← Back to the rankingColégio Dante Alighieri
São Paulo, Brazil · est. 1911 · Private
Illustration · São Paulo
Colégio Dante Alighieri is a large private school in São Paulo founded in 1911 by Italian immigrants as the Istituto Medio Italo-Brasiliano Dante Alighieri; industrialist Count Rodolfo Crespi raised the funds for the building. Today it is a Brazilian school from kindergarten (from age 3) to ensino médio with about 4500 students. The main curriculum is Brazilian and taught in Portuguese; Italian is a subject for all students in grades 1 to 9. Inside the school there is an Italian track, the Percurso Internacional Trilíngue: the extracurricular CLeCI course in grades 1-5, the Scuola Media in grades 6-8 with separate full-day classes, and the four-year Liceo Scientifico, scienze applicate option (from grade 9 to year 3 of ensino médio). Only the liceo has paritaria status: the Italian Foreign Ministry recognised it in December 2022 and it joined the system of Italian schools abroad in 2023. Liceo graduates sit the esame di Stato at the school and receive the Italian maturità scientifica diploma together with the Brazilian certificate. Separately, there is an American track with the University of Missouri (Mizzou Academy) leading to an American high school diploma.
Key facts
Programmes
Italian programme · National programme
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
Portuguese, Italian
Class size
In kindergarten each class has two teachers and a pedagogy intern; the American programme has reduced class sizes, the school says; it gives no general class size.
Admissions Kindergarten admission is by age on 31 March: Maternal 1 from 3, Maternal 2 from 4, Jardim from 5; families fill in an interest form and attend a tour or an Encontro de Conhecimento event. For grades 2-5 applications were open from 1 April to 17 August 2026, for grades 6-12 from 1 June to 5 August 2026, with an entrance assessment under rules published during registration. The liceo plan (PTOF) says the liceo welcomes anyone, Italian or not, who accepts the educational project, and is aimed at Italians and non-Italians living in São Paulo; most liceo students come from the school's dual-curriculum course from grade 6, but students from other Italian and Brazilian schools are also admitted. The American programmes (grade 5, Middle School, High School) have their own selection in the autumn.
Stages and year groups Grades Maternal I-II, Jardim, 1-12 (Liceo Scientifico: 9-12). Brazilian curriculum: Educação Infantil (Maternal I, II, Jardim, from age 3), Ensino Fundamental 1 (grades 1-5), Ensino Fundamental 2 (grades 6-9), Ensino Médio (years 1-3, since 2025 under the new federal framework with pathways). Italian track Percurso Internacional Trilíngue: CLeCI (grades 1-5, extracurricular), Scuola Media (grades 6-8, full day from 7:30 to 16:20, subjects in Italian and Portuguese), Liceo Scientifico opzione scienze applicate (4 years: grade 9 and years 1-3 of ensino médio; the first year compresses the Italian two-year cycle). Only the liceo level is paritaria: portaria MAECI-MIM 4815/1907 of 21.12.2022; the liceo ends with the esame di Stato and the Italian maturità scientifica diploma, plus the Brazilian certificate. The school itself calls the Scuola Media non-paritaria. American track with the University of Missouri: 5th Grade Elementary, Mizzou Global Scholars (grades 6-8), Dual Diploma Program (from grade 9).
Address Alameda Jaú, 1061, Cerqueira César, São Paulo, SP, 01420-003, Brasil
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
MAECIItaly's foreign ministry names the school on its list of paritarie Italian schools abroad: it teaches the Italian curriculum, and Italy recognises its exams and diploma on a par with state schools. Only one stage has parity - the Italian liceo (liceo scientifico, opzione scienze applicate) inside a Brazilian school; the other stages follow the Brazilian curriculum.
school is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
MAECIItaly's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI)
An Italian school abroad: a state or paritaria school, the Italian curriculum, the esame di Stato exam and a diploma with the same legal value as in Italy.
