GIOVANNA VITELLI, NEW CHAIR OF ALTAGAMMA FOR THE 2026-2029 TERM
A three-year plan to strengthen the economic, social and cultural impact of Italian excellence. High-end industry is and must be recognised as a driving force for the country.
The Altagamma Members’ Assembly has officially appointed Giovanna Vitelli as Chairwoman of Fondazione Altagamma for the 2026–2029 three-year term and approved the proposed renewal of the Foundation’s Board of Directors.
Giovanna Vitelli, Chairwoman of the Azimut|Benetti Group and formerly Vice President for Yachting over the past three years, succeeds Matteo Lunelli, Chairman and CEO of Ferrari Trento, who over the course of two terms strengthened the Association and its positioning, advanced its work on sustainability, and carried out numerous initiatives abroad.
Giovanna Vitelli is Chairwoman of the Azimut|Benetti Group, the world’s largest privately owned yachting group and global leader in the production of yachts over 24 metres a leadership position it has held for more than 26 years. A law graduate, Giovanna Vitelli served for over 10 years as Vice President of the family Group founded by her father Paolo in 1969, before becoming Chairwoman in 2023.
Today, the Group operates five shipyards in Italy and one in Brazil, employs 2,500 direct staff, and is present in more than 80 countries with 138 showrooms. Following a doubling of turnover over the past five years, the Group now records revenues of €1.5 billion and has an order book extending through to 2029.
Giovanna Vitelli has been a member of the Altagamma Board since 2020. “I am honoured to take on this mandate and would like to thank my predecessor, Matteo Lunelli, for the outstanding work carried out over the past years. I take on this role supported by a team of entrepreneurs and CEOs who are true ambassadors of our way of life around the world,” said Giovanna Vitelli, Chair of Altagamma. Together, we will work to give greater visibility to the impact of our companies on the country, from an economic, social and cultural perspective. We will also be committed to protecting the skills and crafts that lie at the heart of Italian excellence a truly cross-cutting issue for the continuity of Made in Italy.
The high-end sector deserves to be recognised as a driving force for our country. The first findings of a study we are conducting with SDA Bocconi show that, compared with the average Italian company, our companies contribute three times more to GDP growth, hire five times as many people, and pay, on average, 300 times more in taxes.”
The Governance bodies have been renewed as required by the Statute, with more than 45% new Board members. Balanced representation of Altagamma’s seven sectors fashion, design, food & beverage, hospitality, motors, yachts and jewellery has also been ensured, in line with the Foundation’s cross-sector nature and the composition of its membership.
Vice Presidents the following have been confirmed as Vice Presidents and Board Members: Sabina Belli, CEO of Pomellato, Vice President for Jewellery and Manufacturing; Carlo Capasa, Chairman of Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, Vice President for Fashion; Aldo Melpignano, Founder and CEO of Egnazia Ospitalità Italiana, Vice President for Hospitality; Dario Rinero, CEO of HAWORTH Lifestyle, Vice President for Design; and Claudio Domenicali, CEO of Ducati Motor Holding, Vice President for Motors.
New appointments include: Carmen Moretti, Vice President of Holding Terra Moretti, Vice President for Food & Beverage; and Marco Piscitelli, CEO of Molteni Group, Vice President for International Relations and Strategic Projects.
Santo Versace, Founding Chairman, Leonardo Ferragamo, Honorary Chairman, Andrea Illy, Matteo Lunelli and Claudio Luti will take part in the Board of Directors as permanent invitees in their capacity as Past Presidents. Claudio Luti will also take on the role of Strategic Advisor for Institutional Relations.
Board Members: Michel Beneventi, CEO of Gruppo Sanpellegrino; Lorenzo Bertelli, Chief Marketing Officer & Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Prada Group and Executive Chairman of Versace; Laura Burdese, CEO of Bvlgari; Claudia D’Arpizio, Senior Partner at Bain & Company; Alfonso Dolce, Chairman and CEO of Dolce&Gabbana; Giovanni del Vecchio, CEO of Gruppo Giorgetti; Caterina Fabrizio, CEO of Dedar; Santo Ficili, CEO of Maserati; Giuseppe Fontana, Chairman of Villa d’Este; Gian Luca Gessi, CEO of Gessi; Luca Lisandroni, CEO of Brunello Cucinelli; Andrea Pontremoli, CEO of Dallara; Maria Porro, Communications and Marketing Director at Porro and President of Salone del Mobile.Milano; Marie-Louise Sciò, CEO & Creative Director of Pellicano Hotels; Cristina Scocchia, CEO of illycaffè; Giovanni Tamburi, Chairman and CEO of Tamburi Investment Partners; and Angelo Zegna, Co-CEO of ZEGNA.
Board of Auditors: Maurizio Dallocchio, SDA Bocconi; Giuseppe Prezioso, Max Mara Fashion Group; and Ezio Simonelli, Studio Simonelli.
CEO: Stefania Lazzaroni.
THE SCENARIO: A GLOBAL LUXURY MARKET IN TRANSFORMATION Against a backdrop marked by wars, geopolitical tensions, tariffs and international instability, the global luxury market is undergoing a phase of transformation. For the first time after more than ten years of growth excluding the pandemic period. Personal Luxury Goods are recording a contraction of 2%, while experiential luxury continues to show positive dynamics: hospitality is up 3%, fine dining 5%, and yachts and private jets 9%[1].
