larger luxury yachts.

Carlo Riva was Honorary President of the Riva Historical Society in Milan , which is dedicated to archiving knowledge of classic Riva boats and registering the specimens that have been preserved. He last lived in Sarnico and occasionally in Marbella . He also took care of the Porto Carlo Riva in Rapallo.

literature

  • Piero Gibellini: Carlo the Legend, Riva the Myth . PIEM srl Milan

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "King of Motor Boats" Carlo Riva is dead. ORF, April 10, 2017, accessed on the same day.
  2. ↑ "Brigitte Bardot's Boats" by Clemens Niedenthal, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger from 28./29. August 2010, block "Auto & Mobil", p. 01
personal data
SURNAME Riva, Carlo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian boat builder and designer
DATE OF BIRTH February 24, 1922
PLACE OF BIRTH Sarnico on Lake Iseo , Bergamo Province , Italy
DATE OF DEATH April 10, 2017
Place of death Sarnico on Lake Iseo , Bergamo Province , Italy