The Ambrogino d'Oro awarded to Giorgio Squinzi

Giorgio Squinzi, the former President of Mapei who passed away this year on 2^nd October, received the Ambrogino d’Oro in his memory, the highest recognition awarded by the City of Milan, in honour of his commitment to making Milan a more prestigious city.

The reasons behind this recognition may be summarised as follows:

“Not Milanese by birth, but still a fully-fledged Milanese through and through. As a chemist and businessman he took over and ran a successful company, Mapei, which grew over the years and managed to cross international borders, transforming what was a family-run business into a global industry and leader in the production of adhesives and chemical products for the building industry, as well as providing work for more than ten thousand people in more than eighty subsidiaries spread all around the world. His passion for sport led to him becoming the owner of the Sassuolo soccer team, which went on to have the most successful period in the club’s history. He was president of Federchimica from 1997 until 2003 and from 2005 until 2011 and president of Confindustria from 2012 until 2016. A reserved and conscientious man, favouring the real economy and the factory rather than the world of finance, he always reinvested any dividends back into the company, never laid off any employee or made anybody redundant and the company never made a loss. He was a generous patron of the city of Milan and sponsored renovation work on the Teatro alla Scala, the Duomo Cathedral and on many of the city’s most iconic symbols”.

The Civic Merit award is an addition to the one he received in 1996 for his hard work and commitment as a businessman and sports fan for the benefit of the city of Milan.

The Ambrogino d’Oro awards ceremony was held on Saturday 7^th December at the Dal Verme Theatre to mark the festival of Sant’Ambrogio.

Giorgio Squinzi, born in Cisano Bergamasco but Milanese by adoption, did so much for the city of Milan with the Mapei brand becoming closely associated with many of the city’s iconic monuments. The Company, founded in 1937 by Rodolfo Squinzi, still has its head office in the Bovisa district of Milan, along with the Group’s main Research & Development laboratory, as if to underline its identity as being truly Milanese.

In Milan, Mapei helped with the renovation work on the Teatro alla Scala, the city’s cultural symbol, by supplying various products and solutions. Mapei has been a Corporate Member since 1984 and, since 2008, has been a fully-fledged benefactor of the Theatre when it became a Founding Partner.

It was his love for opera and the Theatre that convinced Giorgio Squinzi to become a Member of the Board of the Teatro alla Scala in 2016.

Following numerous interventions and support work during the refurbishment of the Duomo Cathedral to restore and waterproof the terraces and provide a protective treatment for the decorative façade, in 2018 Mapei joined the group of Grandi Donatori della Veneranda Fabbrica. And by taking part in the “Get your Spire” initiative, Mapei has helped in restoration work on the Duomo’s 135 spires.

This close, direct bond between Mapei and the Duomo led to Giorgio Squinzi being elected in 2016 onto the Board of Directors of the Veneranda Fabbrica del Duomo.

Mapei also has a close bond with Milan through its collaboration with the Leonardo Da Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology, for which it has acted as Technical Partner for numerous exhibition areas.

Other initiatives that bond Mapei to the city of Milan are its sponsorship of the Verdi Orchestra and the No’hma Theatre Space and the refurbishment of the Theatre in the C. Beccaria young offenders’ institution.

And lastly, for the EXPO exhibition, Mapei offered its contribution by providing products and Technical Assistance for the construction of important regeneration and redevelopment projects around the city, such as the new Dock, the M5 metropolitan railway line and various support networks.