Vidas launches a campaign to build a respite home for children with incurable illnesses. Among the project's testimonials is actor and director Silvio Muccino.
The response from institutions, partners and well-known figures to Vidas's major new project dedicated to the youngest patients has been enthusiastic and continues to grow: the project involves the construction of the Casa Sollievo Bimbi, a respite home where children and adolescents with incurable illnesses in an advanced stage, along with their families, can be welcomed. It is a significant step for the organisation, founded in 1982 in Milan by Giovanna Cavazzoni and long committed to providing comprehensive, free socio-medical assistance to terminally ill patients, and to elderly people in particular.
It is precisely the founder's charisma and strong empathy that have led so many testimonials to lend their faces and their time to the fundraising campaign launched in recent days, made possible in part by Armando Testa agency, which hosted the launch press conference in Milan just yesterday. Also present were Vidas president Ferruccio de Bortoli, the campaign's creative team and Silvio Muccino, testimonial and director of the advertisement promoting the initiative. For him too, the meeting with Cavazzoni proved decisive: "Her love of life is truly astonishing and not easily found," Muccino explained during the event, "It is precisely this love and this light that I recognise in the way children play. The way she spoke to me about this project, drawing on her own life experiences, was illuminating for me: it made me understand that however I went about conveying Vidas's message, I would have to do it by focusing on life rather than death, on light rather than shadow."
And so it was. In the advertisement, Muccino, together with some of the project's many testimonials — including Linus and Vittoria Belvedere (both present at the event), Teresa Mannino and Ale e Franz — ride a vintage merry-go-round with a dreamy, emotional air, while a voiceover delivers the campaign's slogan: Tutti siamo stati bambini. Non dimentichiamolo. It is an invitation, then, to be conscious adults, ready to fully attend to the needs and emotions of the youngest, rediscovering the child within each of us.
An invitation that has also been taken up by figures from the worlds of entertainment, fashion and communications, in what appears to be developing into a genuine wave of solidarity. Among those offering their support are art critic Philippe Daverio, fashion designers Dolce&Gabbana, Lella Costa, Fedez, J-Ax, Stefano Belisario (better known as Elio delle Storie Tese), sports journalist and commentator Guido Meda and Debora Villa (present at the event).
Some more precise information on the Casa Sollievo Bimbi Vidas project — which will be built in Milan alongside the existing Casa Vidas di Bonola — was provided by Mario Usellini, President of Fondazione Vidas: "It will be a six-storey building and will cost more than 15 million euros. The project includes two floors dedicated to housing children: one section will contain the day hospice, for treatments that will also support families from an educational standpoint, helping parents to care for these children at home. On the other floor, there will be six rooms of 35 square metres each, able to accommodate a parent as well, with the possibility of connecting two rooms in cases where there are other children who cannot be left at home."
Strong support for the project has also come from the Milan city administration, as confirmed by Usellini: "The municipality is following us with great involvement. The land on which the facility will be built has been given to us free of charge for 45 years, a period that will probably be extended following a request we have already made and which has already been accepted." On the timeline, the president explained: "Just today there was a technical meeting at which it was proposed to finalise the project by the end of April and then open the tender process. The aim would be to open the building site in September and complete it by 31 March 2018."
An ambitious project that Ferruccio de Bortoli, president of Vidas, described as "a project of civilisation," highlighting the progress made by the legislative system with regard to palliative care: "I believe that a civilisation is measured precisely by the way it relates to suffering and approaches people who ask for help, even when treatment can no longer guarantee recovery. A recent law has finally extended the application of the national health service to palliative care, which was not previously covered. Until not long ago, terminally ill patients essentially ceased to be citizens…"