Two Rooms with a Bocconi View in Memory of Old Times

Gianni Zoppas and Alberto Minali were students at Bocconi a few years from each other, in the late 1970s and mid-1980s, respectively. They walked across the halls of via Sarfatti 25 and were hosted by the Pensionato (student dorm) of via Bocconi 12. They remained so emotionally attached to their rooms (on the fifth and third floors, respectively), that they have decided to give to a Bocconi fund, by sponsoring one of the rooms in the renewed student dorm.

"Life at the Pensionato gave me a lot. It was a place of multicultural aggregation long before there was the international openness we witness today, " says Zoppas, CEO of Marcolin. "I think it's a moral duty to give back some of what you received. I put a lot of trust in the initiatives that Bocconi is undertaking to promote social mobility, and I think they will achieve very good results." Following the restructuring of what for decades was the sole Bocconi dorm, spaces have changed inside the building, so Zoppas was unable to sponsor his own old room, but this didn't stop him from supporting the project.

The same can be said for Alberto Minali, CFO of Generali, who stayed at the student dorm from 1984 until 1989. "I come from a poor family, and I could attend Bocconi only through my subsidized stay at the Pensionato", he remarks, and comments on an aspect that made life special there: "It was a true community, where we helped each other and cared for each other, but where we did not shy from debate and healthy competition. It was an experience that shaped my life which I hope my children will be able to repeat some day." Both donors cite the charismatic personality of ISU Bocconi director Salvatore Grillo, in charge of student services and accommodation. It was Dr Grillo's call that persuaded them to fund the project.