The ranking holds 8 schools with an international accreditation or an authorised programme. International Baccalaureate programmes are taught at 1 of them. The British Cambridge route, IGCSE and A-Level, at 5. A year of school costs from €3 900 to €26 420.
We do not take reviews from maps and directories: their terms forbid it, and nobody checks the quality there. Everything below comes from the official registers of the accrediting organisations and from the schools' own sites, and every fact carries its source and the date of the check.
| Cheapest | $4 406 a year | Istituto del Sacro Cuore |
| Median | $10 281 a year | top of the fee range at 3 schools with a published fee |
| Most expensive | $29 847 a year | The International School of Florence |
| Free | 4 schools | Liceo Scientifico «Guido Castelnuovo», Liceo Scientifico Statale Antonio Gramsci, Liceo Statale Niccolò Machiavelli, Istituto Statale di Istruzione Superiore «Piero Gobetti - Alessandro Volta» |
Figures are converted to dollars at a weekly rate; schools publish their fees in their own currency. One-off charges, meals, transport and uniform are not included unless the school says otherwise. Fees for schools in Florence are taken from published price lists, not from what third parties say.
4 of the 8 schools in the ranking are private. The other 4 are state schools, set out below. The type of school does not affect the score: private and state schools sit in one list and are scored by the same formula, and only verifiable data moves the number.
4 schools in Florence teach an international programme with no tuition fee: Liceo Scientifico «Guido Castelnuovo», Liceo Scientifico Statale Antonio Gramsci, Liceo Statale Niccolò Machiavelli, Istituto Statale di Istruzione Superiore «Piero Gobetti - Alessandro Volta». On value for money such schools get the top score, because they sit outside the price range altogether.
4 schools with an international accreditation are funded by the state: Liceo Scientifico «Guido Castelnuovo», Liceo Scientifico Statale Antonio Gramsci, Liceo Statale Niccolò Machiavelli, Istituto Statale di Istruzione Superiore «Piero Gobetti - Alessandro Volta». Admission to these schools is usually competitive, and tuition is free or markedly cheaper than at a private school. In the ranking they stand alongside private schools and are scored on the same nine criteria.
Schools in Florence with an IB programme (1): The International School of Florence. 1 of them runs the full three-stage cycle: PYP, MYP and DP. Authorisation is confirmed against the International Baccalaureate register.
The British Cambridge programme - IGCSE and A-Level - is taught at 5 schools in Florence: Liceo Scientifico «Guido Castelnuovo», Florence Bilingual School, Liceo Scientifico Statale Antonio Gramsci, Liceo Statale Niccolò Machiavelli, Istituto Statale di Istruzione Superiore «Piero Gobetti - Alessandro Volta».
These schools stand in the suburbs, up to 6 km from the centre of Florence. Each card names the school's own town; they are gathered here because a family in Florence chooses between them as between districts of one place.
A facility counts only when the school names it outright on its own site: a modern campus is not a swimming pool. Boarding: 1 school · School transport: 2 schools.
Comparing schools on a single feature is useless: the most expensive is not the best, and a famous name says nothing about what is backed by documents. The score is therefore built from nine criteria with different weights - from academic programmes and accreditation to facilities, clubs and fees relative to other schools in the country.
A criterion counts towards the score only when there is verifiable data behind it. That is why every score says how many of the nine criteria were counted: at schools in Florence that is 7.9 out of 9 on average. A school with a detailed site and a school with no site cannot earn an equally reliable score, and that is shown rather than hidden.
Ratings and reviews from Google Maps and other map services are not used: their terms forbid aggregation. Only verified reviews left here count. Full methodology →
Published fees run from $4 406 to $29 847 for a school year. The cheapest is Istituto del Sacro Cuore, the most expensive The International School of Florence. The median for the senior stage is $10 281 a year. Tuition is free at 4 schools: Liceo Scientifico «Guido Castelnuovo», Liceo Scientifico Statale Antonio Gramsci, Liceo Statale Niccolò Machiavelli, Istituto Statale di Istruzione Superiore «Piero Gobetti - Alessandro Volta». Fees are converted into dollars at a weekly rate; schools publish them in their own currency.
The International School of Florence comes first with 77.7 points out of 100, counted from 8 of the 9 criteria. Next come Liceo Scientifico «Guido Castelnuovo» (73.3) and Lycée Victor Hugo - École française de Florence (73.0). The score is built from data anyone can check: accreditations found in official registers, programmes, facilities and published fees. A place in the ranking is not for sale.
The ranking holds 8 schools: 4 private and 4 state (Liceo Scientifico «Guido Castelnuovo», Liceo Scientifico Statale Antonio Gramsci, Liceo Statale Niccolò Machiavelli, Istituto Statale di Istruzione Superiore «Piero Gobetti - Alessandro Volta»). Private and state schools go into the ranking on equal terms.
International Baccalaureate programmes are taught at 1 school: The International School of Florence. 1 of them runs the full three-stage cycle: PYP, MYP and DP.
IGCSE and A-Level are offered by 5 schools: Liceo Scientifico «Guido Castelnuovo», Florence Bilingual School, Liceo Scientifico Statale Antonio Gramsci, Liceo Statale Niccolò Machiavelli, Istituto Statale di Istruzione Superiore «Piero Gobetti - Alessandro Volta».
The earliest intake starts at 6 months old. 4 schools have a preschool section.
The score of every school adds up from nine criteria with different weights: academic programmes, accreditation, facilities, clubs, the fee against other schools in the country, reviews, university destinations, safety and teachers. A criterion counts only when there is data behind it that can be checked, so every score says how many of the nine were counted. Right now that is 7.9 out of 9 on average. We do not use reviews from maps or directories.