Costa’s Luigi Stefanelli named associate VP for Southern Europe

Stefanelli previously worked for the cruise line in Asia and Europe where he assumed increasing responsibilities. 

‘I believe this appointment can give a great boost to the commercial development of the Southern Europe region,’ remarked Roberto Alberti, Costa Cruises’ SVP & CCO. ‘For us, these markets play a fundamental role and, thanks to the great international experience gained in recent years by Luigi, we are confident that we will be even more effective in the execution of our commercial strategy.’

Carlo Schiavon exiting 

The role sees Stefanelli extend his responsibilities to include Italy, maintaining his previous positions as GM Spain & Portugal, as well as GM France. 

Carlo Schiavon will leave the role of country manager Italy to devote himself to a new personal project, but will continue to cooperate with the cruise line.

Responsibilities by country

Stefanelli, supported by a high-profile management team, will aim to ensure the sustainable development of Southern Europe and its profitability.

In Italy, commercial areas are entrusted to Riccardo Fantoni, sales director Italy, who has held increasingly important roles within the commercial team. 

For the French market, Stefanelli will count on the support of Aurelie Soulat, commercial director France, who joined the company in 2022 and possesses a long career in tourism. 

Jorge Serrano, a veteran in the company and the Spanish and Portuguese markets, is entrusted with the commercial leadership of these two countries as sales director.

Stefanelli's current reporting outside the commercial area will remain unchanged.

Luigi Stefanelli 

The 38-year-old Neapolitan began his career as a consultant at Ernst & Young in Rome, before starting in the pricing & revenue management department of Costa Cruises based in Genoa. 

Since the end of 2012, he has held roles in different countries where the line operates, first as business development & pricing director for the Asia Pacific and Australia region, living for three years in Shanghai. He later returned to Europe as GM for the Costa and AIDA brands in the Austrian and Swiss markets. After his responsibilities were extended to include the markets of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary, he was named GM Central Europe.

At the end of 2019, Stefanelli became GM for Spain and Portugal; for the past year he has been working as GM for Spain, France and Portugal.