VENICE — We met Emma Ursich, CEO of the Human Safety Net Foundation, inside the Procuratie Vecchie on St Mark’s Square, a 500-year-old palace closed to the public for five centuries and reopened in April 2022 after a full restoration by David Chipperfield Architects. Owned by Generali since 1832, the building is now home to the insurance group’s venture philanthropy foundation, which since 2017 has reached more than 1.3 million vulnerable people across 24 countries, trained over 18,000 refugees and seeded 1,300 micro-enterprises. Oxford-educated in Chinese, born to a Triestine father and an English mother, Ursich also sits on the board of Venice World Capital of Sustainability. She told us why Generali chose social innovation over a museum or luxury hotel, and shared the story of a refugee barber in Paris who now gives free haircuts to those who cannot afford them.