The ceremony was held in the prestigious setting of Intesa Sanpaolo’s Gallerie d’Italia in Piazza San Carlo, Turin, the city where Fondazione Ufficio Pio was founded and where it continues to operate.
Founded on 14 May 1595 by the brothers of Compagnia di San Paolo, the Foundation has navigated centuries of institutional, economic and social change while remaining true to its mission: identifying and addressing inequalities, supporting individuals and families through critical life transitions, and guiding their journeys toward recovery with discretion and practicality.
Today, the Foundation supports more than 17,000 people each year, both adults and children, through programmes that combine financial assistance, activation initiatives, training and civic participation. Rooted in Turin and its metropolitan area, its work focuses on preventing and alleviating economic, educational, housing and relational inequalities, the hallmarks of new forms of poverty. The Foundation provides dedicated support to families with children up to the age of two, promotes educational opportunities for girls and boys, assists individuals rebuilding their personal and professional lives, and develops innovative housing solutions. It also strengthens the skills of the most vulnerable families, including in digital citizenship, and relies on a network of volunteers who offer support in the most sensitive situations.
The President of the Republic attended the celebratory ceremony alongside the heads of Fondazione Ufficio Pio and Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo. In addition to the Foundations’ leadership, civil, military and religious authorities and the Foundation’s partners were present, together with a representation of the people actively participating in the Foundation’s programmes. Two participants, Mrs Emy Ndyaie, a mother from Senegal, attending with her husband and five children, and Diego Donato, a university student, shared their experiences with Fondazione Ufficio Pio in a conversation with Mario Calabresi and the Chair Franca Maino.
“Fondazione Ufficio Pio embodies contemporary philanthropy, focused on addressing the root causes of inequality. On this particularly significant day, in the presence of the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo reaffirms its full support for this approach and renews its institutional commitment to serving the country. Building on our history and the collaborative models we have developed over time, we aim to contribute to concrete, measurable, and lasting change, creating more just communities and a more cohesive society, capable of facing future challenges, guided by democratic values and with a trusting eye toward younger generations,” stated Marco Gilli, Chair of Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo.
During the ceremony, Franca Maino, Chair of Fondazione Ufficio Pio, and William Revello, director of the same Foundation, highlighted the organisation’s mission, history and methodology.
“Today we have celebrated an anniversary that is both a source of pride and a call to action: 430 years of a history deeply intertwined with Turin and with the most vulnerable. A history that continues to demand responsibility, vision and tangible support for people. It is a privilege to mark this milestone in the presence of President Sergio Mattarella, to whom I extend my heartfelt gratitude. His participation gives additional strength and recognition to a commitment that, for over four centuries, has sought every day to translate a simple yet profound idea: a community that is true when ensures that its most vulnerable members are not left behind. Our response takes shape through support, activation and the ability to revitalise both personal and community resources and to build, together with institutions, the charitable sector, responsible businesses and universities, solutions that endure over time,” says Franca Maino, Chair of Fondazione Ufficio Pio.
“I will conclude with a wish that is also a resolution,” Maino continues, “that every step taken by the Foundation, and by all who are part of it, remains a step toward a more equitable, inclusive and supportive Turin and country. Because a history as long as ours only makes sense if it continues to transform, in practical ways, everyone’s right to live in an inclusive society, starting with those who remain on the margins today.”
As part of the Foundation’s 430th anniversary celebrations, the morning programme included a presentation of the participatory artistic project “Volta Pagina”, which gives voice to individuals, families and communities, transforming their stories into a shared heritage. The programme embodies the Foundation’s core commitment: supporting people as they turn the page from one chapter of their lives to the next. By launching the project as part of its anniversary, the Foundation has chosen to celebrate the stories of those participating in its Programmes, recognising them as protagonists of both individual and collective transformation.
Volta Pagina: ten words to describe change
Volta pagina is a social design initiative that transforms the voices of 215 participants in the Foundation’s Programmes into typographic posters, as well as audiovisual and public narratives reflecting the experience of change.
The project grew out of a participatory workshop involving individuals and families engaged in the Foundation’s Programmes, alongside volunteers, partners and staff. From these encounters emerged hundreds of phrases, memories, gestures, everyday objects and visions of the future. A rich and intimate collection from which ten key words were drawn, words that reflect desires, fears, choices and new beginnings, transformed into a visual and sonic journey embodying the power of change: time, change, desire, trust, children, home, encounter, voice, future, family.
These ten words were brought to life as typographic posters displayed on urban billboards, beneath the porticoes of Piazza San Carlo and along Corso San Martino, and formed the centrepiece of a participatory installation, inviting the public to pause, read and engage with each testimony. Each page can be flipped, picked up and taken away, a symbolic gesture that makes everyone a part of the story.
The installation evolves through public interaction, becoming a metaphor for change unfolding in the lives it portrays. Volta Pagina offers space, attentive listening, and continuity to the stories being lived, conveying a message of empowerment, that is both personal and collective, centred on the tangible possibility of beginning a new chapter in life.
The full project can be explored on the website: voltapagina.ufficiopio.it
Initiatives for the Foundations 430th anniversary
For 430 years, Fondazione Ufficio Pio has supported vulnerable individuals, operating today as a philanthropic organisation committed to preventing and addressing economic and social inequalities, primarily in Turin and its metropolitan area.
The anniversary programme, sponsored by the City of Turin and supported by Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, began on 14 May 2025, with the illumination of the Mole Antonelliana in the Foundation’s colours, and continued with a rich calendar of cultural and participatory projects. Among these initiatives, the podcast “Ogni passo. Storie di vite che ripartono,” produced with Chora Media and narrated by Mario Calabresi, recounted in four episodes the journeys of rebirth of seven individuals supported by the Foundation. The podcast has received nearly 20,000 listens and downloads across Italy, particularly in Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont and Lazio.
The “Walks of Change – Walks in the Changing City” project, developed with Fondazione 1563 per l’Arte e la Cultura, offers a 15-stage itinerary to rediscover the Foundation’s history and its relationship with Turin. The programme includes eight monthly events from fall 2025 to spring 2026, bookable via the Turismo Torino website. The Foundation also participated in TEDx Turin, featuring a talk by Federica Siotto, a former participant in the Percorsi programme who is now an aerospace engineer. On 5 July 2025, over 2,000 people, including families involved in the Foundation’s programmes, attended “Radici e Sogni” (Roots and Dreams), an intergenerational and inclusive celebration of music, circus and entertainment at the Pala Gianni Asti.
The anniversary programme has been further enriched through national collaborations, including a seminar with ASviS – Italian Agency for Sustainable Development on participatory reporting, and the launch of a publishing series with Egea, the first volume of which focuses on asset building, an area where the Foundation has been a pioneer.
Further information about the initiatives can be found at ufficiopio.it/quattrocentotrenta/ and on the Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and WhatsApp channels.
A recording of the 430 years of stories, innovation and social change can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/@fondazioneufficiopio
We thank Gallerie d’Italia and Intesa Sanpaolo for organising the event.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_masonry_media_grid element_width=”3″ css=”” grid_id=”vc_gid:1768941649450-8f4f8039-1b1d-10″ include=”41259,41261,41264,41266,41268,41270,41272,41274,41276,41278,41280,41282,41284,41286,41288″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row el_class=”sdg-list-wrap”][vc_column][vc_raw_html]JTVCbW9zdHJhU0RHUyU1RA==[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row el_class=”sdg-list-wrap”][vc_column][vc_raw_html]JTVCU2V6aW9uZV9Eb2N1bWVudGklNUQ=[/vc_raw_html][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][/vc_column][/vc_row]