Filippo Gori and Silvia Pezzini: A Gift Bridging Legacy and Future

A gift that looks ahead to the future without forgetting one's origins. Filippo Gori and Silvia Pezzini, a married couple and both Bocconi alumni, have generously donated to the University to financially support the studies of young people hailing from either the Valdarno or Valtellina regions, the areas where they grew up. Mr Gori is currently Co-Head of Global Banking at J.P. Morgan, while Ms Pezzini teaches economics at Columbia University, after working at the Bank of England and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.

Their donation, made through Friends of Bocconi University, enabled the creation of the Gori-Pezzini Scholarship Fund, which establishes an undergraduate scholarship for students from disadvantaged backgrounds coming from those two regions.

Named after Paolo Gori and Giovanni Pezzini, Filippo’s and Silvia’s fathers respectively, the scholarship stems from a desire to give back to the families and regions where their own life journeys began.

When Parents Become Part of the Bocconi Community

As the couple tells it, the intergenerational exchange didn’t just flow in one direction. Higher education opened new vistas, languages and connections for the two young people but also for their parents as well, a sort of reverse legacy.

Neither Gori’s nor Pezzini’s parents had a college education or international experience. Thanks to their children, they came to know London, New York, Hong Kong and China, and had the opportunity to engage with major economic issues and gain deeper insight into them.

Gori’s parents framed their son’s diplomas, certificates and articles to put them on display on the walls of their home. In the case of Pezzini’s parents, their daughter’s international journey made them familiar with global environments they wouldn’t have encountered otherwise.

“Bocconi University gave us the keys to our future. For our parents, who belonged to the postwar generation, the only curriculum was hard work,” recount Gori and Pezzini. “Thanks to the scholarship named after them, they felt they were Bocconians, just for one day.”

Two Regions and a Renewed Opportunity

Filippo Gori grew up in San Giovanni Valdarno in Tuscany and graduated from Bocconi cum laude in 1999 with a degree in Economics. Silvia Pezzini comes from Morbegno, in the Valtellina region of Northern Lombardy, and graduated with a degree in Economics with top grades in 1998. By selecting scholarship recipients from their home regions, they intend to give back to the very places where both of them started out.

For Pezzini, leaving her town of 10,000 inhabitants to study in Milan and later participating in an exchange program at New York University were the two major turning points in her life. For Gori, son of entrepreneurs who had weathered risks and made sacrifices to support the family business, professional success also had the very concrete meaning of being able to give his parents a measure of financial security.

“My parents told me that the resources for my education would always be found,” recalls Silvia Pezzini. “My energy came from a hunger for knowledge: I grew up in a pastoral landscape and had an infinite curiosity to discover what was in the world out there, beyond those mountains. The move from Morbegno to Milan, and later to New York, opened my mind and marked a clear ‘before and after’ in my life.”

“For me, one of the most important aspects of giving back was being able to provide financial security to my parents,” says Gori. “I grew up watching them run a business that entirely depended on them, and I lived with the pressure that this entailed. Being able to tell them in later years that they could finally be relieved from financial preoccupations was very important for me.”

Giving Back Means Paving the Way

The gift expands this concept of giving back to the community, reaching beyond the family circle. The goal is to support motivated students for whom economic and geographic distance might otherwise be a limiting factor in their choosing Bocconi.

“In the stories of the students we have met, we recognized a strong drive to take action, be there and make the most of what Bocconi University has to offer,” explain Gori and Pezzini. “It is the same energy we felt: we wanted to learn, study and seize every available opportunity.”

“This gift holds together three dimensions that are essential to Bocconi: merit, equity and responsibility towards future generations,” emphasizes Bocconi Rector Francesco Billari. “Filippo Gori and Silvia Pezzini are transforming the bond with their own families and places of origin into a lasting opportunity for coming students. It is the deeper meaning of giving back: ensuring that individual success becomes a driver of social mobility and creator of value for the entire community.”

Filippo Gori Named Bocconi Alumnus of the Year

Gori’s philanthropic commitment is accompanied by a further distinction, as the Bocconi Alumni Community has named Filippo Gori the 2026 Alumnus of the Year. A Class of 1999 graduate who is currently Co-Head of Global Banking at J.P. Morgan, Gori has built an international career spanning Europe, Asia and the United States. The award ceremony will be held on 23 October, and will honor his professional achievements, responsible leadership and commitment to creating opportunities for others.