Nicolò Bastianini Carnelutti

Nicolò Bastianini Carnelutti is the founder of Studio Legale Bastianini Carnelutti, a Milan-based law firm that concentrates on mergers and acquisitions. Working from the heart of Italy's financial and commercial capital, the studio has built its identity around a clearly defined specialism – small-cap M&A – and around the personal involvement of its founder. That focused, founder-led model is recognised in the firm's naming as Corporate/M&A Law Firm of the Year in Italy at the Corporate INTL Global Awards 2026.

A Milan boutique built around M&A

Milan is the natural home for corporate and M&A work in Italy. As the country's leading business centre, it is where many domestic and international transactions are structured, negotiated and completed, and where the advisers, financiers and companies involved in deal-making are concentrated. By establishing his firm in Milan and dedicating it to mergers and acquisitions, Nicolò Bastianini Carnelutti positioned the practice at the centre of Italian corporate activity, close to the clients and counterparties who drive it.

The studio's stated focus is on the small-cap segment of the M&A market. This is a distinctive and important niche. Smaller transactions – the acquisition, sale, merger or reorganisation of small and mid-sized companies – are the lifeblood of the Italian economy, which is characterised by a dense fabric of entrepreneurial and family-owned businesses. Deals of this size demand advisers who combine technical corporate expertise with commercial pragmatism and a hands-on, personal approach, because the parties are often owner-managers for whom the transaction is a defining moment. A boutique dedicated to small-cap M&A is designed precisely to serve these clients.

The value of a focused, founder-led practice

What distinguishes a boutique such as Studio Legale Bastianini Carnelutti from larger, more generalist firms is the depth of attention it can bring to each matter. Clients deal directly with the founder and the small team around him rather than being handed between departments, and they benefit from advice that is concentrated on a single, well-understood area of practice. In M&A, where timing, judgement and the ability to move a deal forward are often decisive, this kind of direct, senior-level engagement is a genuine advantage.

Corporate and M&A work of this nature typically spans the whole arc of a transaction: assessing and structuring the deal, conducting or reviewing due diligence, negotiating and drafting the sale and purchase agreement and ancillary documents, and steering the parties through to completion. For small and mid-sized companies and their owners, having a specialist who can guide them through each of these stages – while keeping the process manageable and the objectives in view – is exactly what a dedicated M&A boutique is built to provide.

Recognition and standing

The firm and its founder have been acknowledged within the Italian legal market for their corporate work, including selection and mention in a 2022 volume profiling leading corporate lawyers and law firms published by a respected Italian editorial group. Recognition of this kind reflects the reputation Nicolò Bastianini Carnelutti has established in the corporate and M&A field and the confidence that clients and the wider market place in his practice.

For entrepreneurs, business owners and companies pursuing acquisitions, sales or reorganisations in Italy, Studio Legale Bastianini Carnelutti offers a specialist, Milan-based alternative to larger institutional advisers – a firm where M&A is not one service among many but the entire focus of the practice. Clients dealing with the studio work directly with a practitioner immersed in corporate transactional work, rather than being passed among unfamiliar teams, and they benefit from advice grounded in the practical realities of how deals are done in the Italian market. That direct engagement, combined with the studio's deliberate concentration on a single field, is precisely what makes a specialist boutique attractive to those for whom a transaction is a defining commercial event.

By keeping its focus narrow and its expertise deep, the firm positions itself as a trusted partner for the mergers, acquisitions and reorganisations that shape the lives of Italy's small and mid-sized companies. Its recognition as Corporate/M&A Law Firm of the Year in Italy at the Corporate INTL Global Awards 2026 underlines the standing of a boutique that has made small-cap dealmaking its craft.