Published: 26-01-2010
Ariete Primo offers all the charm and originality of its background as a tugboat that has travelled the oceans of the world. Transformed into an elegant yacht for exclusive cruises, Ariete Primo has preserved all the elegance of Old England.
Precious woodwork and furnishings create a warm, cosy interior where nothing is left to chance: every detail is carefully designed to offer the pleasure of total relaxation and make guests feel perfectly at home. The yacht offers a mosaic, tiled spa offering chromo therapy and aromatherapy, a gym, a hammam and a whirlpool bath to pamper both body and mind.
Ariete Primo is like a little town in itself: it has its own water-maker providing 320 litres of fresh water per hour. Electricity is not a problem thanks to three powerful generators. Fuel load capacity is high, so the boat can sail all the way from Europe to America without stopovers. All with the utmost safety and dependability, and all the most elegant comforts for a truly exclusive vacation.
A tugboat of 44 metres and 2 centimetres of steel, these 635 tons with a draught of more than four metres travelling at up to 15 knots with a 2,700 hp engine fuelled by a 90 thousand litre tank, these four decks transformed with a lot of work into an elegant, sober vessel in perfect Old England style, are neither a whim nor a luxury, but a challenge.
The cruising routes
Her owner purchased the boat in 2004, renovated it and redesigned it for its new use over the next two years. The Ariete Primo is already fully functional. From the beginning of March to the end of September last year the boat was available for charter. Already a number of clients have been on board - American, Russian, Canadian, Italians and Spanish clients chartered it to spend unforgettable holidays in Liguria, the islands of the Tyrrhenian Sea, and the Azure Coasts. A major American film studio docked the Ariete Primo in Cannes 2009, across from the Croisette, during the Film Festival and used it as a base for its top management and most prestigious guests.
Charter prices per week
Euros 120.000 (high season and events)
Euros 110.000 (low season)
Cruising areas
West Mediterranean: Riviera / Corse /Sardegna
South west Mediterranean: Naples Islands /Sicily
West Mediterranean: Spain and Baleares
East Mediterranean: Croatia, Greece and Turkey
The refitting
It's great to see people share the Ariete Primo dream especially when they understand not only the boat's attraction but the way in which it was restored and converted. The work was done with the aim of achieving a very delicate balance in every part of the boat. The tugboat's tiny crew cabins made way for elegant suites with interior design by architect Sergio Allori.
The ballast compartments that allowed the Ariete Primo to cut its draught from two to four metres in the waters of the Panama Canal was recovered as living space; the heavy iron decks were replaced by light alloy structures large enough to accommodate a helicopter landing pad. But during this substantial structural renewal, overseen by architect Massimo Gregori Grgic and his team from Yankee Delta Studio, everything possible was done to preserve the boat's history and character. And so the binnacle of the compass, the fire-fighting springald, the big search lights, the Panama Eye (a characteristic oval window for the sailor who helped the captain sail through the Canal's hazards unharmed) and other parts of the boat, most importantly its engines, are still the original ones. This skilful balance of old and new, of traditional atmospheres and advanced technologies, is what gives the Ariete Primo its charm.
The on board services and the crew
The most complex "fine tuning" operation so far has involved not the technical aspects of the boat but essential human components. Being in charge of a boat that frequently has different guests on board, from all over the world, requires some very particular qualities, not only professional but personal. A very experienced captain and a crew of eight: a chief engineer and his assistant, a boatswain, a cook (Italian), two hostesses, a steward and a sailor.