Paolo Vitelli 1947 - 2024

Paolo Vitelli the founder of Azimut Yachts and Azimut-Benetti Group has died aged 77 in his home in Ayas, Aosta on the afternoon of 31 December 2024.  Vitelli died in a tragic accident as he was reported trying to open a shutter door when he fell and hit his head.  Born 4 October 1947 Paolo Vitelli is one of the most important yachting entrepreneur and industrialist of the past fifty years, a man who shaped the yacht industry in Italy and beyond.  Paolo Vitelli will start Azimut as a boat charter company in March 1969, from the savings he made from his student jobs and selling his share in the Temposei Night Club in Turin.  A year later in June 1970 he will get a degree in Economics and Business and in 1971 he will become the Italian dealer of the Norwegian made Amerglass.  In 1975 Azimut Yachts becomes a yacht builder as it builds the first 43 Bali model as designed by Bernard Olesinski and interiors by Terence Disdale. The first Azimut shows the designer inspired direction and is the start to an unstoppable industrial expansion and growth which continues till today.  In just seven years Azimut shows the important super yacht player it will become when it launches the 105 Failaka, which is also the largest fiberglass build yacht of the time and will be delivered in four units in a four year production run.  Vitelli will not stop and in 1985 he will start to make Group as he purchases the bankrupt Fratelli Benetti shipyard.  Paolo Vitelli will restore Benetti leadership in custom and semi-custom Super Yacht production and in 1998 also debuts the shipyard into the fiberglass semi-production market with the Classic 115, which will sell 27 units in an eight year production run and is followed by smaller and larger GRP builds and will put Azimut-Benetti as the leader with the most build Super Yachts from 1999 till today.  Azimut-Benetti Group will also purchase Gobbi shipyard in the fall of 2001 rebranded as Atlantis some years later, and becoming the sport cruiser and sport yacht line up of Azimut Yachts from 2012.  Azimut-Benetti also enters into marina ownership debuting with Varazze in 2005, and then followed with Viareggio and Livorno in Italy, and Valletta in Malta, and on Lake Chimki, Moscow in Russia. Paolo Vitelli also created the small Hotels de Charme chain that restore old buildings in Chamonix in France and Champoluc and Mascognaz in the Italian region of Valle d’Aosta, which conferred on him the title of Amis de la Vallée d’Aoste.  Paolo Vitelli also lead the Italian Boat Builders UCINA Association President from 1998 to 2006, a period of record growth for the Italian Nautical Industry which is still unprecedented.  Paolo Vitelli was also an honorary consul of Norway from 1974 to 2018 and from March 2013 to September 2015, he was a member of the Italian parliament, elected in the Civic Choice list with Monti for Italy. He was a member of the Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic and the Transport and Finance Commissions.  Paolo Vitelli also received the following honours; 1996 Cavaliere del lavoro Order of Merit for Labour; 2004 Honorary degree in mechanical engineering from Politecnico di Torino; 2006 Confindustria “Champions of Growth” award as best Italian business in the five-year period 2001-2006 in terms of growth, innovation and internationalisation; 2011 Amis de la Vallée d’Aoste for his contribution to the development of tourism in various locations by creating quality hotels in old rural buildings; 2017 Carlo Riva Award for entrepreneur of the year; and in 2022 he was named the Torinese of the Year.  Paolo Vitelli will give leadership to Azimut-Benetti Group to his daughter Giovanna in 2022.

Stefano Righini 1951 - 2021

Stefano Righini left for the better World on Saturday second October.  Born in Rimini 1951 Righini will become one of the most important yacht designers of the past three decades, inventing and introducing together with Azimut-Benetti Group Research and Design important novelties in yachting which today have become a standard in yacht design.  From the large hull cabin windows first with profile and then without a profile, large glazing on the main deck, he will also change how the large open sport yacht above fifteen meter in size look and function with the Azimut S series introduced in 2003. Righini started his career in the seventies, with a bit of luck when his father who was a beach guardian, becomes a shipyard guardian due to the purchase of an area by Lavagna Admiral.  He will enter Admiral in 1971 and stay till 1979, then an ownership change happens and he moves to Viareggio.  Here he works with Tecnomarine, Falcon, and Overmarine Mangusta of which he will design all its yachts from 1986 till his retirement in 2017.  With Mangusta Righini will subsequently break the record for the largest open sport yacht ever build every other year till we arrive to the Mangusta 165 in 2008.  With Falcon, Righini will have the same rapport he had with Mangusta designing all there yachts from the late eighties when founded till the yacht builder closes its doors in 2015.  He will also work with Baglietto in the eighties doing three custom yachts for them, and also for Castagnola in the nineties doing two custom designs.  In the early nineties Righini will possibly mark his most important move when he starts to work with Azimut.  His first model is the 78 Ultra launched in 1993, and is followed by the AZ54 CinquantaQuattro in 94, with both yacht models changing how motor yachts in there respective sizes look and function.  From there onwards Stefano Righini will take full design duties at Azimut, designing after that date all the boats and yachts with the exception of the Magellano line introduced in 2009. In the end nineties the Azimut-Benetti Group also gives Righini design duties for the semi-custom less to 45 meters Benetti super yachts.  He starts first with the 35 Classic introduced in 1999, and eventually this line will become known as the Class line.  Righini will also design most of the Azimut-Benetti Group entry level Atlantis range models from 2003 to 2008.  Today Stefano Righini has to his credit over six thousand produced boats featuring his design, most of these being production Azimut yachts.

Azimut Benetti Group New Web Site

The Azimut Benetti Group presents its web site, show casing this company brands and services. The story of the current World largest yacht building private owned company starts in 1969 when current majority share holder Poalo Vitelli sets up a sailing boat charter company, moving on in 1970 at his first participation in the Genoa show, and during the same exhibition signing distribution agreements with Amerglass, Powles, and Westerly. In 1975 the move into production was made with the help of Dutch firm Amerglass giving a hand for the production of the first Azimut yacht, the 43 Bali. A decade later to this the Azimut Benetti Group starts to take its shape, when Vitelli takes over the Fratelli Benetti yard in Viareggio. In 2001 Azimut Benetti buys the Gobbi shipyard in Piacenza, starting the rise of the Atlantis brand. 2004 marked the take over of top brokerage and management brand Fraser Yachts. The new millennium marked also the Azimut Benetti Group entrance into the marina business and so far building four: Varazze, Viareggio, Moscow, and Livorno on the way to completion. The Azimut Benetti Group website is available in Italian or English language and takes you in the following tabs: Mission, Group, Extraordinary Story, Wide Range of Yachts, Hi Design in Motion, At Your Side, and Yachting Gala. Underneath is also six logos which take you into all the brands websites: Azimut Yachts, Benetti, Atlantis, Fraser Yachts, Marina Di Varazze, and Yachtique Elite Yachting Services.

www.azimutbenetti.com