Since 1988 engaged in intensive activity from a social assistance perspective

The Foundation's story began in 1988, after the encounter between Giorgio Vaccari and Zeninha, the name by which Lusenice Rodrigues Vaccari was known, at the FAMEB reception and screening center for juvenile offenders in Salvador.

Giorgio had been invited to give talks to the detained adolescents, while Zeninha was trying to teach some of them to read and write. Sharing that reality led both of them to the same conclusion: it was necessary to invent a form of care that could become an alternative to street life and reformatories.

From that first decision emerged the experience of the Centro de Solidariedade de Salvador, also supported by a group of Italian and Brazilian Catholics who worked as educational supporters for young people in situations of deep vulnerability.

From the beginning, the Foundation accumulated practical and pedagogical experience marked by reception, listening, resocialization and the defense of children's and adolescents' rights.

The first five years made clear that true and lasting results could only be achieved in the long term. During that period, the team had to move three times to protect the boys, who were threatened by criminals trying to draw them back into drug trafficking.

That continuity was only possible thanks to the providential intervention of Countess Maria Teresa Podestà Gilberti, from Milan, the main benefactor of the early years and a decisive figure in institutional consolidation.

In 1994 the experience was formalized as a foundation. The chosen name honored the countess's husband, Count Franco Gilberti, remembered for his simplicity, youthful spirit and generosity toward the poor in Milan and Santa Margherita Ligure.

Throughout this phase, the institution welcomed thousands of boys and some single mothers, building a theoretical and practical pedagogical heritage grounded in family, education and work.

Over more than three decades of activity, the Centro de Solidariedade welcomed thousands of boys. Many returned to live with relatives or went on to live independently after receiving work opportunities and housing; others lost their lives after returning to the streets. That memory of pain and hope is also part of the Foundation's history.

After thirty-two years of work, the Centro de Solidariedade concluded its cycle in 2018. From then on, the Foundation redefined its strategy and also turned toward prevention, focusing on rural youth around Fazenda A Partilha in Pojuca.

The encounter with the Escola Família Agrícola experiences in Bahia strengthened the dream of creating a school in the territory. In articulation with AECOFABA, the Escola Técnica Família Agrícola A Partilha was created in 2020, expanding the Foundation's mission toward an even more structured educational presence.

This new stage preserves the Italian and urban memory of the origin, while projecting it toward another horizon: youth, land, alternation pedagogy, production and dignified permanence in the territory.