Set up for philanthropic purposes to promote cultural, civil and economic development.
The Foundation pursues three goals: Culture, People and Planet, which are in turn divided into fourteen missions.
This structure is aligned with the international framework of the United Nations, which established the 2030 Agenda in 2015, asking individual countries to adopt the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the associated 169 targets, as well as the whole philosophy that led to them being formulated.
Sustainable development is a continuation of the path started by the Foundation in 1563, the year of the religiously inspired civic association that led to the creation of Compagnia di San Paolo, with the philanthropic intention of helping marginalised people in Turin.
Today, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo operates primarily in the Italian regions of Piedmonte, Liguria and Valle d'Aosta, in the sectors permitted by legislative decree 153 of 17 May 1991.[1]
The market value of all the assets held by Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo as of 31 December 2020 is 6.7 billion euros.[N 1][2][3]
Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo was born in Turin in 1563, a time when Piedmont was in a state of serious economic decline due to the long wars between France and Spain. Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, having regained possession of the savoyard state in 1559 following the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, launched a profound political, military and cultural reorganisation.
On 25 January 1563, seven citizens of Turin founded the Confraternita della catholica fede in Turino sotto l'invocazione di San Paolo with the dual aim of helping the destitute after years of foreign domination and stemming the expansion of the Protestant reform. Help for the destitute, particularly noblemen and people of the middle classes who had fallen on bad times, was provided in the home.[4]
In 1579, the Confraternity founded the city’s Monte di Pietà, in an attempt to stem the scourge of usury that affected the weaker classes, by granting small loans against pawned property. Around a decade later, it also dedicated itself to supporting women by providing dowries through the establishment of the Casa del Soccorso and, in 1683, the Casa del Deposito, which provided hospitality for women suffering from exploitation and violence.
In 1595 ,the Ufficio Pio was established, which manages the Compagnia's welfare and religious activities. The Paulists participated in the construction of the Church of the Martyr Saints, the establishment of the Collegio dei nobili convittori, which provided education for the children of wealthy families and is now home to the Convitto Umberto I primary school and the Albergo di virtù, an organisation intended to provide vocational training to beggars in the manufacturing and mechanical industries.
Around the middle of the seventeenth century, the confraternity promoted the opening of the Ospedale di Carità (charity hospital) and in the following century it provided financial support for the Ospedale dei Pazzi, now the seat of the city’s registry and electoral offices.
Thanks to its significant assets, boosted by many bequests from Piedmontese families, the organisation was able to engage in an intense financial activity that culminated in it taking over the administration of public debt in 1653. Having achieved the pinnacle of its development in the mid-18th century, the organisation lost the management of charitable works and was abolished by the French Republican government in 1802, which replaced it with public bodies that took over and continued to provide its services.
In 1804, the Monte di Pietà was reorganised by the French government along the lines of the Paris Mount of Piety, enhancing its banking functions. With its functions restored in 1814, the Compagnia di San Paolo took over the management of the interest-charging Monte di Pietà and the free Monte di Pietà and, between 1824 and 1851, took charge of providing health services to the destitute, supplying basic medical and specialised care.
Original statute of the new Confraternita della catholica fede in Turino.
In these years, the Ufficio Pio resumed its activities. With the advent of the liberal State, however, in 1853, the government of Victor Emmanuel II restricted the Company's activity to religious practices only and entrusted the assets and management of welfare and credit activities to a publicly appointed council, called Opere Pie di San Paolo, later Istituto di San Paolo, which significantly developed its banking activity through the Monte di Pietà, until it was recognised in 1923 and became primarily a bank rather than a pawnbroker.
When it took over the management of the land bank in 1867, at the same time as agrarian reforms were being introduced and urban construction work was increasing, the organisation began to operate in what became its core sector. During the period of Turin's industrial development, Compagnia di San Paolo supported the development of infrastructure and the takeover of essential services by the city council through loans to the municipal and provincial authorities. It financed the creation of the public housing institute, participated in new financial organisations such as the consortium for grants on industrial securities, the federal institute for agricultural credit in Piedmont and the national consortium for agricultural improvement credit, supporting the training of manual workers and technicians.
In 1907, it funded the start-up capital for the public housing institute and subsequently the construction of the new San Giovanni Battista "Molinette” Hospital, completed in 1935.
San Paolo’s charitable work also contributed to the creation of the Amedeo di Savoia hospital, which was inaugurated in 1900 and specialised in infectious diseases. Its involvement in Piedmontese hospitals took various forms, including managing their finances, granting mortgages and credit lines, as well as one-off contributions for expansion and modernising projects and healthcare initiatives. The new organisation continued and renewed the activities of the Ufficio Pio and the Duchessa Isabella Education Centre, the name given to the former Casa del Soccorsoand Casa del Deposito in 1883, which provided young women with a full education programme, from primary to master's degree level, at the site that was purpose-built towards the end of the 19th century in the current Piazza Bernini.
