It’s day one of the Cannes Yachting Festival 2025. I spent the morning touring luxury motor yachts by Azimut and Benetti, sister brands under the Azimut-Benetti Group, and am now heading to a meeting with Giovanna Vitelli, who took on the role of Chair in 2023. Her father, the late Paolo Vitelli, founded Azimut in 1969 and acquired Benetti in 1985. Across six shipyards, the Azimut-Benetti Group employs some 2,500 people and builds motor yachts measuring from 10 to over 100m in length.
Vitelli has been speaking individually with yachting journos for the past two hours. “You must be tired. I’ll keep it short,” I say as we shake hands.”
“No, it’s my pleasure to talk to you,” she replies without missing a beat. She appears to still be raring to go, which is perfect since I have more than a few questions. This piece isn’t about yachts. It’s about Giovanna Vitelli.
A trained lawyer, she spent her first five years out of school doing mergers and acquisitions at a law firm in Milan. Her career trajectory however changed instantly following a casual conversation with her father.
“I was about to move to a law firm in New York. He said, ‘I’m so happy you’re happy. It’s important to do what makes us happy. But if your career is in law, I will consider selling the company since the business won’t continue in the family’,” recounts the only child.
“He already had a prospective buyer. I said, ‘Wait, wait, what do you mean?’ A week later, I quit my job and cancelled my move to New York. I told my father, ‘Let’s work together for one year and see how it goes’.”
The trial period was to determine if she’d be up to the task. “I had the passion, but we needed to make sure I was capable and could support the company’s growth.”
Vitelli came on board in 2004 and rolled up her sleeves immediately, setting up the company’s legal department and shadowing her father in product development. “It is not difficult to hire a good sales manager and a good marketing manager. The product, however, is both a risk and an opportunity,” she says.
Back in those days, the Azimut-Benetti Group had only two designers, one for interiors and one for exteriors. “They would meet at a bar and sketch yacht ideas on napkins, and that would be our next yacht. It was a pioneering era,” she recalls. Today, Azimut has six designers, while Benetti has 10.
In 2009, Vitelli introduced the first Azimut Magellano, a semi-displacement yacht measuring 22m that laid the groundwork for a series designed for long-distance cruising. Following which, she launched other models in the Azimut Atlantis series of sporty cruiser yachts.
Proving her merit earned her respect from the technical department, she says. “It didn’t matter that I was the daughter of the founder. I had to be extremely knowledgeable.”
She credits Marco Valle, who rose through the ranks at the Azimut-Benetti Group over three decades, with always being open to her “sometimes crazy proposals”. For instance, she once initiated hiring designers without yacht design experience because she believed that a cross-pollination of industries was necessary for fresh ideas.
“Up until the early 2000s, yachts used the same design language that included opulence, ebony, and onyx. You could count on two hands the number of yacht designers. “While other sectors, like hospitality, were reinterpreting their design approaches, yacht designs seemed old-fashioned to me. So, I rang up hotel designers because hotels are similar to boats. I wanted people who could interpret a boat with a virgin eye,” she makes plain.
PUSHING BOUNDARIES
Her father’s “best possible” mentoring and the “perfect match” partnership with Valle fuelled her abilities to push product development boundaries, Vitelli adds. Over the past 16 years, there have been 11 Azimut Magellano models, five of which are current. Magellano 27M, the latest model, will be unveiled at the festival next year. Other series under Azimut include Seadeck, S, and Grande.
The differences between Azimut and Benetti luxury yachts are straightforward. Azimut’s range varies from 15m to 45m, while Benetti’s start at 35m and can go beyond 100m. Additionally, because Azimut vessels are designed for faster travel, they typically have sleek, sporty lines.
On the other hand, Benetti offers comprehensive customisation and timeless elegance. Essentially, anything is possible with a Benetti vessel. The Benetti Oasis 40M won the World Superyacht Award in the Displacement Motor Yachts 499GT and below, 40m to 44.9m category.
A key difference between buyers then and now, according to Vitelli, is that today’s buyers have a much smaller grasp of technical knowledge. But it’s not that they need it anyway, she contends. “Today, buyers aren’t just buying a product, but also a lifestyle and experience. They want an experience without the headache, so they leave the technicalities to the people they can trust.”
Buyers are now younger as a result of massive shifts in where and how money is created, she points out. This is because while industries such as real estate and finance continue to generate fortunes, ‘new’ wealth is created in fields such as technology, pharmaceuticals, and artillery.
It is a misconception, however, that buyers typically purchase yachts to flaunt their wealth, she notes. If anything, they use their pleasure craft to create experiences. “A Benetti customer gave me a wonderful definition of his yacht. He said, ‘It’s the best memory machine for me and my family. My children are grown and have children of their own, but they come to spend time with me. This is what counts for me in life’.
“So, while we facilitate luxury, it is a luxury rooted in time and emotion. It’s not just about spending money.”
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
A perceptible optimist, Vitelli considers employee engagement her biggest challenge as well as her biggest opportunity. “In the past, everyone knew each other at the coffee machine, but this is no longer the case. I want people who stay and grow with us, not continuous turnover.”
The company regularly sends staff on yacht trips as part of a programme to bridge the divide. As a result, they can build relationships at work and experience the products they helped create. She and Valle also host a monthly lunch to be intentional about interacting with employees.
The Azimut-Benetti Group last year provided health insurance to all employees and extended coverage to their families to boost productivity and morale. “It was for everyone, from our top executives to our blue-collar workers. There are only about 10 companies in Italy that offer this level of welfare,” she sums up.
To serve the children of employees and local residents, the company also recently opened a kindergarten in Avigliana, where Azimut’s new headquarters is located. “It is important for us to emphasise that we are a family business and that we care about our staff.”
It also strives to provide what Vitelli calls “amazing spaces” in its offices for one simple reason: Vitelli isn’t a fan of working from home. “We need to work closely together to develop new ideas since we do what we do, which requires creativity and an exchange of opinions. So, we make our workspaces as comfortable as possible, so people enjoy being in the office.”
With a 20-year-old son and 17-year-old daughter, Vitelli is in the nascent stages of legacy planning. But she is adamant about adhering to her late father’s principles. “My children say they are interested in the business, but I want to apply the same strategy my father used: the decision isn’t automatic. They are good students, but let’s see if they can prove to be capable, like I had to do.
“I must respect our 2,500 employees and their livelihoods. My father felt that if his daughter was not interested or capable, it would be wise to find other solutions. Although I hope for my children to be a part of the company, I’ll also say, ‘Let’s see if you deserve to be a part of it’.”
