If someone wants to find "a meaning in this life" turn his gaze towards Bologna, where Marino Golinelli lives, 95 years old, a philanthropist who can provide an excellent answer. “The meaning – he says – is to give others what they need. Giving young people culture and tools to design a sustainable world”. Fine words, one might think. But no, they are good facts.
Golinelli's latest creature is called “Opificio”, a place where people make and work, an industrial area of 9000 square meters, half of which are built, indeed, recovered. In that context, from 3 October young people capable of looking ahead will be trained, setting the horizon for 2065. The total investment for the recovery of the former foundry, presented in preview to a selected public yesterday, is 12 million euros and in this activities carried out so far, to a lesser extent, in other sites by the Golinelli Foundation (established in 1988), have been brought together to promote education and training, to disseminate culture and science, to promote the ethical and intellectual growth of youth and society.
The Opificio will be a citadel of knowledge, designed with sustainability and eco-compatibility criteria, through which 150 people will pass every year. “This is a unique thing – proudly says its creator – that realizes my dream of investing in everyone's future: a concrete initiative to get ready to live in a different, global, complex, unpredictable world.
A physical place where young people build their baggage of ethical values and work. A visionary realization, a space for research and experimentation to learn to face the whys of life in a conscious way. A starting point, not a finishing point”. The large restored rooms house the "School of ideas", a space permanently dedicated to scientific and artistic culture for children aged 2 to 12 and their families; the "Science in practice", a reference point for research, training and informal teaching; the "Science in the Square", a format that combines art and research; “Educare a Educare”, training program for teachers.
But also art exhibitions and conferences. The "Business Garden" deserves a special mention, which provides operational tools, spaces and economic and specialist support to teenagers who have a good business idea. Last year projects were financed for eight thousand euros; this year it will reach ten thousand. It's not easy, at 15, to meet someone who tells you: I like your idea, develop it and put it into practice, I'll help you. Golinelli is doing it and will do it.
The very serious game put on the track costs around 2,5 million euros every year; it permanently employs 50 people, but there are over one hundred who collaborate in various capacities on the various initiatives. There are numerous collaborations with universities, schools, bodies, foundations and institutions. Opificio is a new adventure for Bologna, for knowledge, but also for Golinelli, the man who lived three times. At least for now.
His first life was that of an entrepreneur and began in 48 when he founded Alfa Biochimici in Bologna, a seedling from which a company was born which today employs 2800 people in 18 countries around the world. The second life takes place under the banner of research, knowledge and culture; because Golinelli is a lover and passionate connoisseur of modern and contemporary art.
The third is that of "commitment to the development of society". “It's my sense of civil responsibility – he claims – that prompted me to give back to society part of the fortune I had as an entrepreneur. This is why the Foundation was born, a unique example in Italy, because it is strategic, autonomous philanthropic, equipped with independent governance". This is why Opificio was born, a masterpiece of solidarity, a time machine that will surely take us far away.
