Biography
Enzo Piccinini was born in Scandiano (RE) on 5 June 1951.
In 1970 he graduated from the Liceo Ginnasio Statale ‘Rinaldini’ high school in Ancona and in the same year enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Modena.
He took part in the Communion and Liberation movement, which in those years was taking its first steps in Italian universities.
In 1972 he began an intense activity of social animation in his neighbourhood: the initiatives promoted in this period saw the extraordinary participation of many young people.
In 1973 he got married and in this same period a closer personal relationship with Don Luigi Giussani, founder of the Communion and Liberation movement, was consolidated.
In 1976 he graduated in Medicine and Surgery and began specialising in General Surgery and later in Vascular Surgery.
In 1979, with the start of his eldest daughter’s primary school, his awareness of the importance of a clear educational proposal increased and he began talking to some friends about the idea of setting up a school in Modena managed directly by a cooperative of parents and teachers: on 2 May 1979 the cooperative ‘La Carovana’ was established, for which Enzo Piccinini was the reference point for every important choice.
At the same time, with another group of friends, he set up a cultural centre, which in 1979 took the name ‘Centro Culturale La Collina della Poesia’ (The Poetry Hill Cultural Centre), whose activities have been a sure reference point for hundreds of young people ever since.
In 1980, he moved to the University of Bologna.
In the professional sphere, Dr. Piccinini has always considered the unity of his clinical activity with his research and teaching activities to be of paramount importance, also through the comparison with the most qualified International University Centres, with which he collaborated in numerous research projects such as Harvard University, the University of Chicago and the VI University of Paris.
In 1999, Dr. Piccinini was responsible for the creation of a ‘Master’s Degree in Colon Proctology’ sponsored by the European Union and the University of Bologna, in collaboration with the Universities of Vienna and Madrid.
His passion for continuous professional improvement has always had as its objective the care of the sick person by considering, together with the disease, every aspect of human need, and the many testimonies of his patients bear witness to this.
His expertise and teaching won over his young staff, who followed him for years, learning a way of working and dealing with the sick that has marked and still marks their careers.
On 26 May 1999, Enzo Piccinini died suddenly in a car accident on the A1 near Fidenza. The funeral, celebrated by Card. Giacomo Biffi in S. Petronio in Bologna, was attended by over 7,000 people.
To this day, the Foundation still receives writings and testimonies from young people expressing gratitude and gratitude for meeting Enzo Piccinini, who so positively marked their lives.
It was precisely his extraordinary passion for life and the education of young people that gave rise to the Foundation named after him.