MILAN — After 31 years at the helm of Pitti Immagine, the trade show organizer behind leading menswear fair Pitti Uomo, chief executive officer Raffaello Napoleone is stepping aside.
Current general manager Ivano Cauli was named his successor Wednesday.
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The tech manager and entrepreneur is to succeed Napoleone with immediate effect, the Pitti Immagine board said in a statement, and will fold his general manager duties — which he has held since earlier this year — into the new CEO role.
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After launching start-ups through the ’90s and early 2000s, including Sapient and Openmind, Cauli joined consultancy Accenture in 2021. He has collaborated with Pitti Immagine in different capacities since 2022 and was named its director of innovation in 2024.
Napoleone will remain on the trade show company’s board, taking on the role of delegate to international and institutional affairs.
“In recent months we have worked closely with our partners, providing them with all the necessary elements for strategic reflection, which has then taken shape in the guidelines for the next three-year period, naturally including that dynamic balance between continuity and discontinuity which marks this transition,” said Antonio De Matteis, president of Pitti Immagine.
The executive, who is also CEO of Kiton, was confirmed in his president’s role for an additional three years until 2028 in a Pitti Immagine board meeting last week.
“There is no doubt that the dual responsibility [of CEO and general manager] places a great burden on Ivano Cauli, who has been with the company for four years now, but his personal entrepreneurial experience, his ability to manage innovation, and his knowledge of the organization’s workings offer strong assurances. He will be able to count on the valuable contribution of Raffaello Napoleone, who has demonstrated a strong team spirit, as well as on the structure of the management team,” De Matteis offered.
In addition to Cauli, the board named two new other members, including Italian perfumer Laura Bosetti Tonatto and Paolo Carrai, president of Florence-based tea importer and producer La Via del Tè, signaling Pitti Immagine’s interests in strengthening its footprint in non-fashion related sectors.
To be sure, the trade show operator has diversified its offering in recent years, launching the food-centric fair Taste; Danzainfiera, dedicated to dance and ballet, and literary event Testo.
Pitti Immagine’s core fashion-related trade shows include Pitti Uomo, Pitti Bimbo, focused on kidswear, and Pitti Filati, dedicated to yarn makers. The organization also promotes Pitti Fragranze, dedicated to niche perfumery, and e-P Summit, a conference on technology, start-ups and new digital frontiers.