«The name of Gianpietro Benedetti also contains, beyond the personal story, a formidable entrepreneurial trajectory. All our regret for the loss of an industrial man of extraordinary lucidity, foresight and stability.”
With these words Enrico Marchi, president of Nord Est Multimedia, which also publishes this newspaper, greets the Friulian industrialist who with the Danieli group had been able to interpret an authentically global development strategy.
Gianpietro Benedetti has died, this is who the last great industrial captain of Friuli was
by Paolo Mosanghini
April 28, 2024
From the beginning, Benedetti was among the promoters of Nem and therefore of the acquisition of six Friulian and Venetian newspapers put up for sale by Gedi, since he has always had a strong passion for publishing.
«He believed that information – continues Marchi – is a cornerstone of society, a fundamental asset for enhancing communities, the heritage of general interest linked to the territories, growth projects and the creation of a future for his Friuli Venezia Giulia in particular but in fact for the entire North-East.
All Nem shareholders will miss his contribution of intelligence and vigilance. On this ground, in a logic of assuming public responsibility, we naturally shared with him and the other shareholders the path of foundation and now progressive realization of Nem’s multimedia project. He knew how to see long-term and at the same time act in the present with the utmost concreteness.”
And Marchi adds in this regard: «Benedetti’s story is a reflection of a style and a temperament».
In fact, he wasn’t even 20 years old when he walked through the doors of Danieli, for his first job as a technical designer.
And then he got involved as a project manager of small factories, after which he applied to start highly problematic plants around the world. Other stages follow as manager of the technology office, as technical sales manager of the sales office, then the technical management with adjoining research centre.
Step by step, Benedetti climbed all the internal positions, up to general management in 1986 and from 2003 the role of managing director for 15 years, aiming to transform Danieli from a manufacturer of machinery for the steel industry to a supplier of turnkey systems, overseeing the technological conception, the project and finally the installation and management of the plant.
«In this journey – concludes Marchi – it is perhaps not worth seeing so much the determination but rather the ability to think long-term which distinguished Benedetti. What has always impressed me is that he always asked himself the evolution of every phenomenon in 3-5 years, he never lost sight of the scenario and at the same time he did not miss the attention to detail to achieve the goal”.
