Citywealth Leaders List interview: 60 seconds with Paolo Gaeta, Paolo Gaeta & Associati

Date: 29 Jan 2025

Karen Jones

This week’s 60-second piece is dedicated to Paolo Gaeta, President & Ceo at Paolo Gaeta & Associati.

Tell Citywealth readers a bit about your role.
I’m a 57-year-old, fourth-generation tax adviser and trust and estate practitioner leading P. Gaeta & Associati, with offices in Milan, Naples, San Marino, and Tel Aviv. I dedicate much of my time to helping high-net-worth individuals and families protect their wealth and plan for the future.

I also teach family business governance, tax law, and trust structures at university level, which keeps me engaged with emerging trends and ideas. On a personal note, my wife, who works in the pharmaceutical sector, currently lives in Prague. Although our schedules can be demanding, this international perspective reminds me that empathy and clear communication are just as important as technical expertise when advising clients.

What does a typical day look like for you?
I typically hold strategic client meetings, oversee complex trust structures, and provide tailored estate planning advice. I also mentor my team and contribute to global wealth management conversations through lectures and publications. In total, I dedicate around 70 hours each week to my professional and research activities—for example, by hosting the “Trust Talks” podcast on Spotify.

Tell us about some recent, interesting client instructions/requests you have received.
I recently guided a multinational family (ITA/IL) in setting up a cross-border trust to ensure privacy, compliance, and future asset protection. I also advised a family on restructuring their business governance with a holding company (ITA/USA) and undertook a debt restructuring operation for an Italian company (ITA).

What challenges do your clients face and how are you helping them to overcome these?
Our focus in 2025 is on evolving family and business governance to make family enterprises more sustainable and resilient. Governance has always been important to us, though in the past clients often perceived it as non-urgent and therefore postponed addressing it. However, we are noticing a shift: clients are now much more aware than before that, in addition to focusing on their core business, having strong governance is essential.

What is your proudest professional achievement?
Professionally, I am proud that, after 30 years in wealth planning, clients now seek our services with an awareness once unimaginable. Creating “Trust Talks,” the first podcast on trust law, has also been a highlight. From a casual beginning, it has grown to over 100 episodes featuring European experts, and we have an ambitious 2025 programme. I’m grateful every day for my passionate team, who make it all possible.

What do you consider to be the most important attributes for a leader?

In one word? Humility.

Who do you most admire and why?
I most admire my wife. She embodies a remarkable balance between commitment to her work, warmth, and empathy. To me, she exemplifies how one can deliver excellence with both quality and integrity.

Where was the last place you travelled to for work or pleasure?
The last places I travelled to were Prague—where I go every month for family reasons—and Bordeaux, which I visited for pleasure on a motorbike trip.

If you weren’t in this industry, what else might you be doing?
If I weren’t in this industry, I would have joined the Navy to spend as much time as possible at sea.

How do you relax after a long day?
Honestly, I like having some time to myself. I enjoy reading books or listening to audiobooks—at the moment, I’m on “Nexus” by Yuval Noah Harari—and there’s always music playing in the background, no matter the genre. I also make sure I get an hour of exercise every day, either at the gym or swimming. When I’m with my wife, we add long motorcycle rides to the mix, and neither of us ever really wants to stop! As a Sagittarius, I love having a Scorpio on the back of the bike—it’s the perfect combination for a bit of adventure.