To alleviate the extremely tense situation of the local community and to support the fight against the coronavirus, HeidelbergCement and its Italian subsidiary Italcementi are each donating EUR100,000 to the Ospedale Papa Giovanni XXIII in Bergamo. Bergamo, where Italcementi is headquartered, is located in Lombardy in Northern Italy and is particularly hard hit by the current COVID-19 epidemic. Since February more than 400 people in this region have died from the virus.

Last week, Italcementi's Managing Director, Roberto Callieri, had already arranged for Italcementi to donate EUR100,000 to the Ospedale Papa Giovanni XXIII, and also invited the employees to support the hospital and other institutions.

HeidelbergCement has now doubled this contribution of Italcementi with a second donation. "We are in very close contact with our colleagues from Italcementi, and feel particularly connected to them and to the people of Bergamo in this difficult situation. We have therefore decided to support the Ospedale Papa Giovanni XXIII, whose employees are undertaking unimaginable efforts in handling the COVID-19 epidemic", says Dr Dominik von Achten, chairman of the Managing Board of HeidelbergCement.