Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and Fondazione per la Scuola donate Berti Higher Secondary School and Casa dei Bambini Nursery School to the Metropolitan City of Turin and the City of Turin
Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and its auxiliary body Fondazione per la Scuola have signed a deed donating the buildings that house the “Domenico Berti” higher secondary school and “Casa dei Bambini” nursery school, respectively at Via Duchessa Jolanda 27 and Via Goffredo Casalis 54, to the Metropolitan City of Turin and the City of Turin.
The building complex being donated, which is part of the historic “Educatorio Duchessa Isabella”, is currently undergoing a major restructuring operation that includes providing the community with the “Giovanni Pascoli” lower secondary school, fully renovated in accordance with the latest guidance on innovative education and teaching methods, as part of the Torino fa Scuola project developed by Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo with Fondazione Giovanni Agnelli.
The “Domenico Berti” higher secondary school is currently attended by 1,300 students and the “Casa dei bambini” nursery school by 75 pupils.
“Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo is committed to guaranteeing high quality and inclusive education that offers innovative learning opportunities and supports student leadership” – says Alberto Anfossi Secretary General of Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo – “We have therefore decided to hand over an asset to the education community that will belong to the whole community and where boys and girls will be able to build their future. We believe that the role of a philanthropic body like ours can play in the local area is evident from actions like this, where a private asset is managed in a way that is useful to the community and is transformed into a public asset with a view to rationalisation.”
In this respect, says Ludovico Albert, Chair of Fondazione per la Scuola: “School and citizenship are crucial and interconnected. How to become informed citizens who care about their community is part of the training that schools must provide for everyone, with no exclusions. We are therefore pleased to be giving the Metropolitan City and Turin a school complex that can become a civic laboratory for inclusion and participation. Another way to support the idea of an educating community that we have been fostering for years”.
“Thank you to Compagnia di San Paolo’s Fondazione per la Scuola and Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo for the renovation and the adaptation work done to comply with regulations, which will now allow the classrooms and other spaces to be used in compliance with the safety requirements for school buildings, and for having handed over the properties that house the Casa dei Bambini nursery school and the Domenico Berti secondary school to the City of Turin” – says Chiara Appendino, Mayor of the City of Turin – “It is an operation – adds Appendino – that displays the continued attention and traditional commitment of the Foundations, in synergy with the City of Turin, to the world of education and the creation of opportunities for children and young people to follow their educational, training and learning pathways”.
“Thanks to this significant investment by Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo and Fondazione per la Scuola, the educational community of the Berti secondary school in Turin will offer the ideal learning environment for innovative teaching, which is fundamental for developing the skills of our young students. The Metropolitan City of Turin is grateful for the opportunity offered to students and teachers” says Barbara Azzarà, Director of education, guidance, youth policies, historic libraries, environment and environmental monitoring, water resources and air quality, protection of flora and fauna, parks and protected areas of the Metropolitan City.