Five centuries, one square & 1.3 million lives: inside the Procuratie Vecchie episode artwork

EPISODE · May 15, 2026 · 6 MIN

Five centuries, one square & 1.3 million lives: inside the Procuratie Vecchie

from The Italy Now Podcast

We step inside the Procuratie Vecchie on Piazza San Marco in Venice, a 500-year-old palace closed to the public for five centuries and reopened in 2022 after a complete restoration by David Chipperfield Architects.Emma Ursic, CEO of The Human Safety Net Foundation, tells us how Generali transformed this extraordinary space into a global home for social innovation, reaching more than 1.3 million vulnerable people across 25 countries since 2017.From a refugee turned Parisian barber giving back to his community, to free exhibitions, family workshops & very good Italian coffee, this is the story of a building, a foundation & a quietly radical idea: that the most famous square in the world should also be a place where people rise by lifting others. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published May 15, 2026

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Five centuries, one square & 1.3 million lives: inside the Procuratie Vecchie

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