As a child, he watched planes fly overhead near his home, close to Malpensa airport. Even then, he wondered how such enormous, heavy objects could move so quickly through the sky. Alessandro Canto is now 29 years old, and planes are no longer a mystery to him, even though his childhood dream of becoming a pilot never came true. After two years at the ITS (Higher Technical Institute) Academy in Case Nuove, Somma Lombardo (VA), he obtained his fixed-wing aircraft assembler certification. “Joining Leonardo through the ITS Academy was the perfect choice for me, as well as the right compromise for doing a job I am passionate about,” he says.
His initial path was anything but straightforward. After completing his scientific high school diploma, Alessandro enrolled in the aerospace engineering faculty at the Politecnico di Milano, to satisfy his desire to learn the secrets of aeroplanes and flight. “However, I realised that I preferred practice to theory. So, after a few exams, I left university and enrolled at the ITS Academy. A year and a half later, I was already at Leonardo for an internship that then offered me the opportunity to enter the world of work.” Alessandro describes this entry as a happy one because it was “marked by a gradual and intelligent transition from study to work”; which is why, he adds, “if you are not convinced that you want to spend so much time studying at university, ITS is undoubtedly a practical and profitable choice.”
Alessandro first connected with Leonardo six months before completing his course, in early 2023, through an internship at the Workshop Support Equipment and Final Assembly Line 346 at the Venegono site. Even before finishing at the ITS Academy, he was offered a job as an aircraft assembler – giving him the opportunity to do what he loves most: “getting my hands dirty and doing practical work,” such as installing avionics systems and assisting with functional avionics and electronic testing. Then, from May 2024, he embarked on a new experience, again at the Venegono site, as a Quality Control Operator involved in the certification tests of the M-345 aircraft, developed for basic and advanced-basic training of military pilots from Italy and partner countries.
A basketball enthusiast, Alessandro sees himself as someone still learning and growing – keen to absorb knowledge from more experienced Leonardo colleagues. His mindset echoes that of his idol, basketball legend Kobe Bryant: like him, Alessandro is committed to the “constant pursuit of being the best version of himself.”