This year, the City of Turin Award Silently for others was presented to sister Maria Luisa Ferrero for her silent, assiduous, tireless and affectionate service.
The award has a long history: many people may not know that the City of Turin, with a resolution of the City Council on 3 May 2000, approved the establishment of the Council of Seniors, made up of representatives over the age of 60 appointed by associations identified on the basis of representativeness criteria.
Since 2004, the Council of Seniors has been part of the Mayor’s Office. There are about 40 member associations, including the Office for the Pastoral Care of the Elderly of the Archdiocese of Turin.
In 2002, the “Silently for others award was established.
With this award, the City of Turin intends to offer, together with a symbolic gift, public recognition to those who, silently and humbly, have dedicated and continue to dedicate their lives to the service of others, without any personal interest.
These are women and men who, having retired from work, have chosen to devote their “freed-up” time to the benefit of others, exercising their generosity, intelligence and altruism in the service of their neighbours, in silence and in the shadows. The certificates are presented in the presence of the main municipal authorities and representatives of the participating and proposing associations.
Every year, our Office for the Pastoral Care of the Elderly has proposed a candidate for this event, with the specific aim of making our presence and our work in the social sphere and in helping those most in need known to the citizens.
This year, the choice fell on Sister Maria Luisa Ferrero.
Sister Maria Luisa was born in Busca (Cn) on 6 August 1935 into a deeply Christian farming family. At the age of 24, she entered the Congregation of the Sister of Charity, which is involved in various works in favour of both children and the elderly in the municipality of Busca.
After qualifying as a paediatric nurse at the children’s hospital in Turin, she began her service in what was then the city’s orphanage. When it closed in 1980, she was transferred to the civil hospital in Asti.
After overcoming a serious illness, which manifested itself twice in the space of ten years, she resumed her service with renewed dedication. At her explicit request, she will continue to care for the mentally ill both in the community and in institutions until her retirement.
Her quiet commitment to helping various categories of poor people continued in Moncalieri, including in Roma camps, and continues today in Turin in the parish of the Madonna della Divine Providence.
Despite her age, she walks briskly every day to visit the poor, the sick and the lonely in their homes, offering them words of comfort and nursing and spiritual care.
The Award ceremony took place on Friday 5 December 2025 at 10 a.m. in the Red Room of the City Council at the Town Hall in Turin..
