Riva Just Opened A Luxe Lounge At One Of The Amalfi Coast’s Finest Hotels

Riva watercraft—particularly timelessly stylish runabouts like the Aquarama—have been scooting up and down the Amalfi Coast since JFK was president. With the fine, Ferretti-owned boatbuilder’s waist-deep history in the area, there are few other places on Earth, or even the Mediterranean, more suited to a new Riva lounge than southern Italy’s famously craggy coastline.

The same can be said of Riva’s chosen venue, the Borgo Santandrea, a five-star seaside property already brimming with mid-century Italian architecture and furnishings that’s further distinguished by a Michelin-starred restaurant and its status as the sole Amalfi Coast hotel with a private beach. The Riva Lounge within welcomes guests with the brand’s signature design elements: polished mahogany, chrome accents, and aquamarine hues.

A Riva Cento—a 39-footer limited to just 12 examples that’s particularly stunning in its Fireworks Black finish—sits in the hotel’s private dock, waiting to welcome guests on a day cruise to see the Amalfi Coast’s many striking coves or enjoy at-sea aperitifs at sunset. At Marinella, the hotel’s chic beach club, the lounge is completed by a gallery of Riva archival photography installed along the approach to the beach: a timeline of the brand’s storied history that greets guests before the sunloungers do.

The Riva Lounge at Borgo Santandrea is the latest of many branded spaces strategically scattered across two continents, including the Gritti Palace in Venice, the Yacht Club de Monaco in Monte Carlo, a gastro destination in Göcek, the Hotel de Mar Gran Meliá in Mallorca, the Hotel Monte Mulini in Rovinj, a private deck at Lake Como, Riva Privées in Paris, Ischia, Lake Iseo, and the Jeddah Yacht Club in Saudi Arabia.

But for those longing to know what it felt like to live la dolce vita on the Italian coast circa 1966, a visit to this newest location might just be the closest thing to a time machine.