Andrea Forzoni, Head of Istituto Marymount, will be retiring at the end of July 2026. Following are words of gratitude from Sister Rosamond Blanchet, RSHM, and Sarah Gallagher, Head of Marymount Rome.
From Sister Rosamond Blanchet, RSHM, former Superior General of the RSHM Institute
In 2015, the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary formalized a Global Network of RSHM Schools, developed from earlier networking initiatives, to foster effective collaboration in the education of the young people they serve. The Network’s mission echoes our RSHM Mission as proclaimed by Jesus Christ in John’sGospel (10:10): “I have come that all may have life and have it to the full.” The Network’s schools seek to develop the work of education initiated by the RSHM … “in a common purpose to foster the gift of internationality and to promote and deepen the commitment to the transformation of the world.”
As a member of the committees that established and developed the Global Network, Andrea Forzoni, Head of Istituto Marymount since 2012, made considerable contributions to its vitality. Professor Forzoni has decided to complete his ministry at Marymount on July 31, 2026. He will be greatly missed. Although we are saddened by his leaving, I have the distinct privilege to express, on behalf of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary, our deepest gratitude to Andrea for his exemplary commitment and dedication to the Marymount School community for the past 14 years.
As General Superior of the RSHM living in Rome from 2013-2019, I came to know Andrea personally, and I applaud his many gifts as a respected educator and administrator. In our congregation, we speak of and aspire to acquire the virtue of “zeal,” the enthusiasm, energy, and passionate dedication in our ministry to others. I have experienced this zeal in Andrea at Marymount.
In reflecting on Andrea’s ministry, my thoughts turn to the metaphor of “The Potter” in the Old Testament where God informs the prophet Jeremiah that He molds His people as a potter skillfully works with clay. In his years at Marymount, through his vision, dedication, compassion, and example, Andrea has formed and skillfully molded a school community united in its mission promoting life for all, marked by many accomplishments.
Marymount was the first school in Rome, over two decades ago, to initiate bilingual education, Italian and English, in its youngest classes. Andrea implemented and enriched the growth of this program that now extends from kindergarten through high school. For years, parents requested Istituto Marymount to continue through high school, and Andrea opened a high school that was officially recognized in 2017, offering the choice of two diplomas: Classical and Scientific. Throughout his administration, Andrea enhanced the campus at Via Nomentana. He built an attractive glass multi- purpose pavilion to meet the needs of the growing student enrollment. Most recently, in February 2026, a new student dining room was completed that is bright, spacious, and deeply appreciated by all. In 2015, following the restructuring of Istituto Marymount, the Istituto Marymount Foundation was established. This made clear Marymount’s inclusion within the Ministry of Education of Rome for legal purposes and separated the school from the property that is owned by the RSHM.
In addition to Andrea’s accomplishments, I want to express, on behalf of the RSHM, how we have valued his personal relationship with our sisters. His kindness and deep thoughtfulness towards our sisters have been a great grace for us. Throughout his years, Andrea was available to us and offered gracious hospitality for many joyful and prayerful celebrations – fond memories for which we are deeply grateful.
In closing this farewell, I share a quote from Father Gailhac, “Let your presence transform the community around you.” Thank you, Andrea, for sharing your life with the Istituto Marymount School community. Your presence has been transformative. May God’s love and grace continue to sustain you, and the RSHM will continue to hold you in their prayers.
From Sarah Gallagher, Head of School, Marymount Rome
There exists, in almost every school setting, a small number of individuals whose contribution resists easy summary: those whose influence is felt not merely in the initiatives they champion or the structures they help to build, but in the quality of presence they bring to every encounter. Andrea Forzoni is, without question, such a person. After fourteen years at Istituto Marymount, his departure invites not only our gratitude but also a genuine appreciation of what it means to serve a community with both intellectual distinction and an uncommon generosity of spirit.
Within the Eastern American Area Network, Andrea’s commitment to the nucleus of school heads who formed the heart of our shared endeavor was both steadfast and transformative. The breadth of experience now available to students across our schools – the Middle School Model United Nations, the Performing Arts Festival, the renewed Béziers Experience – bears the unmistakable imprint of a mind that was perpetually alive to possibility and possessed of the patience and determination to translate vision into reality.
It is, however, his contribution to the founding of the Global Network of RSHM Schools that may prove his most enduring legacy. When, in 2015, a small committee was convened to give form and substance to what was then little more than a compelling aspiration, Andrea was the self-evident choice. A consummate architect of consensus, his counsel was seminal to the success of the Network’s inaugural gathering, which he hosted with characteristic grace and hospitality at Istituto Marymount in 2016. With equal dedication, he gave freely of his time and considerable expertise to construct the Network’s first digital platform, not at the behest of any formal mandate, but because such is the nature of the man. He served on the Coordinating Committee for four years. And it is, finally, the man whom we celebrate. Generous in the truest sense – of time, of thought, of encouragement – Andrea has approached every challenge with intellectual courage and a warmth that made collaboration not merely productive but genuinely joyful. He has been, to turn the words of Seneca, “non scholae sed vitae” – not for the school alone, but for life itself.
We give thanks for all that he has given, and we wish him every grace in the chapter that follows.