After days of rumors, last night the official announcement arrived: Roberto Cingolani was not reconfirmed as head of Leonardo.
The Meloni government decided to replace Cingolani at the helm of the Italian defense and aerospace giant by appointing Lorenzo Mariani, already co-general manager of Leonardo with Cingolani from May 2023 until April 2025, as the new CEO of the former Finmeccanica group.
The choice, formalized with the filing of the lists for the renewal of the boards of directors of the Ministry of Economy’s subsidiaries, comes after weeks of speculation with political tensions, strategic divergences, and internal clashes developed in the relations between Palazzo Chigi and the manager.
All the details.
THE CHANGE AT THE TOP OF LEONARDO
Roberto Cingolani will not be confirmed as CEO of Leonardo, a position he held since 2023. In his place, the government has appointed Lorenzo Mariani, current managing director of Mbda Italy and executive group director Sales & Business Development of Mbda, with a long history in the former Finmeccanica. At the same time, the company’s presidency also changes: Stefano Pontecorvo will be replaced by Francesco Macrì, already a member of the group’s board of directors.
The decision was made on April 9 as part of the renewal of the boards of directors of four major subsidiaries controlled by the Ministry of Economy: Leonardo, Enel, Eni, and Enav.
THE RESULTS OF CINGOLANI’S TENURE
Cingolani’s departure comes despite the positive economic results recorded during his mandate.
Roberto Cingolani took over the leadership of Leonardo in May 2023; during his tenure, the company’s stock price grew by more than 500%, rising from around 10.50 euros to reaching 64 euros, alongside a surge in orders, as highlighted this week by the Financial Times, supported also by the international geopolitical context and the expansion of the defense sector. Under his leadership, the former Finmeccanica group consolidated industrial partnerships with Airbus and Thales in the space sector, with Baykar in drones, and with Rheinmetall in land defense, strengthening the company’s international positioning.
Despite the positive financial and industrial results, the market had been questioning for days the reasons for the non-renewal, so much so that rumors about his possible replacement had already affected the stock price, with the market reacting negatively to the first voices of change.
THE ISSUE OF THE RELATIONSHIP WITH PALAZZO CHIGI
According to behind-the-scenes reports that emerged in recent weeks, the choice was based on the deterioration of the trust relationship between Cingolani and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Among other things, a series of tensions related to internal promotions within the company and complaints from executives and managers close to the Brothers of Italy party would have played a role.
Press sources also report growing irritation from the premier over what Palazzo Chigi perceived as the CEO’s “too much autonomy” in managing strategic dossiers.
HELGA COSSU’S RISE UNWELCOME IN POLITICS
Also according to recent press reconstructions, the non-renewal of Roberto Cingolani was influenced by conflicts over his internal management of Leonardo. Among various measures, the spotlight is on the growing role of Helga Cossu at Piazza Monte Grappa.
As Repubblica reconstructs, “former Skytg24 journalist, rapidly rising: hired in 2023, then appointed general director of the Leonardo Foundation, at odds with Luciano Violante, finally placed in charge of a new large unit created ad hoc. The role says it all: responsible for the group’s global brand strategy, digital identity, and outreach initiatives. This is Cingolani’s fault according to Palazzo Chigi. So serious that it cost him the reconfirmation at the helm of the defense giant.”
Not to mention that before the government’s definitive decision on the renewal of the subsidiaries’ leadership, Cingolani had again promoted Cossu: she took on the role of Communications Director, succeeding Stefano Amoroso, who left the position after about three years.
Il Foglio shares the same view: “They say Cingolani pays for all that power granted to Helga Cossu, general director of two Foundations, Leonardo and Ansaldo. One, Leonardo, was taken away badly from Luciano Violante and still the manner, Dante would say, offends him.”
THE MICHELANGELO DOME CASE
Besides corporate management, one of the most delicate dossiers is Michelangelo Dome. The interconnected multi-domain system based on artificial intelligence, considered central in Leonardo’s new strategy, reportedly caused international frictions, specifically with the United States.
Last November 27, the Piazza Monte Grappa company presented the Michelangelo Dome program, also attended by defense leaders and representatives. Defense Minister Guido Crosetto had called Michelangelo Dome an “important Italian project” and said “we are discussing it with all countries” the minister declared during a press briefing held at the Italian embassy in Paris on the same day.
According to today’s reconstruction by the Corriere della Sera, “on February 12, Cingolani announced the results and boasted the operational start of the missile, vector, and drone shield called ‘Michelangelo Dome.’ The day after the project announcement, during a conversation on the plane headed to Ethiopia, Meloni reportedly expressed irritation over the autonomous management of the program, considered particularly sensitive from a geopolitical and industrial perspective. The project also attracted the attention of the United States and European partners.”
At Palazzo Chigi, according to these accounts, the need to maintain tighter control over strategic dossiers emerged, thus favoring the choice of a profile deemed more aligned with the executive.
