Riva 130' Bellissima

The 130' Bellissima represents Riva's most ambitious attempt at combining volume with performance in their flybridge range. The build quality is consistent with what you expect from the Ferretti Group's flagship brand—hand-laid fiberglass hull, meticulous joinery in rosewood and leather, and systems integration that works. The twin MTU 16V 2000 M96L engines are proven powerplants in this application, and the semi-planing hull design delivers on the performance promise without the fuel burn penalties you'd see in a pure planing configuration. The three-deck layout is genuinely useful, not just a marketing claim.

This yacht makes sense for a specific buyer: someone who wants to move quickly between cruising grounds but needs the volume to entertain or accommodate extended family. If you're splitting time between South Florida and the Bahamas, or running the French Riviera to Sardinia circuit, the Bellissima gives you the speed to make those runs comfortably and the space to enjoy them when you arrive. It does not make sense for someone who wants to cross oceans, run a charter program as a primary revenue source, or operate with minimal crew. The yacht is designed around a seven-person crew, and cutting that number compromises the experience.

The resale reality is that Riva holds value better in Europe than in the U.S., where the brand has less market penetration. You're buying into a relatively new model with limited resale data, which means you're taking on more depreciation risk than you would with an established model like the Azimut Grande 32M or Sunseeker 131. Budget for 20% to 30% depreciation in the first three years, then slower decline after that. Operating costs will run $1.5 million to $2 million annually with full crew, and there's no way around that if you want to use the yacht the way it was designed. The Bellissima is a strong yacht for the right owner, but it's not a value play.

— Tony Smith, Founder, Minted Yachts