Accompanied by his daughter Laura and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edmondo Cirielli, Mattarella travelled to Côte d 'Ivoire from 2 to 4 April for the first official visit of an Italian Head of State to the country. Among the various activities, on the morning of 3 April 3, at the Presidential Palace in Abidjan, he met the President of the Republic of Côte d 'Ivoire, Alassane Ouattara, and in the afternoon he received the Key to the District of Abidjan – an extremely important recognition that until now had been assigned only to French Presidents, to whom the country is linked by the colonial past.
Giving proof of his genuine interest in the world of education and development, the next day, in addition to attending other relevant institutional commitments for economic cooperation between the two countries, President Mattarella visited the school complex of Vridi, a school renovated by the Italian energy company ENI; and the home of the community of Sant'Egidio in Abidjan, where he met a group of children from the schools of peace, former street children now welcomed by the community.
On the morning of Friday, 5 April, Mattarella landed in Ghana, where he is scheduled to meet with his counterpart the President of the Republic, Nana Akufo-Addo. The program also includes a visit to the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial, in memory of the First President of independent Ghana, and other institutional commitments.
From the Salesian point of view, however, the most important part of the visit will take place on Saturday 6th, when the Italian Head of State will be at the Don Bosco Vocational Training Centre in Ashaiman, Ghana, managed by the Salesians and created thanks to the contribution of Confindustria - Alto Adriatico. Here Mattarella will participate in the inauguration of the Academy that Confindustria Alto Adriatico has created, with the aim of training local workers with professional profiles comparable to those sought by the productive fabric of the Italian Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region to foster a collaboration between the two countries that promotes opportunities for development and integration.
The objective of this international training project is to provide 250 young people with quality training as part of the "Ghana Project" developed by Confindustria Alto Adriatico. The main partner in the operation is the "Human" employment agency, but the Region and trade unions were also involved.
Before returning to Italy, President Mattarella will move to the port of Tema to visit the Italian Navy's offshore patrol boat "Bettica", engaged in monitoring operations in the Gulf of Guinea as part of a program to combat piracy and other forms of crime at sea.
It is not the first time that the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella has visited Salesian centres and works, and has with his gestures and words, more generally shown his attention to the Salesian world.
Already on 14 May 2015, that is, in his first 100 days as President of the Italian Republic and on the occasion of the Bicentenary of the birth of the Saint of the Young, he visited the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Turin, pausing in prayer at the chapel where the Casket of Don Bosco is kept, and laying a wreath of flowers. That was also the occasion for a greeting and the official meeting with the young people in the courtyard of the Basilica. And in the circumstance the Italian Head of State publicly stated: "I have an image of Don Bosco in my study".
On 31 January 2018, on the occasion of the 130th anniversary of the death of Don Bosco, Mattarella sent the Rector Major Fr Ángel Fernández Artime an exciting message of homage to the Saint of the Young, whom he described as an "educator that Italian society has had the opportunity to appreciate for his attention to young people, for his passion, for his commitment to helping so many people in conditions of abject poverty and marginalisation." And he concluded: "The continuity of Don Bosco's works represents a contribution to social cohesion and progress, values that enrich a country, and help the entire community to face the challenges of the times."
In May of the same year Mattarella received a delegation from the Rome’s Borgo Ragazzi Don Bosco at the Quirinale, on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the birth of that centre, and dedicated half an hour of listening and attentive conversation to them. "What you do is very precious" was what he told the centre's management staff.
In more recent times, on 29 April 2022 the President of the Italian Republic visited the Salesian G. Bearzi Institute in Udine to remember Lorenzo Parelli, the eighteen-year-old student who a few weeks earlier had lost his life in an accident while working in a factory to learn a trade. In addition to showing attention to the family of the young man and sincere interest in the training offered at the work, Matterella also said that "In this difficult time it is comforting to be under the reassuring image of Don Bosco... "Experiences such as this one we are in, Bearzi, are a strong tool for combating early school leaving and often encourage the attainment of an upper secondary qualification."
And, to conclude, on 21 September 2023, Mattarella, together with the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, made a joint private visit to Piazza Armerina to explore the work carried out by the migrant reception community of "Don Bosco 2000" and to learn about the cooperation activities with the missions in Africa.
