Cesare Casarola Leads Largest European Yacht Marina and Riva Boat Services
Cesare Casarola, president and owner of Nautica Casarola, a company based in Peschiera with boat service locations in Pacengo and Olbia, holds two records: at the age of 18, he was appointed by Carlo Riva himself as responsible for the world’s first Riva boat service, inaugurated in Gardone Riviera in 1959, and manages the largest yacht marina in Europe, located in Olbia.
Cesare Casarola started working early: “I was 12 when I entered my uncle Attilio Casarola‘s workshop in Salò.” After some apprenticeship, he quickly advanced: “At 18, I became the head of the workshop at the first Riva boat service in the world,” recalls Casarola. “The workshop was in Gardone Riviera, just a stone’s throw from the Casino and the Vittoriale, D’Annunzio’s residence. Later, I was hired by Carniti and Canali as a pilot. I raced with 500-horsepower outboard motorboats. For a few years, I also worked as a tester.”
Expansion and Activities
However, his attraction to the most prestigious motorboats is irresistible: “On July 16, 1964, Carlo Riva offered me the management of the Riva boat service in Bardolino. The shipyard was later moved to Peschiera. Meanwhile, the Olbia boat service was inaugurated, which is the largest in Europe and can host boats over 23 meters.”
On Lake Garda, besides the Peschiera workshop, we have the Pacengo di Lazise nautical base, which will soon have a new port with about one hundred boat slips. We are also present in Porto Cervo, Porto Rotondo, Poltu Quatu, and will open a new boat service in Lavagna.”
“The yachting sector is very difficult to manage,” Casarola continues. “I have dedicated my entire life to this work, and I wouldn’t change it for anything else.” Casarola “almost took the helm” of the legendary Riva di Sarnico shipyard: “I couldn’t accept this prestigious appointment because I would have left my company without leadership.”
Passion for Vintage Boats
Vintage boats are a great passion for Casarola: “We specialize in restoring these nautical jewels. We receive requests from all over the world. The waiting list is very long.”
The legend of Riva motorboats, which are comparable to Ferrari and Rolls-Royce in the automotive world, originated in Sarnico (Bergamo), on the shores of Lake Iseo, where Pietro Riva founded the shipyard in 1860. The commercial success of Riva began in the 1950s. Key figures in this success were Carlo Riva and Gino Gervasoni.
Mass production started with Ale, followed by Tritone, Corsaro, and Scoiattolo. The Sebino line further expanded the production range. The most famous hull is the inimitable Acquarama, measuring 8.02 meters, made of mahogany, produced from 1963 to 1996.
Many figures from the jet set took the helm of Riva boats, especially during the Dolce Vita era: Brigitte Bardot, Ira Furstemberg, King Hussein of Jordan, Gilbert Becaud, Kirk Douglas, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Prince Rainer of Monaco, Sophia Loren, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, sheikh of Kuwait and Qatar, Alain Delon, Roger Vadim, Rita Hayworth, Richard Burton, Liz Taylor, and Princess Margaret of England, to name just a few.”
In 1971, Riva was acquired by an American company. It then changed hands several times, first guided by Arab investors and later by Rolls Royce from England. Today, it is back under Italian ownership and is part of the Ferretti group, a prestigious brand of the Italian shipbuilding industry.