When it took over the deposits of Riccardo Gualino’s Banca Agricola Italiana in 1931, the organisation expanded its structure, which had been limited to the city, to Piedmont and Liguria, and in 1932 it was granted the status of a public lending establishment and the extended name of Istituto di San Paolo Torino. After the racial laws were enacted in 1938, Compagnia di San Paolo's land bank was charged with managing the properties seized from the Jews, mainly in Piedmont and Liguria, and, after Italy entered the war, also the properties of foreigners from enemy countries.[5]
The role assumed in the post-war reconstruction, its territorial expansion, diversification of credit and entry into the ECU market, laid the foundations for a national and international expansion of Istituto San Paolo di Torino, the name it assumed in 1950, which became one of the most important banking groups in Europe.
At the end of 1991, within the framework of the “Amato-Carli” Law, credit activities were delegated to a newly established joint-stock company, Istituto Bancario San Paolo di Torino S.p.A., while the public interest and social activities remained in the hands of the “old San Paolo”, which became Compagnia di San Paolo as a tribute to its history. The financial value of the banking company thus became a real philanthropic asset, partly held by the organisation in the form of shares in what has become over time the Intesa Sanpaolo group and partly reinvested according to diversification principles. Currently, Compagnia di San Paolo is a private law foundation governed by its own by-laws adopted in March 2000, associated with ACRI - Associazione di Fondazioni e di Casse di Risparmio Spa and a member of the European Foundation Centre, the association of Europe’s leading foundations.
Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo is based in the Crocetta district of Turin. In accordance with its by-laws, the organisation’s governing bodies are: the Chair, the Secretary General, the General Council, the Management Board and the Board of Auditors.[6] The Chair is appointed by the General Board, which also appoints the Vice-Chair and holds office for four years, as does the General Council. He or she is the Foundation’s legal representative; chairs meetings, establishes their agenda and directs the work of the General Council and Management Board; is entitled to take urgent measures in the interests of the Foundation and reports on them to the Management Board.
The General Council is the steering body of Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo. It has a four-year term of office. It is tasked with establishing the Foundation’s priorities, programmes and goals, including monitoring the results.
The General Council consists of seventeen Directors, fourteen of them appointed as follows: two by the Municipality of Turin, one by the Piedmont Region, one by the Municipality of Genoa, two by the Turin Chamber of Commerce, one by the Genoa Chamber of Commerce, one by the Milan Chamber of Commerce, one by the Regional Union of the Piedmont Chambers of Commerce, one by the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa, one by the Turin Academy of Sciences, or alternatively by the Department of Physics, Mathematics and Natural Sciences and the Department of Moral, Historical and Philological Sciences, one by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, or alternatively by the Department of Physics, Mathematics and Natural Sciences and the Department of Moral, Historical and Philological Sciences, one by FAI – Fondo Ambiente Italiano and one by the European Foundation Centre.
The Council also includes three further members co-opted during its first meeting.
The Management Board is appointed by the General Council and consists of five members, who automatically include the Chair and Vice-Chair. The Management Board holds office for the same period as the General Council, and the two bodies’ tenure expires at the same time.
The Management Board enjoys full powers of ordinary and extraordinary management of Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo. The Managing Board is therefore responsible for approving decisions regarding interventions in the relevant sectors.
The Board of Auditors, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo’s supervisory body, is appointed by the General Council and made up of three standing auditors, one of whom is the Chair of the Board of Auditors, and two alternate auditors.
The Secretary General, appointed by the Management Board, heads the foundation’s operational structure, currently consisting of around 90 people.[7]
The market value of Compagnia di San Paolo’s portfolio fell from 6.9 billion euros in 2009 to approximately 5.1 billion at the end of 2011 and then increased again to 6.7 billion euros in 2014, 7.2 billion in 2019 and 6.7 billion in 2020.[N 2][2][3]
Francesco Profumo, current Chair of Compagnia di San Paolo
Board of Auditors: Margherita Spaini (Chair), Mario Matteo Busso, Ernesto Carrera.[8]
Alberto Anfossi, current Secretary General of Compagnia di San PaoloGeneral Council: Paola Bonfante, Valeria Cappellato, Elena Casolari, Michela Di Macco, Vincenzo Ferrone, Enrico Filippi, Elena Franco, Paola Giubergia, Vincenzo Ilotte, Ernesto Lavatelli, Penelope Lewis, Angelo Matellini, Antonio Mattio, Remo Pertica, Aldo Pia, Alberto Quadrio Curzio, Roberta Siliquini.
