← Back to the rankingConvitto Nazionale Carlo Alberto
Novara, Italy · est. 1807 · State
Illustration · Novara
The Convitto Nazionale 'Carlo Alberto' is a historic state institution in central Novara. A liceo with boarding college was opened here in 1807 by Eugène de Beauharnais, Viceroy of Italy, in a former 15th-century monastery; later the college and the liceo separated, and in 1865 the liceo was named after Charles Albert. Today three schools work under one head: a Montessori primary school, a lower secondary school on the 'Senza Zaino' model (science, international with extra English, and theatre tracks) and a liceo scientifico: ordinario, scienze applicate, scienze applicate with a sustainability focus and, since 2024-2025, ordinario Cambridge. In total there are 1406 students in 72 classes. Teaching is in Italian; some liceo sections use iPads. In the Cambridge section mathematics, physics and biology are partly taught in English in the first two years, and students sit Cambridge IGCSE exams. There is no longer a residential boarding house: instead the 'Campus' runs until 18:30 with sport, languages, music and study help.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE · Montessori · National programme
Languages of instruction
Italian, English
Languages taught
French, German, Spanish, Latin
Registration fee
≈ $56
50 EUR
About the fees The school is state-run and tuition is free. Only extra services are paid: the 'Campus' after-school programme and language courses.
Admissions Admission to the first year of primary, lower secondary and liceo follows the national iscrizioni procedure; before enrolment the liceo holds open days with lab sessions. The school describes no separate selection for the Cambridge section. Campus enrolment is separate, by form and with payment; students from other schools are also accepted. The school does not describe rules for admitting foreign children or children without Italian on its website.
Stages and year groups Italian state curriculum: scuola primaria (Montessori method, extra English), scuola secondaria di primo grado on the 'Senza Zaino' model (science, international and theatre tracks; second language Spanish, French or German) with the first-cycle esame di Stato; liceo scientifico ordinario, scienze applicate, scienze applicate 'sostenibilità', ordinario Cambridge; ending with the esame di Stato (maturità). Cambridge section (since 2024-2025): in years 1-2 Cambridge IGCSE programmes in Mathematics, Physics and Biology alongside the Italian ones, lessons partly in English, plus one extra hour a week each of English, physics and biology with a native speaker, 30 hours a week from 7:55 to 13:55; IGCSE exams at the end of year 2. From year 3 the standard liceo scientifico plan applies.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE · authorised programmeThe Cambridge register names the school as its centre; it teaches Cambridge IGCSE. In the Cambridge section of the science lyceum Mathematics, Physics and Biology are partly taught in English on IGCSE syllabuses in years 1-2, with exams at the end of year 2.
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
CambridgeCambridge International Education
Part of the University of Cambridge. It allows a school to teach the Cambridge programmes and to enter pupils for the exams. There are four stages and they are authorised separately: primary, lower secondary, IGCSE and A Level. If the stages are known they are named in the line below; if that line is missing, the school does not publish them, and the Cambridge registry does not show stages either - it gives only the name of the centre, the country and whether private candidates are accepted. Cambridge calls what it does registration rather than accreditation, and the network holds about ten thousand schools.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: IGCSE (ages 14-16). IGCSE means exams at around Year 10 or 11, the British counterpart of a lower secondary leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →Montessori
The pedagogy of Maria Montessori: a child chooses the activity, works at their own pace with special materials, and mixed-age groups are arranged so that older children teach the younger ones. It is used most often in the nursery and primary stages.
What this means for this school. The name Montessori belongs to nobody: any school may call itself a Montessori school, and there is no single body that checks this. There are associations that train teachers and recognise schools, but membership of them is voluntary, and our entry means exactly that the school describes itself this way. This pedagogy has no leaving certificate, so what to look at is what the school finishes with.
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
The school publishes nothing about where its leavers go: no share going on to university, no exam results, no list of universities.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
✓Sports hall
✓Laboratories
✓Theatre or assembly hall
✓Library
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field
Clubs and activities: Certamen Mathematicum Novariense (mathematics competition) · Mathematics Olympiad · Theatre Sections Festival · Asimov Prize · Dance · Swimming · Skating · Basketball · Football · Rugby · Tennis · Chess · Convittiadi (sports games between national boarding schools)
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 sizenot stated
The extra hours of English, physics and biology in the Cambridge section are taught with a native speaker; the English camp courses are taught by a specialised native-speaker teacher. The Campus is staffed by teacher-educators (docenti-educatori), mentors and tutors.
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 roomnot stated on the website
✓Counsellor
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
The school runs a psychological support service (sportello psicologico), and the PTOF sets the prevention of bullying and cyberbullying as a goal. In the Campus students are supervised by teacher-educators, mentors and tutors; the school appoints an occupational doctor.
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 data55 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data65 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data80 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 "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 8 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