The prosthesis with Pistoletto's Third Paradise for young Asaad (September 2026)
On the night between 19 and 20 May 2025, a missile strike hits the home in Gaza where the family of Asaad, then an 8-year-old Palestinian child, is staying: of the fifteen relatives present, only he and his little brother survive; Asaad undergoes the amputation of his right leg. Evacuated through a medical operation, he is transferred to Italy in autumn 2025 as part of the Food for Gaza humanitarian mission, coordinated by the Piedmont Region with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and admitted to the Regina Margherita hospital in Turin. [1][2]
After a first prosthesis, in May 2026 the Officina Ortopedica Maria Adelaide, an institution with seventy years of experience in the field, makes the child a second custom-made device in carbon fibre using 3D printing, under an agreement with the local health authority (Asl). On an idea of the Officina's managing director, Roberto Ariagno, the prosthesis is decorated with Michelangelo Pistoletto's Third Paradise, a symbol of a new harmony between nature and artifice. [2]
On 16 September 2026, at the Omi Foundation in Turin, Cittadellarte - Fondazione Pistoletto and the Officina Ortopedica Maria Adelaide present the initiative. "The prosthesis is born as a stroke of genius, through an act of creation," explains Michelangelo Pistoletto. For Ariagno, "what is happening in the Gaza Strip is a tragedy that must shake every one of our consciences"; the City of Turin's councillor for educational policy, Carlotta Salerno, stresses how art can "generate a universal message of peace." [1][2][3]
Pierumberto Ferrero, vice-president of the Omi Foundation, recalls that the Third Paradise of Education is already installed in the building's courtyard, now known as the "Courtyard of the Third Paradise," a space dedicated to encounter and inclusion. [1]
Related articles: Michelangelo Pistoletto, Officina Ortopedica Maria Adelaide, Pistoletto's Third Paradise on the Prosthesis of a Child from Gaza (September 2026), Pistoletto's Third Paradise on the prosthesis of a Palestinian child treated in Turin (16 September 2026), Prosthesis with Michelangelo Pistoletto's «Third Paradise» made by Officina Ortopedica Maria Adelaide (September 2026), Prosthesis with Pistoletto's Third Paradise for a child from Gaza treated by the Officina Ortopedica Maria Adelaide (September 2026)
Sources
- la Repubblica Torino — 16 September 2026
- TorinoToday — 16 September 2026
- ANSA Piemonte — 16 September 2026