The composition of Compagnia di San Paolo’s board from 1992 to 2019 can be viewed on the organisation's website.[9]
Compagnia di San Paolo establishes multiannual strategies and objectives and works by supporting projects consistent with its values, adopting programmes, issuing calls for proposals and managing resources. It makes disbursements and directly manages projects through its Auxiliary Bodies[10], through which it operates in the fields of the arts, scientific, economic and legal research, education, healthcare and assistance to the weakest people in society.[11][2]
Fondazione per la Scuola aims to contribute to enhancing the autonomy of schools.
It operates in three main areas:
promoting equal opportunities, social inclusion and the relationship between schools and their local areas;
improving the autonomy of schools in terms of quality and fairness, focusing in particular on schools operating in complex contexts;
improving internal school processes by creating digital schools, reviewing management processes and innovating teaching models.
The Foundation contributes to establishing school policies by operating in synergy with institutions, the private sector, auxiliary bodies and the areas of operation of Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo. Again operating in a subsidiary capacity, it works with MIUR (the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research) and its local offices, INDIRE (the Italian National Institute for Educational Documentation, Innovation and Research) and INVALSI (the Italian National Institute for Evaluation of the Education and Training System).
Pursuant to Directive 170/2016 of 20 July 2018, the Foundation has been accredited as a teacher training body by the Italian Ministry of Education.[12]
This cultural body specialises in supporting research in the field of humanities. It has a multidisciplinary vocation that ranges from the digital humanities to global history, which includes studying the age and culture of the Baroque, as an identifying characteristic of Piedmont (Baroque Programme).
One of the main tasks for which Fondazione 1563 is responsible is the conservation and cultural enhancement of the Historical Archive of Compagnia di San Paolo, which preserves four and a half centuries of the institution's history. Its main archiving activities consist of creating a complete inventory and managing the digital publication on the web of historical and documentary material (Digital Archives and Collections) and its dissemination through virtual exhibitions and public history projects about its heritage.
Since 1997, Fondazione 1563 has been publishing the Quaderni dell'Archivio Storico (historical archive handbooks), Quaderni di Ricerca (research handbooks) and Quaderni delle Borse e dei Premi (scholarships and awards handbooks) series.
Created in 1595, Ufficio Pio is Compagnia di San Paolo’s oldest auxiliary body. It operates independently in the areas of work established by Compagnia di San Paolo and aims to support vulnerable people and families or those experiencing social and economic hardship in the Piedmont region, particularly in the metropolitan area of Turin. Ufficio Pio operates thanks to around 150 volunteers and 34 members of staff.[13][14]. Its areas of activity are the following:
Established in 2004 by the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation, in collaboration with the University of Turin, Fondazione Collegio Carlo Alberto is an independent research and higher education establishment with an international standing. It promotes and supports advanced research and post-graduate training in the social sciences, with the aim of contributing significantly to the public debate. Its mission is to promote research and teaching in the fields of theoretical and applied economics, political science, sociology and law, in relation to the values and customs of the international academic community. The official language of the Fondazione Collegio Carlo Alberto is English and its educational programme is intended to prepare university and post-university students for the world of work.[15][16]
LINKS, which stands for “Leading Innovation & Knowledge for Society”, is an organisation that aims to contribute to technological and socio-economic progress through advanced applied research processes. It is the result of the merger by incorporation of Istituto Superiore Mario Boella with Istituto Superiore per i Sistemi Territoriali e l’Innovazione and benefits from the experience, skills and important results achieved in recent years. It acts as a link between the academic world and companies, start-ups and institutions, operating as a reference research centre for organisations that want to grow and increase their competitiveness.
LINKS brings together professionals with different backgrounds and knowledge, allowing the development of innovative and multidisciplinary studies and applications. The skills are focused on new technologies, the environment and the local area, and are based on complementary experiences resulting from innovation processes and their application in different fields.[17]
Italian Institute for Genomic Medicine (IIGM)[edit]
Established in 2007 in collaboration with the University of Turin and the Polytechnic of Turin, IIGM is a research institute and an innovation platform and research hub for Turin’s Città della Salute. It promotes excellence in research and teaching in the fields of human genetics, genomics and proteomics. Areas of study also include life sciences, in particular translational research, precision medicine and biomedicine, with a particular focus on the bioethical aspects of research.[18][19]
In 2019, IIGM moved its headquarters to Istituto di Candiolo - IRCCS (TO), a renowned national centre for the treatment of oncological diseases.
