The entrepreneur saved from tuberculosis: “A million euros for children”

Today he is one of the most important taxpayers of the Italian revenue, but as a child he was poor and sickly and spent part of his childhood in the Opai sanatorium in Olgiate Olona. Just in those years he managed to recover and to assume the behaviour and the attitude that made him one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Italy. Now, he wants to return, in part at least, what he received when he was a child; that is the reason why he got in touch with the Administration of Olgiate Olona in order to start a project for children. The story of Lino Faccincani (83 years old) is one of the 114 stories reported in the book edited by Enrica Mariateresa Ferrazzi, whose title is “Opai, io c’ero…Voci e volti della Casa dei bambini di Olgiate Olona”, and which was presented last night (Sunday) at Cinema Teatro Nuovo in front of more than 300 people.

During the presentation, he went on stage as well to recount his experiences in the sanatorium for children, his memories, the lessons of the teacher Luisa Bonomi and the times when he worked in the kitchen of the villa till he was 14. Hard times but good times those between the end of the 30s and the beginning of the 40s in a poor country devastated by war. In that sanatorium, which was funded by benefactors, he regained the strength and the hope that have been at the base of the great success he obtained at a later stage in the textile industry, thanks to nylon and Lycra.

Faccincani has been left very astonished by the great job done by the Town Council of Olgiate Olona, both in terms of memory, with the book of Enrica Ferrazzi, and for the renewal of Villa Gonzaga, which hosted the sanatorium in the past and today is the protagonist of the ongoing restoration project. The last restored pearls are the tempera paintings by Antonio Rubino (drawer of the magazine Corriere dei Piccoli) situated in the room, which was previously the canteen of Opai. His drawings on the walls, have returned to their past glories and will be inaugurated on 8 November at 11.30 am with the opening to the audience.

The mayor of Olgiate, Giovanni Montano, confirms the contacts: “We have been talking to him for some months,” he explains. ”We did not talk about it in public up until today because we are still in a preliminary phase. He is firmly convinced of his choice but we have also been asked to show him a social project for children he can share, and we are dealing with it. He is willing to offer one million euros.” It is too early to understand how this donation will be concretized, however, some good ideas have come up. “He likes the idea of turning Villa Gonzaga into a meeting place for old and young people, but we are thinking about some other options.” The idea of a foundation, which may involve other benefactors is also considered in order to leave something continuative on the territory which is not destined to run out in a short time.