Farewell, Angelo

It is never easy to accept the end of an era, and that is precisely why today is a very difficult and sad day for Cartello. Angelo Gaia, one of the three founding partners of our company and the father of our current President, Corrado, has passed away.

Angelo was much more than a boss. Many of us here at Cartello started working with him almost as teenagers and carried on over the years, growing day by day and working side by side, staying faithful to the idea of a company that Cartello’s founders had in mind and always tried to bring to life.

In 1984, the year Cartello was founded, Angelo, who together with his future partner Stefano Jelussi was working for BMW Marine, had a great insight that led him to become the great entrepreneur he was. When the two realised that BMW’s experience in the marine sector was coming to an end, they set out in search of innovative products that could be launched on the Italian marine market. Thus began their collaboration with Yanmar: the two decided to create a small company, Cartello indeed, to cover the national territory, also involving Bruno, Angelo’s brother-in-law, in this adventure. From there, a very important partnership with Yanmar, which continues to this day and of which Cartello is still the only official distributor in Italy.

Thanks to his work, Angelo was a recognised and respected entrepreneur not only in the Tigullio, where he started out and where he always kept the company headquarters, but throughout Italy and around the world. There was always so much to learn from him, both because of his experience and because of his intellectual vitality, which led him to always be busy and to take an interest in everything. Many Cartello employees keep in their hearts and minds many memories of moments spent together, adventures, experiences, old boat shows that lasted an eternity and where there was great team spirit, trips and also difficulties overcome together. Until a couple of years ago, even though he was retired, Angelo continued to visit the company often, which for him was most probably by now a home.

Cartello can only join in the family’s grief and bid Angelo farewell, wishing him fair winds and calm seas.