Paola Palazzani leaves Palazzani

Paola Palazzani has announced that she is moving on from her family company, spider lift manufacturer Palazzani.

In a statement on LinkedIn Palazzani said, “After 29 years, the time has come for me to turn the page. Thank you to everyone who has crossed my path. Ad majora.”

Paola Palazzani.

The announcent comes as Multitel confirmed that it had completed its acquisition of Palazzani, following the intital purchase of a controlling stake in the company in may.

“The merger between Multitel Pagliero and Palazzani Industrie stems from a shared vision and common roots. Two Italian family-run businesses with strong links to their local communities but firmly focused on exports, have built their growth on quality, technical expertise, continual innovation and close attention to customers,” said Multitel.

Having joined the company at the age of 21, Poala worked across the company, from answering phones as a summer job in her student days, before joining the company permanently in the spare parts warehouse, to moving through the technical and quality certification areas, to ultimately settling in the sales department.

In 2024 she took over the position of president from her father and in May this year was seconded to the IPAF board of directors.

She has not yet confirmed what she plans to do next. 

Palazzani history 

The original Palazzani company was established as an industrial manufacturer in 1935, then moved into construction equipment with earthmoving machines in 1954, developing a wide range of loaders, excavators and hydraulic cranes over the decades.

In the 1980s, the company turned its attention to aerial platforms with a series of truck-mounted platforms. Then in the 1980s, Davide spotted an agricultural machine with an ‘interesting operation’ at a local trade show. And the company’s first crawler aerial lift was born.

Paola Palazzani and Peter Douglas, IPAF CEO, at the IPAF Anch’io 2026 conference.

It was at the beginning of the 1990s that the first spider lift was developed, especially for a customer in Germany, followed swiftly by a second customer in Palazzani’s home country of Italy.

The financial crisis of 2008 saw the market for construction equipment drop by 70% over one year, says Paola. The situation made the earthmoving division increasingly less viable, particularly due to more stringent engine regulations, which became a challenge for Palazzani as a small company. From there, the aerial lift side of the business grew to be the dominant concern.

“It was at this point that we realized that we had to invest more in this area and to believe in what we were doing. And slowly, slowly, the arial sector became more and more important, and we gradually left earth moving,” says Paola.

“In the beginning I remember that people viewed the spider lift with suspicion – people were shocked by seeing a spider and said, well, what is it?”

Then, the introduction of the European EN280 standards and the need from rental companies for a machine that was easy to set up and safe to use, with electronics for key functions such as set up and stabilizer control, meant the company had to take another step forward.

Paola concluded, “For me, the person must be at the center of the company’s mind - that person could be anybody; the customer, an employee worker... but their needs and values must be at the center of our view.

“If you don’t feel that you are part of a group as a customer or as an employee, then you can’t rely on that group. If you feel that you’re a part of it, then you can collaborate.”