What the badge means for this school. This is an Italian school abroad: it teaches the Italian curriculum, and Italy's foreign ministry names it on its list of state or paritarie schools - so Italy recognises its exams and diploma. The entry is not a quality inspection. Which stages are recognised and what the school charges are on this page and on the school's own website. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Italian programme
The Italian school curriculum taught in Italian: scuola dell'infanzia, primaria, secondaria di primo grado (scuola media) and the liceo, ending with the state exam, the esame di Stato, and the Italian diploma.
What this means for this school. The curriculum is set by the Italian state: the school is an Italian state school abroad or a paritaria school, recognised by Italy. Exams follow Italian rules and the diploma has the same legal value as in Italy, giving access to Italian universities. The host country's curriculum usually runs alongside, and students receive two certificates.
National programme
The state school programme of the country the school stands in: it is set by that country's ministry of education, which also licenses the school and awards the leaving certificate. That certificate is used for entry to local universities, and abroad it is matched to the local one.
What this means for this school. This entry does not count towards the score, and that is deliberate. Every lawful school in a country works to the national programme, so on its own it tells one school apart from no other - unlike the French, German or Russian programmes, which are carried abroad and confirmed by the register of their organisation. We show it because a parent needs to know what programme their child is taught and what certificate the child will get. Counting it would lift the whole ranking at once and still tell nobody apart.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Where leavers go: University of São Paulo (USP) · Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) · Insper (Insper) · Mackenzie Presbyterian University · Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP) · University of Campinas (UNICAMP) · São Paulo State University (UNESP) · Albert Einstein Faculty of Medicine · ESPM (ESPM) · University of Coimbra · King's College London · IE University
and others, 15 universities in the school's list in allThe school publishes a 2026 admissions list: 250 students admitted to Brazilian and international universities; the list is compiled from families' reports and updated. The class of 2026 has 275 students. Good esame di Stato results give a special admission route to several universities, and the University of Missouri partnership gives pre-admission and scholarships.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
✓Sports hall
✓Laboratories
✓Theatre or assembly hall
✓Library
✓Catering
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Art studio · Playground · Makerspace
Campus: The school is in central São Paulo, a few metres from avenida Paulista: almost 20 thousand square metres and five buildings (Leonardo da Vinci, Ruy Barbosa, Galileo Galilei, Victório Américo Fontana, Michelangelo); the oldest building, the bell tower and the central courtyard are listed heritage. There are biology, physics, chemistry and science labs for different levels, the Cientista Aprendiz research lab, maker culture labs, a natural history museum, central and children's libraries, auditoriums for 308 and 80 people, art studios, music rooms, a sports hall, three covered gymnastics halls and five outdoor courts, a green roof with a vegetable garden, an infirmary, a restaurant and snack bar, and a uniform and stationery shop. School transport is a fleet of 39 satellite-tracked buses with trained drivers. It is a day school with no boarding.
Clubs and activities: Classical Ballet · Capoeira · Drawing and Painting · Jazz · Judo · Papercraft · Theatre · Chess · Futsal · Handball · Voleibol (volleyball) · Basketball · Ginástica Artística · Rhythmic Gymnastics · Cheerleading · Robótica (robotics) · Programming · Minecraft (Minecraft) · Apprentice Scientist (science programme from Year 8) · Dante UN (Model United Nations) · Dante em Foco (school newspaper) · Debate Team
Summer programme away from campus: . The school runs no camp of its own on campus
To practise English the school runs two summer camp trips organised with specialist agencies: to Long Beach (California, USA) and to London.
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
The 2026-2027 school profile lists 81 high school teachers across mandatory subjects. According to the liceo plan (PTOF) liceo lessons are taught mainly in Italian by teachers from Italy and by locally contracted teachers for Portuguese and Brazilian subjects; the American programme is taught by foreign or native-like teachers. The leadership and the directors of each level are named on the website.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
·CCTVnot stated on the website
·Security staffnot stated on the website
·Access controlnot stated on the website
✓Nurse or medical room
·Counsellornot stated on the website
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school has an infirmary; each building has coordinators for human relations and coexistence (relações humanas e convivência) and educational counsellors; school buses are satellite-tracked and drivers are trained; families get internet safety materials.
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)72 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data70 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data60 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data90 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median55 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 7 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country