Riva 96' Argo Super brings beach-club logic to the flybridge

The Riva 96' Argo Super was launched in La Spezia on 20 July 2026, and the important point is not simply that it grows beyond the 90' Argo. This 28.79-metre flybridge shows where pressure is building in the sub-30-metre premium market: the stern, the main-deck services and the owner experience now have to do more work than the profile alone.

Ferretti Group confirms that the first hull comes from the familiar collaboration between Officina Italiana Design, the Strategic Product Committee and the group's Engineering Department. Its official public debut is scheduled for the Cannes Yachting Festival 2026, so the launch is the opening move before buyers can inspect the yacht in a full boat-show setting. For a wider view of the brand family, theRiva page on Batoois the natural place to track listings and market context.

The stern carries the new brief

The most concrete change is aft. Riva says the garage door has been redesigned with an integrated sunpad, handrail and cup holders; once open, it gives access to a Williams 435 tender and a jet ski. Beside it, the swim platform uses a lifting mechanism to make entry into the water easier and safer.

That sounds like a lifestyle detail, but it is actually the centre of the product argument. On a 29-metre flybridge, the stern decides how often the yacht feels effortless at anchor. If the tender is easy to deploy, if swimmers are not fighting awkward steps and if the sunpad does not obstruct circulation, the boat becomes more convincing for short weekends, crowded anchorages and family use.

Riva applies the same thinking to the cockpit. Ferretti Group lists extra storage, a built-in refrigerator and adjustable backrests for the two large lengthwise sofas around the dining table. The flybridge gains a new bar unit and mahogany-topped tables. These are not radical inventions; they are the kind of revisions that make a mature model line easier to live with and easier to explain at resale.

A day head changes the lower-deck equation

The main-deck day head may be the least theatrical and most useful design move. By relocating a service that guests use constantly, Riva frees volume below deck for the sleeping area. In the standard layout, the lower deck has three generous guest cabins, including a full-beam aft VIP that uses the recovered space to approach the comfort and size of a second master. An optional version offers three VIP cabins plus a twin guest cabin.

That distinction matters. One owner may want fewer guests accommodated with more privacy and volume; another may value flexibility for family, friends or privately managed charter-style use. The point is that the day head is not an isolated convenience. It changes the way the yacht allocates value.

Buyers comparing Italian flybridges often look across adjacent brands such asFerretti Yachtsto judge the balance between salon, cabins, service routes and brand character. The 96' Argo Super answers with a very pragmatic gesture: put the daily-use head where it is needed, then spend the saved lower-deck space where guests will remember it.

The master suite is about light as much as size

The official numbers are clear: 28.79 metres overall and 6.50 metres of maximum beam. Yet Riva's description focuses less on raw volume than on the full-beam master suite, its large glazed surfaces and furniture arranged to maximise natural light and water views, even from the bed.

That emphasis fits the present market. At this level, an owner suite cannot rely only on area. It has to feel connected to the sea rather than buried inside a hull. Light, sightlines and a calmer visual field are now part of comfort in the same way that wardrobe space and bathroom volume are.

The interior language combines polished wenge, pale matt oak, mirrored surfaces and polished steel detailing. Batoo's reading is that Riva is trying to keep the athletic, formal character of the Argo line while making the boat brighter and less enclosed. That is a difficult balance for a heritage brand: too much change weakens recognition, too little makes the update feel cosmetic.

Assistance systems matter in marinas, not brochures

The first yacht is equipped with twin MTU 12V 2000 M96X engines, each rated at 2,000 HP. Ferretti Group also lists Seakeeper NG18 and NG10 gyroscopic stabilisers, the Watchit collision-prevention system, Xenta's X-AID manoeuvring aid with virtual anchor, and a stern thruster.

Those systems should be read as a package. They do not make a near-30-metre yacht trivial to run, and the source does not claim that they do. They do, however, address the slow-speed and at-anchor moments that shape ownership confidence: holding position, entering tight berths, keeping guests comfortable and reducing avoidable stress in busy marinas.

For buyers considering a more overtly performance-led alternative, such as models in thePershingworld, the Riva package speaks a different language. It is less about theatre and more about controlled movement, comfort and the ability to use the yacht without turning every arrival into a production. Against Mediterranean flybridge names such asAzimut, the comparison will likely sit around outdoor space, beach access and how formal or relaxed the interior mood feels.

Cannes will test the design in front of informed buyers

The Cannes Yachting Festival listing identifies the Riva 96' Argo Super among Ferretti Spa's boats, with the 2026 show scheduled in Cannes from 8 to 13 September. That matters because Cannes is where details become public evidence: steps, sightlines, locker access, cockpit movement and the real connection between salon and sea.

Until that inspection happens, several questions remain open. How natural is the route from cockpit to salon? Does the lifting platform simplify swimming and tender work in daily use? Does the aft VIP truly feel close to a second master, or is it mainly a strong guest cabin? Those are not criticisms; they are the right questions for a boat whose confirmed innovations are mostly about use.

The 96' Argo Super does not appear to be chasing novelty for its own sake. Based on the confirmed launch information, it refines a known Riva formula by pushing value toward water access, main-deck practicality and a brighter owner suite. For a brand with such a fixed visual identity, that is the more meaningful kind of progress: enough change to make ownership easier, not so much that the yacht stops reading as a Riva.