Throughout her life Giorgina Pezza cultivated a deep love for culture, books and knowledge. Daughter of the historian and doctor Francesco Pezza, a reference figure for the city of Mortara, she has always believed that knowledge was a heritage to be preserved and, above all, to be transmitted. It is with this same spirit that she decided to bequeath her estate to Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, the university from which she graduated in Modern Literature in 1963.
She has been a scholar of the "Via Francigena" and medieval pilgrimage and has participated in numerous national and international conferences on medieval studies. The figure of the Pilgrim has always been at the center of his cultural and literal activity, following, not only the itinerary that the Pilgrim could take, but studying all the moments of everyday life during the journey. She has been interested in historical research and is the author of monographs including "The Mortariense Order a bulwark of faith between the Via Francigena and the Compostela Way". In addition: collaborator of the magazine "De Strata Francigena" - Member of the scientific committee of the Romei Study Center in Florence - Collaborator, as a columnist, of the Osservatore Romano - Collaborator of the magazine "Fondazione Abbatia Sancte Marie di Morimundo.
Giorgina's wish was precisely that her passion for study and knowledge could continue to live through new study opportunities for the new generations.
Today, that gesture of generosity translates into two study awards that allow two students of ASERI's MIMES Master's Degree, from the Middle East, to attend their academic career in Milan: Julian Ghanim Solaqa Bechocha and Sarah Salam Saeed Saeed, from Iraq.
Julian, originally from Erbil and belonging to the Chaldean community – an ancient neo-Aramaic-speaking Christian population that represents about 80% of Iraqi Christians – has gained significant journalistic experience collaborating with the Iraqi national newspaper "The New Region" and with international media such as Al Jazeera.
Sarah, born in Baghdad, comes from the world of marketing and business communication and has been hosting the podcast "Beyond the Tigris" for years, in which she dialogues with experts and professionals on geopolitical, social and economic issues in Iraq. Both stand out for the depth of their reflections and for the constant involvement in the life of the master.
To put a face to this story, ASERI organized a meeting between the two students and Giorgina Pezza's executor, Dr. Claudia Camana, who was able to be next to Giorgina in the last years of her life, and Dr. Antonia Costa Barbè, also a student of the Catholic University, a great family friend of hers and united by the same interests in Medieval studies.
On the one hand, the story of Giorgina's life and values, on the other, the testimonies of the two students, who were able to personally express their gratitude. Dr. Camana told the students about Giorgina's life, the values that guided her and the reasons that led her to invest in the future of young people. He also brought with him two of his writings "The memory of St. Thomas of Canterbury in northern Italy" in De Strata Francigena: From Italy to Canterbury and "The abbeys: crossroads of Europe through the guesthouse and the infirmarium" in A Lombard Abbey: Morimondo its history and its message (Celebratory conference on the VII centenary of the completion of the work on the abbey church 1296 – 1996) giving them to students as a concrete testimony and tangible memory. On the one hand, the story of Giorgina's life and values, on the other, the testimonies of the two students, who were able to personally express their gratitude, made this moment intense.
For their part, Julian and Sarah shared their experience and gratitude for an opportunity that changed their study and life path. "My country has limited resources. I already have a degree, but after just one month that I was in Italy I realized that here I can really be myself," Julian said emotionally. And again, Sarah: "There are no words to express our gratitude. Without this scholarship we could not be here".
With emotion they finally added: "Giorgina's legacy will be preserved. Every time we come to ASERI we remember her and thank her."
An encounter that made tangible the deepest meaning of a legacy: not only economic support, but a gesture of trust and love, capable of crossing time and continuing to generate the future.