Friuli’s best-known entrepreneur, a man and manager who linked his life to the metallurgical group, has passed away after a short illness Danieli of Buttrio, in the province of Udine, one of the world leaders in the design and construction of steel plants, as well as among the top three steel producers in Europe. Gianpietro Benedetti he was 81 years old and led the group for a long time Danielihelping to bring it to a global dimension, with a turnover of almost 3 billion euros and 8,600 employees worldwide.
He was unable to fulfill his last dream, to build a steel mill (completely “green” according to the company), on the shores of the Adriatic, in San Giorgio di Nogaro, in the lagoon of Marano Lagunare, between the beaches of Lignano Sabbiadoro and Grado. Last year the project was blocked by a petition signed by more than 20 thousand people who considered it too impactful, inducing the regional council to Massimiliano Fedriga to backtrack and withdraw support for a two billion euro industrial initiative. Benedetti had seen that failure as an offense to the good name of the company, to the point of going to war against the signatories of the protest, asking for their names and shaming causes for compensation for damages.
He joined Danieli at the age of twenty in 1961 as a technical designer. In 1976 he had become technical sales manager of the sales office, in 1980 also technical director, with tasks that included the research center. In 1986 he was appointed general director of the group, while Cecilia Danieli became president and managing director. The entrepreneurial partnership had borne fruit, bringing Danieli out of the shallows of the crisis in the steel sector. When Cecilia Danieli passed away in 2003, Benedetti took over the double legacy of president and CEO, leaving the latter role in 2018 to Giacomo Mareschi Danielison of Cecilia.
A long career of work, successes and some judicial misadventures. He was president of Confindustria Udine, received the recognition of Cavaliere del Lavoro and two honorary degrees. The former rector of Udine Furio Honsell recalls: “He was an entrepreneur of extraordinary talent who brought the name of Friuli and the quality and seriousness of its workers around the world for decades. I awarded him an honorary degree in 2006 in Management Engineering for his organizational skills and exceptional spirit of innovation.”
There were many attestations following the news of his death. Fedriga, governor of Friuli, speaks of “a visionary entrepreneur, who has also proudly demonstrated his commitment to his land, becoming its patron, engaging in the world of communications and initiating numerous projects for the training of young people”. Benedetti was part of the consortium of Veneto-Friulian entrepreneurs which they acquired from the group last year Gedi-Elkann six newspapers in the Northeast, from Venice to Trieste, as a shareholder of North East Multimedia (Nem), coordinated by Enrico Marchi, president of the Marco Polo airport in Venice.
Benedetti’s name ended up in the judicial news due to a alleged tax evasion linked to the declarations of three subsidiaries, with formal headquarters in Luxembourg, Industrielle Beteiligung Sa, Danieli International Sa and Danfin International Sa. The Financial Police had contested evasions amounting to around 30 million euros. The Udine Prosecutor’s Office had obtained a trial and a first conviction in 2018 (with acquittal of tax fraud) for what appeared to be foreign investment in a tax haven, carried out from 2010 to 2013. On appeal, Benedetti was instead acquitted of all crimes . In Padua he was accused of complicity in manslaughter and injuries, together with other managers, due to a workplace accident that occurred in 2018 at the Acciaierie Venete, which caused the death of two workers.
