In the small town of Bagnolo Mella, the training restaurant of the Canossa Vocational Centre became the unlikely stage for an evening where fine dining met genuine generosity. Forty guests gathered for a menu worthy of a boutique restaurant, crafted and served by students whose enthusiasm proved just as compelling as their skill.
A school that teaches more than a trade
The C.F.P. Canossa is not your typical vocational school. It feels more like a creative atelier—lively, industrious, and filled with the quiet confidence of young people discovering what they are capable of.
Here, aspiring chefs, pastry makers, hospitality students, graphic designers and visual creatives learn their craft through constant practice.
The classrooms smell of fresh dough and warm sugar, the design studios hum with ideas, and the school’s Canossian heritage lends a sense of purpose: steady, generous, and human.
But what truly distinguishes this place is its instinct for care.
For years, students and staff have supported the Santa Maddalena di Canossa Educational Centre and the Sagrada Familia Health Centre in Encarnación, Paraguay. Solidarity here isn’t a special initiative—it’s part of the school’s rhythm.
An evening shaped by generosity
For this year’s charity event, the third-year students transformed the dining room with a polish that would not have looked out of place in a chic Milanese supper club.
The kitchen brigade produced four risottos, each elegant in its own way; the pastry team assembled a dessert table that would tempt even the most disciplined guest; and the hospitality students moved through the room with the quiet precision of seasoned professionals. Meanwhile, graphic and design students curated the visual identity of the event with an editor’s eye.
The result was an evening as smooth as it was sincere—graceful, warm and unexpectedly moving.
A small gift with a quiet meaning
Guests left with a handmade keychain, created by the students as a token of thanks. A modest object, perhaps, but the perfect reminder of a night where kindness felt disarmingly straightforward.
Because, as the students like to say, “It can be done.”
You can accomplish a great deal with small gestures.
You can do it together.
And you can do it from a quiet corner of northern Italy, reaching—almost effortlessly—across continents.
And the work goes on
The commitment doesn’t end with one dinner. Throughout the year, students will continue fundraising through various projects, including the much-loved and now traditional “Baraguay – The Solidarity Breakfast”.
To the students
Thank you for your dedication, your energy, and your instinctive generosity.
The future ahead of you is bright—but even brighter is the light you are already bringing into the world.
