This time, the wedding gift was provided by the couple: American billionaire Brendan Blumer, the "king of cryptocurrencies," and Italian fashion executive Salvatore Spano, who recently organized Sardinia's wedding of the year, locking down much of Gallura, also wanted to involve scientific research, hospitals, and animal rights organizations in the celebrations, thanks to significant donations totaling €1.6 million. The couple donated €1.2 million to the Brotzu Hospital in Cagliari to complete the region's first pediatric intensive care unit. Another €200,000 will go to the Ebri 'Rita Levi-Montalcini' Foundation in Rome, to study memory impairments and the progressive decline in cognitive function typical of Alzheimer's disease, and finally another €200,000 went to the Olbia chapter of the Italian League for Animal Rights (Lida). Blumer and Spano care deeply about these three organizations, so much so that they also asked their 300 guests to make donations in lieu of traditional gifts. The recipients publicly thanked the newlyweds.
"We are deeply grateful to Salvatore Spano and Brendan Blumer," says Libero Massimo Candreva, general director of the EBRI Foundation, "for choosing, on the occasion of their wedding, to transform such an important and significant moment in their lives into a concrete gesture in support of research." The donation will allow for the continuation of key studies, which, however, require time and resources. Understanding the processes by which the brain circuits responsible for memory are compromised is essential for developing new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies and represents one of the most significant challenges in Alzheimer's research. "It is also a sign of great trust," adds Candreva, "in our researchers and our mission." As the EBRI director told ANSA, the Foundation is no stranger to bequests and other donations made on certain occasions such as birthdays, but, in his memory, this is the first time such a gesture has been made in association with a wedding. "Another 15-20 thousand euros also arrived from guests," says Candreva. "It may not be much money for them, but it's a lot for us."