The geography of demand, specifically with regard to Personal Luxury Goods, is being reshaped: the United States and certain areas of Asia-Pacific are proving more resilient, while Chinese consumption is weaker, as is Europe, which is more exposed to geopolitical tensions.
Overall, however, the industry’s fundamentals remain solid, and the medium- to long-term trend for the high-end market is one of growth: today, the market is 13% larger than in the pre-Covid year of 2019[2], and approximately 45% larger than in 2015[3].
THE 2026–2029 THREE-YEAR PLAN: THREE STRATEGIC PILLARS: The programme that will be submitted to the new Board of Directors for the 2026–2029 three-year term is the result of a systematic listening process launched by the new Chairwoman, including a survey sent to Members at the beginning of the year. Three shared priorities have emerged:
1. Promoting the values of Italian excellence
The promotion of Italian excellence as a cultural, social and economic asset for the country will be one of the pillars of the plan. Action will focus on three main areas:
1a. Communicating the value of the Italian Luxury Industry as a driving force for the country
This will be supported by a new study on the economic and social impact of the high-end sector, commissioned to Bocconi/Open Impact, with the contribution of Bain & Company, which will be presented in the coming months.
The objective is to analyse the weight of the sector within the Italian economic system, expressed through economic and employment multipliers across industries and supply chains. According to the first data provided by SDA Bocconi, had the Italian production system recorded a performance comparable to that of high-end companies, national GDP would have grown by more than 3% in the 2023–2024 two-year period, compared with the 0.7% actually recorded. In addition, high-end companies recorded employment growth of 5.5%, compared with average national employment growth of 1%. Altagamma companies also pay taxes that are, on average, 300 times higher than those paid by the average Italian company[1].
Finally, the study will also aim to enhance the identity-defining factors of the sector that must be protected: manufacturing quality, specialised human capital, international reputation, territorial roots, and the cultural content of products.
1b. Promoting the Italian way of life
This means promoting a cross-sector narrative of excellence and creativity, artisanal mastery, territorial distinctiveness and the culture of living well: a celebration of Italian ingenuity and of the country’s production ecosystem.
This will also be pursued through the renewal of the Next Design Perspectives conference — as a platform for discussing new global trends in creativity — and through the ambition to create a new exhibition or event format designed to celebrate the mastery of Made in Italy luxury and, with it, the ingenuity and manufacturing excellence of our production ecosystem.
22. Activities in support of Made in Italy professions and young people
The transmission of know-how represents the most urgent priority for the entire sector. In Italy, around 1,748,000 young people aged 15 to 34 — equal to 14.5% of the total population in these age groups — are NEETs, meaning they are neither studying nor working.
At the same time, according to the latest Altagamma-Unioncamere data, 276,000 manufacturing profiles will be needed by 2028 across high-end supply chains. It is also estimated that, in around 50% of cases, companies will have difficulty finding the professional profiles they need.
The proposal that will be submitted to the Altagamma Board of Directors intends to act on several fronts:
• Supporting the new technological and vocational education and training system, comprising technical-vocational schools and ITS Academies: institutional action to promote partnerships between Altagamma companies and regional supply-chain agreements, participation in the co-design of educational pathways, and the involvement of young people in school-to-work programmes, in continuity with the “Adotta una Scuola” project.
• Enhancing the integrated public-private training system, including through corporate Academies: promoting the formal recognition of training credits acquired in technical and vocational pathways, including those delivered by the Academies of member companies, making them potential partners of the ITS and university systems, supported by European and regional funding. • Promoting Made in Italy professions among young people: a campaign to present hands-on craft professions as attractive and rewarding career paths; a platform to showcase the best practices developed to date by companies and institutes participating in Altagamma’s “Adotta una Scuola” project; a mapping of where “luxury is made” in Italy, including the technical-vocational schools that already work with our Members and the most accredited schools in fashion, design, food & beverage and other sectors; and a list of the corporate Academies of the companies belonging to the Foundation. This will require a dual communication approach: one aimed at attracting young people, and the other at presenting this commitment to the country as a whole.
• Enhancing young managerial careers: Italy also faces several challenges in relation to managerial career paths. To mention just a few figures, the value of human capital that has moved abroad is equal to 7.5% of GDP, according to CNEL data, and one in two Italians who have moved abroad is a university graduate. Altagamma’s objective is to raise awareness among its companies and across the country of the importance of investing in young people, through an analysis of best practices adopted by Altagamma companies to promote talent and support young people’s professional growth. The average age of CEOs of listed companies is 60, according to Key2People data.
3. Business development: studies, institutional relations and initiatives in new markets
• Studies: consolidation of the Altagamma-Bain Observatory, which has been an international reference point on global luxury trends for 23 years; the Bocconi/Open Impact study; the strengthening of a study on high-end tourism, which supports the business of all sectors, given that 60% of purchases in Italy are made by foreign tourists; and selective endorsement of other sector-specific research.
• Institutional relations: focus on cross-sector projects, with priority given to the recognition of the high-end industry as a strategic national asset, and continuation of Altagamma’s activity in Brussels through ECCIA, the European Cultural and Creative Industries Alliance.
• New markets: strengthening ties with international partners in key markets, such as the United States and China, and in emerging markets, including India, Saudi Arabia and Latin America, to support the business of Member companies.
