The most representative and prominent figure of post-war Italian boating has recently passed away: Paolo Vitelli. It is useless to mention him as the founder of Azimut and then of Azimut Benetti. Everyone knows that.

Here we would like to recall some passages of his long entrepreneurial life, which was not limited to boating, but ranged in various other fields, from entrepreneurship in the hotel industry in Val d’Aosta to association representation.

In 1969 Paolo Vitelli’s star rose. Azimut was born, originating from a passion and a pastime, which would later transform into a cutting-edge industrial activity, into the world’s largest manufacturer of motoryachts and mega and giga motor yachts, becoming a trend setter of technical and technological solutions and applications, points of reference for the entire sector.

Enterprising, imaginative, unscrupulous, visionary, but always with thrifty feet on the ground, Paolo Vitelli together with a friend begins to rent sailboats to the Turin public. He then imports English motoryachts, discovering a vein still unexplored. But the commercial activity alone does not satisfy him enough and at only 24 years old he extends the activity to production. He introduces concepts derived from the automotive industry, of which Turin was then still the capital, launching on the market simple, efficient hulls, rich in innovations, which will allow new generations of shipowners to approach the sea. But at the same time the launch of the largest motoryacht in molded fiberglass, the 31-meter Failaka, sold to the Onassis family.

The leap in quality and commitment occurs in 1985 with the acquisition of Benetti, a real shipyard, the most famous in Italy. In the same years, Paolo Vitelli launched himself to conquer the Blue Ribbon, the exciting Atlantic crossing without refueling: the Group thus found itself at the center of international, sports and social news.

At the same time, innovations and techniques never seen before were introduced. From the glued windows of the AZ 43, to the electrically operated descending or rotating windows, solutions imported from the automotive world, to the garage and the Jacuzzi on the flying bridge of the 100 Jumbo, to the revolutionary layout of the 46 with the VIP cabin in the center, Azimut was copied by shipyards on all continents, from European to North American to South American.

Technology has been another goal strongly pursued by Vitelli, a design and production leitmotif that has characterized the fifty-year excursus of the company and that from the initial solutions borrowed and imported tout-court from the automotive industry has moved on to introduce technical solutions typical of the nautical world, from infusion lamination, to an ever-increasing use of carbon for the parts of the superstructure with the aim of lightening the entire artifact and significantly lowering its center of gravity for better energy efficiency but also for a more calibrated weight distribution and ever-improving seaworthiness.

Even in communication, Azimut continues to be a reference company. In 2018, Vitelli exhibited an S7, 21 meters, at the Triennale Design Week in Milan, in the space in front of the main entrance of the Palazzo dell’Arte, home of the Triennale. In 2019, an Azimut S6, 18 meters, lands in the famous Times Square in New York, with an exclusive installation organized and created in cooperation with Design Pavilion. In 2023, a debuting Sedeck 6 is exhibited in a swimming pool in Milan during the Salone del Mobile.

President of UCINA, now Confindustria Nautica, for two terms, from 1998 to 2006, Vitelli gave a very strong boost to the internationalization of Italian boating, promoted the 2013 Law on boating “Provisions for the reorganization and relaunch of recreational boating and nautical tourism” and the introduction of Italian nautical leasing.

Awarded an Honorary Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Turin, from March 2013 to September 2015 he was a member of the Republic, elected in the Lista Scelta Civica con Monti per l’Italia and was a member of the Committee for the Security of the Republic (COPASIR) and of the Transport and Finance Commissions.

After celebrating the first 50 years of Azimut, which led the shipyard to become the world’s leading motorboating player, Paolo Vitelli passed the baton of the company’s management to his daughter Giovanna, in whose hands lies the responsibility for the coming decades.