Benetti 213

Zuretti’s room-by-room instructions were painstakingly listed in a 250-page tome complete with photographs of selected furniture and fittings. The furniture is constructed mostly of solid cherry, but teak, ash and burl of maple veneers are also used. Other materials include goatskin, parchment, mother-of-pearl, galuchat, bamboo, buffalo hide, and gold and silver leaf. Spinneybeck provided the leathers, except for the full-grain Connolly hide in the wheelhouse, which is marine- and flame-treated to meet MCA regulations. The mirrors were produced with antioxidant silvering to prevent clouding, and all the carpets are hand-tufted, 100 percent virgin New Zealand wool.

Ambrosia’s general layout provides for crew quarters on the lower deck that are completely independent from the four guest cabins and social areas. A VIP cabin—sometimes occupied by Young when unaccompanied by his wife—is located amidships on the upper deck. The formal owner’s suite occupies the area forward of the main foyer on the main deck. Aft of the same foyer is the dining room and main salon.

The Vikal limousine tender. (Click image to enlarge) 

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Immediately overhead on the upper deck is another innovative space known as the Stargate panoramic dining room. This circular-shaped room, which functions as an informal dining and cocktail area, looks onto the aft main deck through sliding glass doors and is totally unique in concept and utterly different in styling to the rest of the yacht. True to its name, the leitmotif of the décor is decidedly astronomical. The circular ceiling features the constellations of the northern and southern hemispheres illuminated by hundreds of fiber optics that wink softly in the dark. Moreover, the whole ceiling panel is driven by electric motors linked to the yacht’s GPS, so it revolves in conjunction with wherever Ambrosia happens to be on the world’s oceans.

Turning an eye down one finds a round, steel-framed table with a glass disc in its center. Below this disc is an elliptical Astolfo Turelli, an artist from Pisa. Using etching and bas-relief techniques, Turelli worked from satellite photographs of the barren orb. The sculpture’s tiny craters and fissures glow a lunar green when illuminated by optic fibers.

The interior abounds in handcrafted detailing such as the four classically styled wall lamps in the dining room. Sculpted by local artisans, these lamps are made from calcite alabaster, each taking up to a month to complete.

Etched glass detailing is a recurring feature throughout the yacht, such as on the small glass panels set into the cabinets and bar unit in the panoramic salon on the upper deck. Illuminated by optic fibers, these panels are etched with art deco–inspired designs that mirror the decorative border of the carpet. Turelli superbly etched the two sliding glass doors between the dining room and the main salon with designs of the Copernican universe and horoscope.

Turelli also authored the epic trompe l’oeil that decorates the stairwell between the main and lower decks. Inspiration for the mural came from a series of gilded panels recovered from the main salon of the 1930s passenger liner S.S. Normandie now housed in the Carnegie Museum of Art. The mural borrows many classical marine subjects from the original work, such as sea creatures, winged horses from Greek mythology and an astonishing number of different types of ships. And, if you look very closely, one of the vessels displays a flag with the owner’s personal coat of arms—the same heraldic shield that appears on Ambrosia’s funnel stack, accompanied by a banner with his motto, "Press Through."

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