Leonardo’s new internal architecture is taking shape through a restructuring that reaches deep into the most sensitive areas of institutional relations, communication and top operational leadership. The new Chief Executive Officer and General Manager Lorenzo Mariani (see AVIONEWS), born in 1965 and only just appointed, has in fact signed a service order that implements what was decided by the board of directors and redesigns the organization after the departure of Roberto Cingolani (see AVIONEWS), who was replaced abruptly despite the objections of Defence Minister Guido Crosetto.

The document, seen by "Il Fatto", provides for the elimination of the Uo Corporate bodies & institutional affairs and the establishment, with joint reporting to the chairman and the CEO, of the Uo Institutional affairs. In parallel, the Uo Corporate bodies affairs, dedicated to corporate bodies, will report directly to the chairman. The names of the managers have not yet been assigned.

Among the hypotheses circulating most insistently is that of Valeria Giovanna Venuto to lead institutional relations. Venuto has close ties with the leadership of Fratelli d’Italia, the party represented by Leonardo’s new chairman, Francesco Macrì, former city councillor in Arezzo and mayoral candidate in 2011, when he won 2.7% of the vote in the first round. Macrì is a member of Giorgia Meloni’s party.

Venuto was the special secretary of Ignazio La Russa when the current president of the Senate was defence minister in the fourth Berlusconi government, from 2008 to 2011. She entered that environment in the same year she graduated in law in Catania. Later, when she held the position of head of institutional relations at Trenitalia between November 2022 and December 2024, she was involved in the case of the “special stop” of the Frecciarossa in Ciampino granted to Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida.

On 21 November 2023 the minister had asked to get off the train because the delay would have prevented him from arriving on time in Caivano for an event. After the train conductor refused, Lollobrigida pressured Trenitalia’s top management, first with a phone call to Venuto and then to Luigi Corradi, eventually obtaining the stop. Since January 2025 Venuto has been head of institutional relations at Anas.

When asked about Venuto’s possible arrival, Leonardo replied “no comment”.

The restructuring wanted by Mariani is not limited to the institutional area. The two deputy general managers Simone Ungaro, brought in by Cingolani as head of innovation, and Carlo Gualdaroni, responsible for commercial activities, are also leaving. According to reports, the latter is also paying the price for having taken Mariani’s place as deputy general manager during the period in which the latter had moved to Mbda, the missile company.

The service order also affects communications: the Uo Digital identity, outreach & communication, previously entrusted by Cingolani to journalist Helga Cossu, is being replaced, although she remains an employee for now, and the Uo Communication is being established, reporting directly to the CEO and general manager. On the financial front, the new deputy general manager Gian Piero Cutillo has been given powers in the finance area.

The dossier on institutional relations remains open at this stage, but the direction set by the new leadership is already clear: a deep, immediate restructuring, fully consistent with the decisions taken by Leonardo’s board of directors.14 (source by “Il Fatto Quotidiano”).