Vicenza-based entrepreneur Stefano Dolcetta has died.

Stefano Dolcetta, a 76-year-old entrepreneur from Vicenza, died at the Belluno hospital, where he had been hospitalized since August 10th due to the serious consequences of an accidental fall while at the Cortina d'Ampezzo golf club.

Stefano Dolcetta was born on February 16, 1949, in Vicenza. He was CEO of Fiamm, a family-owned company founded in 1942 in Montecchio Maggiore, Vicenza, specializing in the production of batteries and horns. With a degree in Economics and Business from the University of Verona and a master's degree from CUOA, he joined the company in charge of commercial development and, in 1975, began international experience in Brazil and Mexico, where he oversaw the launch of horn production.

In the late 1970s, upon returning to Italy, he led the internationalization process in France, Germany, Spain, and the USA, where he opened a plant and signed supply contracts with Ford and General Motors. In 1966, Ferrari also chose Fiamm batteries for its "Dino" model.

Stefano Dolcetta left Fiamm in 1997 to found Dicra Spa in the consumer electronics sector, then returned to the company in 2007 as CEO as part of a restructuring plan that would lead Fiamm to regain market leadership with 3,300 employees and 10 production sites worldwide, from Switzerland to China, from Brazil to the Czech Republic.

For the past eight years, Fiamm has been under Japanese ownership, having been acquired in 2017 by Hitachi Group, which acquired a 51% stake in the new company, Fiamm Energy Technology, created with the Dolcetta family following the separation of the automotive battery and industrial lead-acid battery businesses from the Fiamm Group. In 2020, Fiamm became part of another Japanese group: Showa Denko Group, a Tokyo-based conglomerate specializing in agricultural and industrial chemicals, which acquired all of Hitachi Chemical and changed its commercial name.