Sant'Egidio and Del Vecchio jointly launch social co-housing project

Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, a 12.5% shareholder in Delfin and head of the Lmdv Capital family office, announces new initiatives. The first, christened 'Home at last!' is a social co-housing project presented yesterday in Rome, at the Sant'Egidio headquarters, by the president of the Community Marco Impagliazzo and the entrepreneur. An 'innovative project,' explained the promoters, 'that favours integration against isolation.

The project stems from the desire to develop in Tor Sapienza, the eastern outskirts of Rome, new forms of cohabitation and integration, by the Community of Sant'Egidio, which has been present in this neighbourhood for many years, supporting the most fragile such as lonely elderly people, families in difficulty and migrants who have arrived with the humanitarian corridors. A former industrial area of 2,400 square metres will be recovered and converted into new housing. Implementing the project is Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio. The initiative is not limited to creating living spaces, but aims to build relationships among those who live there, thus offering the possibility of developing new opportunities and paths of inclusion.

"I wanted to promote this project in the eastern suburbs of Rome because I believe that, even more so in areas with a strong productive history and a diversified social fabric like Tor Sapienza, new models of coexistence and integration can be born. The meeting with the Community of Sant'Egidio, which for years has been present in this context with a daily commitment alongside the most fragile people, helped me to transform a desire into a concrete project,' said Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio after signing the memorandum of understanding with the Community of Sant'Egidio: 'It is not just a matter of recovering an urban space, but of giving life to a place where living also means building relationships, opportunities and paths of redemption. When philanthropy becomes concrete and responsible it can contribute to generating models capable of uniting welcome, dignity and the future. The ambition is simple: to create a place where the community grows and no one is left behind'.

"In contact for years with so many different fragilities," added the president of Sant'Egidio, Marco Impagliazzo, "we have clearly understood the importance of home for those who do not have it or are in danger of losing it. But home also and above all means space for sharing with others. Homes not islands, because there is a need to communicate, to develop relationships, friendships, relations with the neighbourhood. This is why we are happy to launch, with the support and collaboration of Leonardo Maria Del Vecchio, this new social cohousing project that will be an important resource not only for Tor Sapienza but for the whole city of Rome'.

Also yesterday, a protocol of understanding was signed between the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Italia Foundation and Crui - Conference of Italian University Chancellors, presented in Rome in the presence of the Minister for Universities and Research, Anna Maria Bernini. The aim is to offer university students from families with a particularly low ISEE income access to eye examinations and, when necessary, prescription glasses. "Student welfare is not an abstract principle, but a concrete priority to be given shape with targeted interventions. Guaranteeing access to essential services such as eye examinations means removing obstacles that can affect the quality of study, health and opportunities for everyone. The protocol signed yesterday launches a virtuous path that directly supports the most fragile students, bringing prevention and care tools to universities and contributing to making the university experience more equitable, inclusive and caring. Investing in students' wellbeing means investing in their future and, at the same time, in the future of the country,' stressed University and Research Minister Anna Maria Bernini.