In 2020, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo adopted the United Nations 2030 Agenda as a reference for its activities, organizing itself to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
This decision is in keeping with its previous activities. Fighting poverty, well-being, local attractions, education, innovation, civic engagement and democratic participation, the protection of social rights, and institutional partnerships are issued shared by the Foundation. Closer attention to environmental issues completes a picture that is consistent with the various dimensions of sustainable development: social, educational, cultural, scientific and economic.
This path has led the Foundation to reorganise its internal structure and work plans, arranging them according to three major Goals, each of which is divided into individual Missions. The Planning, Studies and Assessment Department, Finance Department and High-Impact Innovation Department perform specialised support and design functions.[20]
The Culture Goal promotes culture by protecting cultural heritage and promoting artistic, expressive and creative activities, and as a driving force for building a new form of active citizenship.
In doing so it works with organisations and institutions in the world of culture. Its areas of activity include historical heritage, participation, art and creativity, aimed at improving the attractiveness of the local area and encouraging people to participate, develop new skills and protect cultural heritage.[21]
The Culture Goal intends to contribute to achieving the following Sustainable Development Goals:
The People Goal is committed to improving people's quality of life with an approach that includes the dimensions of education, work, housing law, the ability to build renewing communities and inclusive territories. Particular attention is paid to the population groups most exposed to the risk of being socially, economically and culturally marginalised.[33]
The People Goal intends to contribute to achieving the following Sustainable Development Goals:
The Planet Goal is committed to promoting the development and sharing of skills, in terms of technology and innovation, to create new solutions for the well-being of people and the environment.[36]
The Planet Goal intends to contribute to achieving the following Sustainable Development Goals:
Planning, Research and Evaluation Department[edit]
The Planning, Studies and Assessment Department serves the governing bodies and goals of the organisation, proposing, connecting and supporting strategic plans, evaluating the areas of operation and the effects of the initiatives promoted or directly implemented by the Foundation. It also provides grants to socio-economic competence and research centres.[38]
The CFO (Chief Financial Officer) is responsible for guiding the entire process that allows the Foundation's assets to generate income for its institutional mission and to generate revolving capital resources. The Finance Department and the High-Impact Innovation Department both contribute to this process.[39]
The Finance Department is in charge of monitoring the implementation of Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation's asset allocation, with the aim of preserving the value of the assets and generating income with a long-term view, linked to the growth of the real value of the assets.
The High-Impact Innovation Department supports the CFO in evaluating investments and innovative initiatives as well as in utilising and managing the Foundation's data.[40]
↑At the end of 2019, the total market value of the portfolio of financial assets held by the Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo amounted to € 7.2 billion (€ 6.3 billion at the end of 2018). The highest value of financial assets in the last six years was recorded in 2015 when it reached € 7.7 billion.
↑Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named :0
↑E. Tesauro, Historia della venerabilissima Compagnia della Fede Catolica, sotto l'invocatione di San Paolo, nell'Augusta Città di Torino, Torino, Sinibaldo, 1657; II ediz. accresc., Torino, G. B. Zappata, 1701.
↑Le case e le cose. La persecuzione degli ebrei torinesi nelle carte dell'EGELI 1938 – 1945, a cura di Fabio Levi, con saggi di F. Levi, D. Adorni, G. Genovese, Torino, 1998.
↑Lo statuto, il regolamento per le attività istituzionali, i documenti programmatici pluriennali e annuali e i rapporti sull'attività istituzionale annuale della Compagnia sono reperibili nel sito [1]
AA. VV., Institute of the Opere Pie di San Paolo in Turin, Notice and statistical tables on real estate credit from 1867 to end of 1903, Turin, 1904, ISBN non-existent.
AA. VV., L'Istituto delle Opere Pie di San Paolo nel 350º anno di sua esistenza, Torino, Istituto delle Opere Pie di San Paolo, 1913, ISBN non-existent.
AA. VV., L'Istituto di San Paolo di Torino dalle origini ai giorni nostri 1563-1936, Torino, Istituto di San Paolo di Torino, 1937, ISBN non-existent.
AA. VV., L'Istituto Bancario San Paolo di Torino, 1563-1950, Turin, Istituto di San Paolo di Torino, 1951, ISBN non-existent.
AA.VV., Compagnia di san Paolo, Ufficio Pio della Compagnia di San Paolo, Quarto Centenario 1595 –1995, Turin, Compagnia di San Paolo, 1995, ISBN non-existent.
