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Crystal Palace

Glass panels on the Riva Perseo 76 salon give owners an unrivaled window to the sea in a safe, sealed environment.
Riva, 76 Perseo, Ferretti Group, Yacht Trends
Riva’s Ego and Vertigo models started the glass craze for the Ferretti Group brand, but the Perseo 76 takes it to the next level. Courtesy Riva

Riva’s Perseo 76 is as close to living in a designer glass house as one can get on a large express cruiser. More than 440 square feet of curved, high-impact glass panels run along the vessel’s sides and ceiling, from the windshield to the aft cockpit door. “The Perseo is the first yacht to minimize the barriers between the inside and outside, so owners feel they’re really living on the sea,” says Mauro Micheli, Riva’s longtime designer.

The exterior itself looks like a stylish coupe, but the interior is a tinted crystal palace where owners can see, yet not be seen. Ferretti Group performed finite element analysis to determine areas that needed reinforcement so as to ensure structural integrity with the long, curved sheets of high-impact-resistant glass.

Besides offering a window to the sea, Perseo’s seemingly bulletproof salon was designed to withstand the harshest ocean conditions.

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Keeping It Glassy

Expansive use of glass, also referred to as “glazing” by many boatbuilders, has become the new mantra in yacht design, better connecting yachtsmen and their environment. “Ferretti has been incorporating big glass panels in hull sides for years,” says longtime Riva designer Mauro Micheli. “Their technical advances have made it easier to push the boundaries of design on new models like the Perseo.”

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