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The ceremony for the 50th Anniversary of Fondazione Agnelli was held in Turin with the inauguration of its new headquarters on Via Giacosa

The President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, honoured us with his presence in a very special and happy day for Fondazione Agnelli, centred around the ceremony that celebrated the 50th Anniversary of our institution and the inauguration of our new headquarters.

Maria Sole Agnelli and John Elkann, Chairwoman and Vice-chairman of Fondazione Agnelli, with Director Andrea Gavosto and the advisors, welcomed Mattarella as well as the Minister of Education, Universities and Research Valeria Fedeli, the President of Piedmont Sergio Chiamparino, the Mayor of Turin Chiara Appendino, and other representatives of the local government.

Former Mayor of New York and philanthropist Michael Bloomberg also took part in the ceremony with a speech about philanthropy.

Andrea Gavosto presented the legacy of the Foundation’s first 50 years of activity, which includes policy-oriented studies and reports for the country’s advancement and growth; Gavosto highlighted how, for the past ten years, the Foundation has sharply focused on and committed to education and training, contributing to the improvement of Italy’s school system and university.

The Director confirmed education will continue to be at the core of the Foundation’s efforts in the future, and presented the research programmes and projects planned for the next few years, starting from the workshop – developed in the new headquarters – that will offer the region’s schools a series of innovative didactics activities supported by Comau’s educational robots, with the partnership of Google and Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia for teacher activities.

“I imagine these headquarters like a ship setting out to the open sea, ready to explore, fearlessly, and discover the future”, said John Elkann, who concluded his speech remembering Senator Giovanni Agnelli: “In what was the home of Fiat’s founder, in a city that is often described as a laboratory and which philosopher and political scientist Norberto Bobbio claimed was the most positivist in Italy, the Senator’s advice comes to my mind: ‘Above all we must always look to the future, foresee the future of new inventions, be unafraid of the new, and delete from our vocabulary the word ‘impossible’”.