Luca Attanasio, from memory to permanent commitment: Bocconi consolidates the scholarships in his name

In 2021, in the aftermath of the attack in which Luca Attanasio - Bocconi alumnus and Italian Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo - lost his life, the Bocconi community responded with extraordinary participation in the fundraising campaign launched in his memory. More than 900 donors contributed to the initiative, which was matched by the University: thanks to this collective commitment, the first five scholarships dedicated to him were established.

Following the awarding of the initial tuition waivers, Bocconi University chose to take a further step, transforming that mobilization into a lasting commitment. Starting from the 2024/2025 academic year, the full tuition waiver in memory of Luca Attanasio has been made permanent, thanks to the University’s direct financial support. Each year, Bocconi will fully cover the tuition fees of one student from fragile countries or from contexts linked to those in which Attanasio served.

This is a clear choice: to make structural what began as an immediate and widely shared response, embracing memory as a long-term responsibility.

Making this scholarship permanent means taking memory on as a lasting commitment and translating it, year after year, into access to education and the recognition of merit. The most authentic way to preserve an example is to transform it into opportunity for new generations. _{- Francesco Billari, Rector, Bocconi University}

The scholarship in memory of Luca Attanasio now stands alongside the University’s other permanent scholarships, including the one established at SDA Bocconi in memory of Francesco Daveri, as well as those supported by donors such as Fondazione Leonardo Del Vecchio, Carlo Bronzini Vender, and the bequest of Carlo Abbagnano. Within this framework, Bocconi strengthens a broader strategy of inclusion and merit-based support: not a symbolic gesture, but a structural investment in human capital.

Over the years, the scholarships in memory of Luca Attanasio have already supported seven students, selected for merit and for coming from contexts marked by economic or institutional fragility. Their academic journeys represent the most tangible outcome of a choice that gives continuity to a shared commitment: to make the University increasingly inclusive and open.

Alongside the establishment of the permanent tuition waiver, Bocconi has also decided to name the Rectorate Hall in Piazza Sraffa after Luca Attanasio, a historic space for discussion and dialogue within the academic community. Five years after his passing, Luca Attanasio’s name thus remains associated with the most concrete mission of a university: opening doors, ensuring access, and supporting merit, without rhetoric, through a commitment renewed every year.