John Elkann, Fondazione Agnelli’s Chairman, visited Amatrice, together with the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella and the Minister of Education and Merit Giuseppe Valditara, for the opening of the 2026–2027 school year. A place of particular significance: rebuilt after the 2016 earthquake with the support of Ferrari, the local school was named after Sergio Marchionne in 2019, who had been a strong advocate for its reconstruction.
“Education,” said John Elkann, “has always been at the heart of my family’s social commitment. Over the past thirty years, through companies and foundations including Ferrari, Fiat, Fondazione Agnelli and Specchio dei tempi, we have built, rebuilt or renovated around 30 schools across Italy, using our own resources as well as contributions from those who supported the various projects.”
For Fondazione Agnelli, this commitment has focused in particular on research and innovative projects in school architecture. Through Torino fa scuola, together with Compagnia di San Paolo and in collaboration with the City of Turin and Fondazione per la Scuola, we redesigned and renovated the Fermi and Pascoli public schools, starting from the needs of their school communities.
The expertise we gained in learning environments through this experience, combined with our research activities, was subsequently made available at national level through our contribution to the development of the Guidelines for designing, building and using the new schools funded by Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). Today, this work continues with M-TECH Alfredo Ferrari, the new public education hub currently under construction in Maranello.
For us, investing in education means putting students and teachers at the heart of our efforts, together with the quality of the spaces where teaching, learning and personal growth take place every day.
