Italian design house Gucci said it will introduce made-to-order speedboats next year, with prices starting from 590,000 euros ($750,000).

The vessels will be produced in partnership with yacht-builder Riva to help mark Gucci’s 90th anniversary in 2011.

This unique collaboration between two of Italy’s most renowned design houses celebrates the era of La Dolce Vita, when a joie de vivre, glamour and elegance defined an attitude and a lifestyle.

Follow sailing ship the Bessie-Ellen online, as it transports 20,000 bottles of Château Smith Lafite and Château de Cayx Bordeaux to Montreal on July 21.

Château Smith Lafite and Château de Cayx are using a classic sailing ship to transport their vintages to North America.

The sailing ship being used, the 120-foot (36.5 meter) Bessie-Ellen was built in 1904 in Portsmouth, England, and is one of the last remaining vessels of its kind.

Renowned French artist Xavier Veilhan has produced a brand new work of monochrome “sculpture” in collaboration with the Frauscher shipyard in Austria.

The Italian designer Paulo Rossi has created a beautiful yacht inspired by an Italian naval boat – the MAS 42 Sport.

The original MAS (Antisubmarine Boat) was a fast, torpedo-armed vessel invented by the Italian Navy in WWI and also used extensively during WWII.

At 42 feet long, the twin engines can propel the vessel up to 54 knots while cruising speed is a crisp 40 knots.

Australian designer Marc Newson has designed a speed boat in collaboration with Officina Italiana Design for Italian boat brand Riva.

Newson’s design for the Aquariva vessel is unique in its conception, as well as the materials chosen.

A wood-like, textile-based laminate (phenolic composite) was used for the deck area and instrument panel.

This material was developed in the first half of the 20th century, and was a precursor to fibreglass.

What its makers say is the world’s biggest boat powered by the sun was unveiled in Germany on Thursday ahead of its planned circumnavigation of the globe in 2011 — the first under solar power.

“This is a unique feeling to see in front of me today a boat which I so often dreamed about,” said Raphael Domjan, the boat’s future skipper.

The sleek, 31- by 15-metre (100 by 50 foot) catamaran, known as PlanetSolar, 35 metres by 23 metres when flaps at the stern and the sides are included, will be “silent and clean,” say its makers, also called PlanetSolar.

The vessel will be able to achieve a top speed of around 15 knots, (25 kilometres per hour), and can accommodate 50 people on its round-the-world voyage.