Sports, art and culture: Allianz presents new projects for social inclusion

During the "Philanthropy Without Limits" event, organized by Fondazione Allianz UMANA MENTE and held on Monday, December 2 in the Allianz Tower Auditorium in Milan, new social projects and the 2024-2025 guidelines were presented to the media and stakeholders of the foundation itself.

Maurizio Devescovi, President of the Allianz UMANA MENTE Foundation and General Manager of Allianz S.p.A. introduced the work of the day as follows:“With the work of our Foundation we aim to respond to the needs of the most fragile people, especially young people in difficult conditions and people with disabilities, and to promote their social inclusion. We want to offer a positive outlook on life to those è most in difficulty; and to enhance the abilities of everyone, to guarantee them a better future. These are the values that have guided the philanthropic efforts of the Allianz UMANA MENTE Foundation over the years, and it is with pride that we are here today to tell the story of our activities through the voices of the protagonists of our initiatives”.

The strategic guidelines of activities followed by the Foundation in the past years and confirmed for 2024-2025 focus on four areas of intervention: art, culture and outreach; inclusive sports; targeted aid, leisure for all and volunteering; and job placement.

The agenda of the meeting, moderated by Foundation Secretary General Nicola Corti, was also structured in four distinct moments, each dedicated to one of the four areas of intervention, with the narration of the most characterizing projects reported by the voice of its direct protagonists.

In the hall è was presented the new project Casa Teatro UMANA MENTE, conceived and implemented by the Fondazione Allianz UMANA MENTE with Teatro degli Incamminati and Officine Creative dell’Università di Pavia: a laboratory school that offers young people with and without disabilities a two-year, intensive and qualified professionalizing course, and is aimed at creating new profiles of actresses and actors through a training experience aimed at labor inclusion and social participation.

Speaking at the event was renowned actor Giacomo Poretti, artistic director of the course, which involves national and international artists and professionals, who stressed the importance of having a more inclusive stage that can inspire the lives of many people and contribute to the removal of some prejudices. Sofia Orsenigo, one of the Casa Teatro students, shared her views on the project with Fabrizio Fiaschini, Scientific Director of the course and Professor in Disciplines of the Performing Arts at the University of Pavia.

As for sports, the protagonists of the FAUM Cup and SuperEroica, the social cycling project launched in 2022 to allow people with intellectual-relational disabilities to also participate in L’Eroica, a well-known cycling competition in Gaiole in Chianti, gave their testimonies and at the same time send an important message to show that there are no limits nor should there be exclusions to the possibility of competing for athletes with intellectual-relational disabilities. In attendance were athlete Andrea Romano, Silvia Epis, FCI (Italian Cycling Federation) National Youth Technical Director and FISDIR (Italian Federation of Intellectual-Relational Paralympic Sports) National Technical Referent, and para-cycling champion Fabio Triboli.

The year 2024 saw for the first time, thanks to the strong commitment of the Allianz UMANA MENTE Foundation, the realization of two important events at the national level: the Italian Championships “FISDIR-FCI FAUMCUP”, the first edition of which was held in Bari on road cycling specialties and the second in Iseo (Brescia) on off-road specialties.

Foundation Secretary General Nicola Corti pointed out that, for the first time in these sports disciplines, athletes with intellectual-relational disabilities were also allowed to perform competitive cycling, recalling that previously athletes with such disabilities could only perform promotional activities (skill tests) or demonstrative activities (forerunners in competitive events).

The’commitment to inclusive sports è also expressed by the Allianz UMANA MENTE Foundation through its support of Snow4All and “Team G”, in collaboration with the Italian Federation of Paralympic Winter Sports, with the aim of identifying and training new athletes for participation in Paralympic winter sports: the youngsters are involved in various internships in which their abilities are evaluated, and then they are directed to the competitive world. The further ambitious Objective SCI project specifically aims to select and prepare athletes eager to participate in the Paralympic Winter Games in Milan Cortina 2026.