E. Tesauro, Historia della venerabilissima Compagnia della Fede Catholica, sotto l'invocatione di San Paolo, nell'Augusta Città di Torino, Torino, Sinibaldo, 1657; II ediz. accresc., Turin, Istituto delle Opere Pie di San Paolo, 1701, ISBN non-existent.
F. Reyna, Le Opere Pie di San Paolo. Brevi note storiche e statistiche, Turin, Istituto delle Opere Pie di San Paolo, 1898, ISBN non-existent.
M. Abrate, L'Istituto Bancario San Paolo di Torino, Turin, Istituto Bancario San Paolo di Torino, 1963, ISBN non-existent.
R. Prola Perino, Storia dell'educatorio "Duchessa Isabella" e dell'Istituto magistrale statale "Domenico Berti", Turin, Centro Studi Piemontesi, 1980, ISBN non-existent.
S. Cingolani e G. Marandini, San Paolo: da banco a bank, Milan, IPSOA, 1989, ISBN non-existent.
G. Merighi, A. Cantaluppi, Compagnia di San Paolo nel passaggio dall'Antico Regime all'età repubblicana, in Dal trono all'albero della libertà (Atti del convegno, Torino, 11-13 settembre 1989), Rome, Istituto poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, 1991, ISBN non-existent.
S. Cavallo, Charity and power in early modern Italy. Benefactors and their motives in Turin, 1541-1789, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1995, ISBN non-existent.
A. Cantaluppi, La Compagnia di San Paolo: mercanti e funzionari nell'élite torinese tra Cinque e Seicento, in Politica e cultura nell'età di Carlo Emanuele I. (Atti del convegno internazionale di studi. Torino, 21-24 febbraio 1995), a cura di M. Masoero, Turin, Paris, Madrid, Compagnia di San Paolo, 1995, ISBN non-existent.
P. Giordano, I censi presso la Compagnia di San Paolo nei secoli XVIII e XIX; prefazione di I. Soffietti e saggio introduttivo di G. Montanari, Turin, Compagnia di San Paolo, 1997, ISBN non-existent.
F. Levi, Le case e le cose. La persecuzione degli ebrei torinesi nelle carte dell'EGELI 1938 – 1945, con saggi di F. Levi, D. Adorni, G. Genovese, Turin, Compagnia di San Paolo, 1998, ISBN non-existent.
F. Lupano, La Compagnia di San Paolo e il servizio sanitario per i poveri nella Città di Torino 1814 -1851, Turin, Compagnia di San Paolo, 1999, ISBN non-existent.
A. Cantaluppi, E. Tesauro, Istoria della venerabilissima Compagnia della Fede Catolica, sotto l'invocazione di San Paolo, nell'Augusta città di Torino, Turin, Compagnia di San Paolo, 2003, ISBN non-existent.
W. E. Crivellin, B. Signorelli, Per una storia della Compagnia di San Paolo (1563-1853), Turin, Compagnia di San Paolo, ISBN non-existent.
C. Laurora e M. P. Piccoli, Gli atti ritrovati: fonti per lo studio della Compagnia di San Paolo (1610-1635); "Reti di credito e composizione sociale della Compagnia di San Paolo. Un'analisi attraverso i lasciti conservati presso l'archivio storico della Compagnia", di Blythe Alice Raviola; "I Baronis: da mercanti e banchieri a conti di Buttigliera d'Asti. Ascesa economica e sociale di una famiglia nella Torino del Seicento" di Nicolina Calapà, vol. I, Turin, Compagnia di San Paolo, 2004, ISBN non-existent.
B. Signorelli, L. De Fanti, Il patrimonio artistico della Compagnia di San Paolo; La costruzione della nuova sede della Compagnia di San Paolo nell'isolato San Felice (1701-1704), vol. II,, Turin, Compagnia di San Paolo, 2005, ISBN non-existent.
A. Merlotti, La Compagnia di San Paolo alla metà del XVIII secolo. Una élite politico-economica tra corte e municipalità, Turin, ISBN non-existent.
C. Laurora e M. P. Piccoli, Gli atti ritrovati; fonti per lo studio della Compagnia di San Paolo (1636-1662) «Eran nel mondo e fuor del mondo…»: alle origini della Compagnia di San Paolo di Pier Giorgio Longo; L'antica Compagnia di San Paolo nella difficile transizione (1852-1853). Appunti e documenti di Walter Crivellin, Turin, Compagnia di San paolo, 2007, ISBN non-existent.
A. Cantaluppi, L'Archivio Storico della Compagnia di San Paolo, Collana “Quaderni dell'Archivio Storico”, Turin, Compagnia di San Paolo, 2008, ISBN non-existent.
