Marino Golinelli was born in San Felice sul Panaro in the province of Modena in 1920.
In 1943, after his education in chemistry, Golinelli graduated in Pharmacy from the University of Bologna. In January of 1948, at less than 30 years old, he took over a small laboratory in Bologna (a start-up it would be called today) called Biochimici A.L.F.A. and launched its independent activity for the production of pharmaceuticals. In only a few years, Alfa Pharmaceuticals was authorized with the qualifications for the production of pharmaceuticals.
In 1955, Marino Golinelli began the actualization of a new and more modern establishment. In 1968, he initiated the first research project on blood. In 1969, he developed new production installations and of high specialized research. In 1974, Golinelli constructed and establishment for the production of the basic raw materials for the medical and pharmaceutical sectors.
In 1979, the President of the Republic nominated Marino Golinelli as a “Cavaliere del Lavoro” (Knight of Labor). It was the right time to tackle a new challenge and grow in the world market: to leave by the ‘80s the enterprise of Marino Golinelli and begin to expand into other countries, also with the acquisition of two important brands: Schiapparelli and Wassermann.
Today Alfa Wassermann is a large international group that employs
Over 1500 dependents. It has 3 headquarters in Italy and subsidiaries in 13 countries. It is a leader in pharmaceutical production of the highest quality and continues to invest in research, with long-term objectives that guarantee its continuity.
Marino Golinelli is not only an entrepreneur-pioneer, but is also a great collector and appraiser of contemporary art. He is a man with a high vision for the future, and believes that art, science, and conscience are the foundation of all human progress. He is, above all, convinced that the entrepreneur has a duty to give back a part of his fortune to society. To express this vision, in 1988 Marino Golinelli gave life to the Foundation that now bears his name, with the objective to promote the education and formation, to spread culture, to favor, in a conscientious way, the intellectual and ethical growth of youth, the citizens of the future in a global world.
His entrepreneurial activity and his curiosity have given Marino Golinelli the possibility to know and spend time with world-renowned scientists, beginning with the Nobel Prize-winning laureates in the ‘80s for the Sciapparelli Readings: among them Ernst Boris Chain, one of the discoverers of the therapeutic action of penicillin. For this motive today, Marino Golinelli is able to rally the best Italian and international minds, outstanding personalities with the capacity to imagine the future, around the activities of the Foundation.
Today the Golinelli Foundation is one Italian example of a private foundation inspired by the model of the great, philanthropic American foundations: concreteness, pragmatism, a vision and the design capacities that make it a model, a best practice recognized and awarded internationally.
Marino Golinelli is a member of “200 of FAI,” an advisory bord of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice and of CdA of ARPAI (Association for the Restoration of Italian Artistic Patrimony). In 2001, he received an honorary degree in Preservation of Cultural Heritage. In 2010, he was honored with the “Nettuno d’oro” (Golden Neptune), the highest recognition of the city of Bologna. In 2012, he won the Award “Città di Sasso Marconi” for his work at the Foundation.