ALESSANDRIA – From 1 July and for the next two years Nadia Biancato will return to the presidency of Zonta Club Alessandria. After 20 years from the previous presidency, the communication and external relations expert returns to the deck of the oldest Women’s Service Club. “I thank the members for the trust placed in me. I will start again from where Simonetta Bisio left off, enhancing everything extraordinary we have done in the first 24 years to celebrate the quarter of a century of Zonta in the province of Alessandria in 2025 with initiatives in which women will be the protagonists” announces Biancato who after the first presidency she was Governor of District 30 which includes 8 European countries (North West Italy, Principality of Monaco, Southern France, Switzerland, Baden Wuttenberg in Germany, Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia) and International Director with jurisdiction over District 27 which it involves 5 other countries in the heart of Europe (France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Ukraine) and on District 9 in the United States (California, Arizona, Utha, Nevada, Hawaii).
The international experience was fundamental: “Without it, the collection of umbilical cord blood would not have started, we would not have involved men as we have always done in the fight against violence against women, the first youth club of university students would not have been born in Europe, here in Alessandria, and many other initiatives that distinguish us, but above all I am proud to have contributed as international director to opening the Zonta Clubs to the under 35s with a special classification that gives them all the rights but less economic burden. In my new term as president, young people will have special attention and the Club will open up to men: some still think that Zonta discriminates against men, but the Club has always been open. Now we will make it clearer. What will not change is the mission: to create a better world for women and girls because when we help women, the entire society grows and we can only do this together with women and men”.
Biancato, who is currently also the territorial president of ADISCO – association of Italian umbilical cord blood donors – and of the Intermunicipal Group of Alessandria for AIDO, as well as of Smartvalley, which deals with “giving shape to mayors’ dreams” with territorial development initiatives that change the vocation of the Municipalities that rely on the planning and creativity of the association, will be supported in part by the team already tested in 2002-2004 (Enrica Robutti to the vice presidency, Maria Angela Pozzoli to the secretariat and Barbara Huntsabue to the treasury) and partly by a youth council (Ilaria Alemanno, Lea Cifone and Alessandra Crova). Simonetta Bisio The outgoing president is an ex-officio member of the board of directors. “It will be a collective management, because an ambitious program needs the contribution of all the members, not just the Council”.
First initiatives? “Two beautiful collaborations in the name of Alfonsina Strada: in a year in which Alessandria is crossed by the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the only woman who raced the Giro d’Italia with men seems like a nice way to start. Women have always expressed courage and we would like some of these women to inspire our children, our youth, making us all proud. On 20 July we will be partners of Anteas in the theatrical tribute to “Alfonsina Corrira” (special thanks to the president Luciano Cartolano for the welcome), on 31 August we will involve Panathlon and the Municipalities of Sezzadio, Borgoratto and Masio in a road tribute that celebrates the Morini became Strada, ending with the presentation of Simona Baldelli’s book for Sellerio. A nice way to bring attention to the bicycle, the first tool of emancipation of our grandmothers, to a sport in which women are still too often discriminated against and our Gaia Tortolina knows something about this, a sport that can and must be a profession. Women’s work, rights, dignity, respect are written in the history and DNA of Zonta International. In the next two years, even with light and carefree initiatives such as a “bike ride”, we will reiterate the beauty of being a woman and of free choices with the support of all men who share our goals”.
