There are bereavements that impoverish the whole of society and leave a void that is difficult to fill, not just in their families. The loss of Marino Golinelli, the philanthropist from Bologna who passed away yesterday at the age of 101, is one of these. Perhaps less known nationally than Pier Paolo Pasolini, Federico Fellini or Rita Levi Montalcini, Golinelli was a volcanic man, full of ideas and facts, who with his actions it helped to make Italy grow, attempted to improve the world we live in. Lucid to the end, he was a champion in at least three fields.
Marino Golinelli the entrepreneur, the patron and the philanthropist
First, how entrepreneur, because he created from scratch a large pharmaceutical group, starting, young graduate, with a multivitamin syrup. Today, from that seed, a company has grown which is called alpha sigma, with a turnover of one billion euros; Then as a discoverer of artistic talentsby seeking out and investing in young people; finally, how philanthropist, doing something that is not seen so often in Italy, i.e. investing a huge amount of one's personal assets (about 80 million euros) in Foundation which bears his name, which then gave birth to theOpificio, a citadel of science and knowledge in one of the industrial areas of the city of Bologna, to offer young people and their teachers the opportunity to look into the future, combining art, science and business.
The mission of the Golinelli factory
After the age of ninety he realized that he also wanted to go further, which is why he wanted a trust that would survive him and could finance his forward-looking project for at least the next 50 years, until 2065. And then beyond, because the Opificio thanks at this initial spark, it is an engine that will be able to run at full speed for a long time to come.
To look so far you need to have a lot of imagination, especially in a world that changes with surprising speed and in which teachers have to ask themselves: what will these kids really need in 10 or 20 years? What is the toolbox I need to provide them?
In interviews a few years ago he explained that he didn't have a religious faith (we don't know if he ever changed his mind), but his faith in life and in young people was certainly great. “At a certain point – he explained – I felt the need to return part of what I had received to the company”.
Golinelli was not born rich on 11 October 1920 in San Felice sul Panaro, in the province of Modena, and what he then had he built himself and yet, or perhaps precisely because of this, he also wanted others to be able to exploit their talents and thus contribute to the development of a "sustainable future".
For all that he has given in terms of ideas and financial resources in his Anglo-Saxon philanthropic activity, he has always thanked his current wife (Paola, whom Golinelli met when he was a widower) and his children (Stefano and Andrea) who allowed him to bring carry on your dreams. And indeed the great man had a large family beside him. He has thus been able to extend his embrace to a much wider community, which includes anyone who has had the good fortune to know him, meet him or perhaps come into contact with his initiatives or even just to know that there are people like this in Italy. .
Here, his death leaves us poorer, but his life has truly enriched us in every sense and today we know that, thanks to him, "You can give more" is not just the refrain of a song.
Read the interview released by Marino Golinelli at FIRSTonline in 2016.
