You already know what a Riva looks like. The question worth asking is whether one is the right boat for how you actually use the water — and that answer changes a lot between a 33-foot runabout you drive yourself and a 131-foot flagship that needs four crew. Riva builds sixteen models across three ranges. Open covers the day boats and open cruisers, from the El-Iseo up to the 76' Bahamas Super, with no flybridge and one driving position. Sportfly is three planing boats with a low upper deck that keeps the express-cruiser profile intact. Flybridge runs from 83 feet to 131 and is where dedicated crew accommodation starts. There is a separate Superyachts Division above all three. Eleven of the sixteen are reviewed in depth here, including the whole of the Sportfly and Flybridge ranges. Riva is a Ferretti Group brand, so if you are cross-shopping, Ferretti Yachts and Pershing are on this site too and are built by the same group to very different briefs.
— Tony Smith
Founder, Minted Yachts
Riva is the easiest brand on this site to buy for the wrong reason, and the easiest to verify once you decide to buy for the right one.
The wrong reason is the badge. There is nothing shameful about wanting a boat that looks like a Riva — the Aquariva Special exists precisely because that want is legitimate and about sixty years old. But the range spans a 33-foot day boat with one engine option and a 131-foot flagship that needs four crew cabins, and the badge is the only thing those two share. Decide what you are actually going to do on the water first, then pick the range: Open if you drive it yourself, Sportfly if you want speed with a proper upper deck, Flybridge if you need people to live aboard without queuing for a bathroom.
The right reason is that Riva documents its boats better than almost anyone. Its technical block gives you length, beam, draft, laden and unladen displacement, tankage, cabins, crew cabins, bathrooms — and then max speed, cruise speed and range at that cruise, separately for every engine option it sells. In both metric and imperial, so nobody has to convert anything. That is rarer than it should be. When I tell you the 76' Perseo Super does 315 nautical miles on either engine package, or that the 90' Argo's cheapest engine has the longest range of the three, those are Riva's numbers, not my arithmetic.
Two things to get in writing before you sign. Fuel burn: plan around Riva's range numbers and get observed consumption at cruise from the dealer, on the engine package you are actually buying. And the paperwork on the 110' Dolcevita, which the yard has retired — a retired boat is still a boat you can buy, but its figures are the record from when the model was current, so verify the hull in front of you against its own delivery specification rather than a factory sheet.
Deep-dive specs and expert opinions on current Riva models. Don't see the Riva you're looking for? Reach out for new and pre-owned brokerage options.
Photo credit Riva.
The Aquariva Special is the first 'Special' Riva since the Aquarama — a 33-foot open runabout with twin Yanmar 8LV-370s, 40.5 knots flat out and a 36-knot cruise.
The 58' Capri is Riva's newest open yacht — a structural hardtop with integrated air conditioning over twin MAN V8s, 37 knots on the 1,200 hp option and two cabins below.
The 66' Ribelle is the smallest Riva Sportfly — twin MAN V12-1550s on V-drives for 37 knots, three cabins below and a flydeck that keeps the profile low.
The 76' Perseo Super sits in the middle of Riva's Sportfly line — twin MAN V12s to 37 knots on the 1,800 hp option, three en-suite cabins and 315 nm of range either way.
The 88' Folgore is the Sportfly flagship and the fastest big boat Riva builds — twin MTU 16V 2000s on V-drives for 38 knots, four cabins and two crew cabins.
The 82' Diva opens Riva's Flybridge line — twin MAN V12s to 30.5 knots, fold-down quarter platforms that widen the cockpit to the water, and four cabins with two for crew.
The 90' Argo is the Flybridge middle child — three MTU packages from 2,000 to 2,435 hp a side, four cabins, five bathrooms and a folding hardtop over the flydeck.
The 102' Corsaro Super carries five guest cabins and three crew cabins on a 99'3" hull — twin MTU 16V 2000s to 28 knots, with the beach club opened out at water level.
The 110' Dolcevita topped Riva's Flybridge line until the 112' Dolcevita Super replaced it — 26 knots, a 430-mile range at cruise, and five en-suite cabins behind a glass-walled main deck.
The 112' Dolcevita Super replaced the 110' Dolcevita at the top of Riva's Flybridge line — five guest cabins, four crew cabins, and 430 nm of range at a 23-knot cruise.
The 130' Bellissima is the largest Riva in the Flybridge range — 131'3" over five guest cabins and four crew cabins, on twin MTU 16V 2000 M96Ls.
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Videos courtesy of Riva.
Yes, and better than most yards. Riva's technical block gives max speed, cruise speed and range at that cruise separately for every engine option it offers, alongside length, beam, draft, laden and unladen displacement, tankage, cabins, crew cabins and bathrooms — in metric and imperial together, so nothing needs converting. The one figure to get separately is fuel burn — plan around Riva's range numbers and ask a dealer for observed consumption at cruise in writing.
From roughly 27 feet up to 131 feet 3 inches across three ranges. Open covers eight day boats and open cruisers with no flybridge; Sportfly is three planing boats with a low upper helm; Flybridge runs five models from 83 feet up, all with dedicated crew accommodation. Riva also runs a separate Superyachts Division above those three, which this site does not cover. The eleven models reviewed here run from the 33-foot Aquariva Special to the 130' Bellissima.
Often not, and the differences are large enough to affect a berth quote or an insurance schedule. The 90' Argo is 93 feet 6 inches, the 102' Corsaro Super is 99 feet 3 inches, the 130' Bellissima is 131 feet 3 inches and the 112' Dolcevita Super is 112 feet 10 inches. Some run over the name and some under it, so there is no rule of thumb — check Riva's technical block for the model you are looking at.
Riva is part of the Ferretti Group, alongside Ferretti Yachts and Pershing, both of which are also reviewed on this site. The yard itself has been building at Sarnico on Lake Iseo since 1842, which makes it one of the oldest continuously operating boatbuilders in the industry, and Riva's own films refer to more than 180 years of boating history.
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