As a member of a local gym where bodybuilders hoisted heavy weights with the help of multiple trainers, a young Nerio Alessandri became convinced there had to be a better way.
The idea that machines, rather than people, could safely and precisely do the lifting would become the starting point for Technogym, the fitness equipment maker that last month hit its highest market capitalisation of about €3.5bn.
Alessandri constructed Technogym’s first bodybuilding machine in his garage in 1983. The company that began as a homemade solution to a local gym floor problem has become a top global manufacturer, employing more than 2,000 people and supplying sports teams and luxury fitness and wellness centres around the world.
“It took me about a month and a half to build [the first piece] because I could only focus on it at night or on the weekends because I had another job during the day . . . it worked so I made about ten more and within six months I had developed a full range of fitness equipment,” he says.
Technogym is based in the Italian town of Cesena, south of Bologna, where staff sit at their desks on balance balls, rather than office chairs, and are encouraged to use the on-site gym during the working day.
Its most advanced machines now sell for more than €20,000 each. “Fitness equipment used to end up in hotels’ basements, mansions’ garages . . . we’ve turned them into iconic design pieces across villas, hotels and yachts,” says Alessandri.
Beyond the improved visual appeal, Alessandri’s main goal has been to integrate technology — such as sensors and real-time analytics — into the machines, turning Technogym from a traditional gym equipment maker into a data-driven wellness group targeting elite athletes. The Milan-Cortina winter Olympics, which start next week, will mark its 10th Games as the official wellness and fitness partner.
In the nine months to September 2025, the latest available financial information, the company’s sales were up 14 per cent year-on-year to €708.5mn. Its shares, which listed in Milan in 2016 at €3, are now worth about €17 each. Alessandri’s family holding company owns a third of them.
Analysts say revenue growth has been driven by Technogym’s premium positioning and global expansion, with high-profile events, such as the Olympic Games, boosting the brand’s profile.
Some warn the company’s growth might have peaked. Analysts at Barclays and Intermonte note the share price is high compared with industry peers such as Peloton Interactive. Barclays said last year that “attractive growth is already priced in”.
Alessandri’s challenge now is to capitalise on the opportunities arising from the masses of data Technogym is collecting from its machines — on performance, body analysis, fitness and member engagement, for example — and use that to boost customer retention and drive sales.
Ultimately his personal goal is a more worthy one: to help people live longer and in a healthier way. “Our ambition is to slow the decline of the species . . . which sounds like an exaggeration,” he says. “[But] there’s a very, very significant population ageing process under way. Because recently, in a short time, for the first time in humanity, life expectancy is reversing.”
He believes people have adopted bad habits, such as walking less, with technological advances bringing humans full circle physically. He mentions a 2000 New Yorker magazine cover, which showed evolution from a primate to a man who, instead of standing upright, bends forward again — head bowed, shoulders rounded.
“Health is becoming the biggest desire for powerful people, the rich and anyone who has dreams they want to work towards, so the concept of wellness is so much greater than just showing up at the gym three times a week, it’s about what you do 24/7,” says Alessandri.
Technogym is looking to tap into this trend by dissecting customers’ health and workout data to map their weak spots and identify any red flags for potential health problems. AI is at the centre of this shift, enabling the company to more easily collect and analyse information across fitness equipment, devices and apps, and use it to create precise workouts and potentially predictive insights about health and longevity.
“We are entering a new era in which the concept of wellness will evolve, leading to a hyper-personalised experience based on data and monitoring and profiling through prediction.”
The company’s transformation began in the late 1990s with a simple insight: that over time, fitness would no longer be defined by hardware alone.
Technogym founded MyWellness, a software company, in Seattle, and began embedding electronics and sensors into its equipment, turning them into interactive tools capable of measuring performance and tracking progress. Connecting its machines through software and the cloud enabled users to log into any Technogym device across the world and have their workout programmes automatically uploaded. Data became a central element of the training experience.
Alessandri now aims to further leverage its technology and real-time analytics. He has struck partnerships and joined research programmes with top global universities to boost the company’s credibility beyond the fitness equipment space. Technogym has also tried to extend its customer base beyond fitness centres to target high spending individuals and professional sports teams.
The chief executive grew up in a working-class family in a small town on Italy’s Adriatic coast. He says that humble upbringing taught him to be a pragmatic multitasker and fuelled his determination to be an entrepreneur from a young age: “I did everything around the house from the age of 13 because my parents worked and I needed to help them. I cooked and cleaned and sewed my own clothes.”
By 17 he was full of business ideas. “Every day, every month, I tried to think of something . . . If I’m honest I really liked the world of fashion, because at the time it didn’t exist in its current form.”
In the early days of Technogym, he persuaded customers to pay for their orders in advance, while negotiating 90-day payment terms with suppliers, enabling the company to grow without external backing.
He likens the daily rigour of building a business to the painstaking schedules and dedication of sports professionals, where every effort counts towards a long-term goal.
Being a successful entrepreneur, he says, demands the same relentless commitment and focus as elite athletes bring to their training and competitions. “There are no shortcuts: you must be humble, disciplined, and never take anything for granted.
“It’s when you achieve the best results that it becomes dangerous because you become complacent and it doesn’t take long to turn obsolete.”
Alessandri’s focus on health extends beyond the company. Cesena is now known in Italy as the Wellness Valley, after he launched a cultural project to blend health, sports, nutrition and quality of life to regional development in the town about 20 years ago.
The area has since attracted investment in sports science, biomedical research, hospitality and agrifood, while promoting active lifestyles through urban design, cycling infrastructure and community programmes.
It is one example of how Alessandri has put into practice the concept that fitness is about more than just working out. “The idea was to treat wellness not simply as individual fitness, but as a holistic ecosystem, we tried to combine physical activity, healthy food, preventive healthcare, education, tourism and sustainable living,” he says.
“When you create something that is unique, that nobody else has thought about, that’s when you leave a legacy.”
A day in the life
I wake up quite early, around 6am. I train three to four times a week in my home gym or in the wellness centre at our headquarters, known as the Technogym Village, where staff also train. I have the opportunity to preview products in development — to observe and test products to the smallest details.
Around 7:30am, I have a hearty breakfast, which for me is the most important meal of the day. My official work day begins at 8:30, although I’m always connected well before with collaborators, with market news and with branches of the company around the world.
Technogym is present in more than 120 countries, so I travel extensively to meet customers, our team, and our partners. My days are typically varied and stimulating. I’m a very curious person, and for me, listening is the pre-requisite for continuous improvement and self-examination.
In the evenings and in my free time, I dedicate as much time as possible to my wonderful family: my wife, two children and my little grandson.
