The Città della Speranza Foundation was created on December 16, 1994, to raise funds to build a new and modern pediatric oncohematology department in Padua Hospital, to host children suffering of leukemia and their families in a dignified manner. In over three decades, the Foundation, following its mission, has grown by giving life to initiatives and projects that have helped and are helping to improve pediatric care and to research new treatments, in particular through its “Institute of Pediatric Research”.
 

The origin

Città della Speranza was founded in 1994 in memory of Massimo, a child who died of leukemia. The name, “ City of Hope ”, inspired by a similar American foundation, was its mission, the hope that sick children could live their lives in a happy city, able to give them a future.
 

The projects

In 1994, the pediatric hospital in Padua needed to be modernized to be more welcoming for both children and their families. Franco Masello, Virginio Zilio, Carlo Mazzocco and Prof. Luigi Zanesco, at the time Director of the Pediatric Oncohematology Clinic in Padua, promoted a project to renovate the hospital and raised the funds needed to build the new facility, which was inaugurated less than two years later, in 1996, marking a turning point in the quality of care and assistance for young patients.

After the renovation of the Pediatric Oncohematology Clinic in Padua, the Foundation continued its work by building the new Day Hospital and research Laboratories in 1998 and, in 2003, the new Pediatric Emergency Room in Padua. Then, in 2004, built the Pediatric Day Hospital and in 2010 of the new Pediatric Emergency Room in Vicenza.

On June 8, 2012, the latest major work: the Research Tower. 17,500 square meters dedicated to research on pediatric diseases, which houses the Foundation’s ‘ Institute of Pediatric Research ‘, one of the largest centers in Europe, where the Foundation collaborates closely with the Department of Women’s and Children’s Health of the University of Padua.
 

Present day

Today, 30 research groups operate at the Institute, with over 200 researchers, studying the main pediatric pathologies: from oncohematology to cardiology, from genetic diseases to immunology, from predictive to regenerative medicine.

The Institute is connected to the most important Italian and international pediatric research centers and has become a national reference center for the diagnosis of acute leukemia and the molecular characterization of pediatric tumors.

The Foundation also supports researchers by providing them with the funds needed to carry out projects aimed at improving care and developing new therapies for pediatric diseases.