EATING DISORDERS ARE NOT NUMBERS, BUT STORIES
The podcast and awareness campaign dedicated to eating disorders by Fondazione PASS at Auxologico San Luca in Milan
"The Dragon in the Castle," the first podcast that Fondazione Pass created in collaboration with Chora Media, has reached nearly 6,000 listeners in a month. This is thanks to the 2025 edition of the B.Great fundraiser (the longest table in Bologna, set up on May 31st on Via Rizzoli to raise funds for awareness-raising activities and therapeutic projects for young people suffering from eating disorders) and the support of Fineco Bank, Aeroporto Guglielmo Marconi di Bologna e SEA Milan Airports.
The podcast, available on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcast, YouTube Musicfeatures the stories of women, eating disorders, and the journeys to overcome them. It's a journey into the fragility and courage of those who face this illness, breaking the silence that often surrounds it.
An intimate and moving six-episode journey, weaving authentic testimonies and narrative sensitivity with the voices and stories of five young witnesses (Anna, Noemi, Francesca, Giada, and Benedetta), the sensitive narrative of author Irene Privitera, and the scientific guidance of Dr. Leonardo Mendolicchio, an eating disorder specialist.
After the official presentation of the project at the Pass Foundation headquarters in San Lazzaro di Savena (BO), the Dragon in the Castle arrives in Milan tomorrow at 6:00 pm at the Auxologico San Luca in Piazzale Brescia 20.
A new moment of listening and reflection will open with greetings from the president of the Auxologico IRRCS Foundation, Dr. Mario Colombo, and the president of the PASS ETS Foundation, Alessandro Arcidiacono. The meeting will feature speakers: Leonardo Mendolicchio, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst specializing in eating disorders, Director of the Interregional Department for Research and Treatment of Eating Disorders at Auxologico, podcast author Irene Privitera, Graziano Nani, content editor at Chora Media, and representatives of the PASS Foundation.
The event, held with the support of Sea Milan Airports, marks the launch of the PASS Foundation's communications campaign on eating disorders and represents an important opportunity for sharing and fostering a dialogue on issues that profoundly affect the lives of those living with the disorder and those who care for them.
Because "you can learn to live with an eating disorder; every dragon can be tamed and even defeated."
Every story is unique; listen to it.
Those of us at Auxologico who are on the front lines of prevention, research, and clinical work to overcome the challenge of eating disorders and obesity cannot remain indifferent to the shocking epidemiological data, which particularly concern young people already suffering from obesity and adolescents who lose their lives because their discomfort, their eating disorders, was not promptly addressed. Before us, healthcare professionals, researchers, administrators, and politicians, is not just a complex and insidious disease, but many lives—of young people, their families and friends, and the healthcare workers involved clinically and emotionally in a difficult treatment journey. It is to these people that we owe our applause and the support that Auxologico offers every day with its healthcare services and its tireless prevention, outreach, and partnership efforts, such as the PASS Foundation, which is actively engaged in social work to promote dialogue on issues that affect the lives of those living with an eating disorder and those who support them. We are therefore delighted to host and support the PASS Foundation with today's meeting, which is inspired by their successful podcast, "The Dragon in the Castle," to raise awareness of food issues.
With The Dragon in the Castle, we're entering a new territory for the PASS Foundation, Milan, with a message that speaks to everyone: eating disorders affect every girl, boy, and teenager, everywhere in Italy. We want to continue telling their stories and promoting awareness in the community, generating empathy, and to do so, we need the support of all those who believe in the value of treatment and caring for those in need.
"Any initiative that brings the important issue of eating disorders to the forefront of public opinion," he emphasized, "is always welcome. This podcast does so with grace, attention, and scientific rigor, and is therefore personally and happily supported."
Eating disorders are still talked about too little. The stories told in the podcast are profoundly different, but they all convey the same message of hope: recovery is possible. The ambition of this project is to help as many people as possible who are facing these kinds of difficulties.