DOUBTS ABOUT THE RESULTS OF THE INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY IN THE ARMAMENTS SECTOR
But the list of possible reasons for Roberto Cingolani’s departure is long, and some also point to doubts developed at Palazzo Chigi about the concrete results of his industrial strategy in the armaments sector.
According to this interpretation, several announcements related to partnerships initiated with Rheinmetall and other strategic programs have so far not produced developments considered satisfactory, while the only significant operation completed is the acquisition of Iveco’s military vehicles division, considered by some observers a high-cost operation.
BETWEEN POLITICAL SPITE AND PERSONAL TENSIONS: THIS IS HOW THE BREAKUP UNFOLDED
Added to this would be possible political irritation linked to the interview Cingolani gave to Repubblica the day after the referendum, in a climate where at Palazzo Chigi – according to several reconstructions – a strong opposition weighs between figures perceived as inside or outside the majority’s perimeter.
In the background, personal and character tensions would also have played a role: several sources describe Cingolani as a manager with a direct and confrontational temperament, and among the possible causes of the breakup, some insiders also attribute a deterioration of relations with the Undersecretary to the Presidency of the Council Giovanbattista Fazzolari, considered one of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s closest collaborators.
MARIANI’S APPOINTMENT SEEN AS AN OPERATIONAL CHOICE, NOT A POLITICAL ONE
Matteo Zanelli, head of Partnerships at the Italian-American Chamber of Commerce, has a completely different view.
“Those who point the finger at Meloni for the change between Cingolani and Mariani at the top of Leonardo have understood nothing,” Zanelli commented today on X. “Just line up two facts to understand that it is a purely practical decision.”
“1) The press has a short memory. In 2023, it was Giorgia Meloni herself who wanted Cingolani to give a strong technological push to the company. She did so overcoming Crosetto’s preferences, who at the time was advising Lorenzo Mariani. The Premier simply acknowledged that today the technician the Defense was already asking for three years ago is needed,” Zanelli reconstructs.
“2) Mariani is not a politician’s friend placed there randomly. He is an engineer who has spent a lifetime at Leonardo, former head of the European missile giant Mbda and already the company’s number two, working side by side with Cingolani. It is an internal and natural promotion, zero seat-sharing,” he adds.
“3) The most important thing: the world has changed. Cingolani did an excellent job modernizing the company, but today, with the arms race in Europe, the phase of grand visions is over. Now we have to produce and deliver. Leonardo needs someone who knows military systems, factories, and international contracts inside out from morning to night. And they already had this profile in-house. Putting the most experienced manager of Italy’s largest strategic industry at the helm, precisely at the moment when Europe is rearming, is not a party feud. It is simply doing Italy’s interests,” concludes the representative of the Italian-American Chamber of Commerce.
ANDREA GILLI’S COMMENT
According to Andrea Gilli, expert in military strategy and professor at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, the government could have communicated better the reasons for Cingolani’s replacement, but the reconstructions claiming the leadership change was due to US pressure are unfounded. In particular, the Michelangelo Dome project is described as an initiative still lacking concrete commitments and without critical mass comparable to other already launched European programs, while the sixth-generation fighter Gcap would not represent an immediate threat to the F-35. Rather than direct political pressure, the relationship with Washington should be read in light of the structural importance of the American market for Leonardo, also through the subsidiary Leonardo Drs, an asset considered central for the group’s industrial and financial balance.
“Under Cingolani, Leonardo had a very positive performance, exceeding the benchmark index. It’s not only his merit, but certainly also his merit,” Professor Gilli observes today on X. “No one can accuse me of anti-capitalism, but I think it is necessary to clarify an essential point here. Should the government maximize return on investments or serve the country’s strategic interests? In the first case, the government would be a sort of investment fund. In the second, it must put national security before economic returns. I have no way to evaluate in detail the current government’s policies, but let’s understand what maximizing return in the defense sector means: in theory, it would mean expanding sales even to problematic actors, including potential adversaries, who could then use them against us,” the expert concluded.
MARRONE’S ANALYSIS (IAI)
Alessandro Marrone, head of the “Defense, Security and Space” program at IAI, shares the same position. Reached by Startmag, Marrone explains that Leonardo operates in a “sector that must directly respond to the needs of the armed forces, national security, and also some fundamental orientations of Italian foreign and defense policy, which are also quite bipartisan in the various European, transatlantic, and Greater Mediterranean circles, which therefore influence some choices.”
The IAI expert reiterates that it is “still a political choice not to sell to buyers or initiate partnerships with states considered hostile or that become hostile over time. Or there are fundamental choices regarding this European, transatlantic, and Mediterranean balance, whether to emphasize, for example, more the European circle in this historical phase, given transatlantic tensions and also EU initiatives in the defense field.” In conclusion, we face “a balance that is not black and white, it can be a bit superficial to reduce it to personal dynamics; it is a structural fact: Leonardo is both a private company and a public subsidiary, in the sector directly linked to national security which is aerospace, security, and defense,” Marrone concludes.
