The Convitto Nazionale Umberto I in central Torino was founded by decree of King Carlo Alberto on 4 October 1848 as the National Boarding College. Today it is a state institution with annexed schools: scuola primaria (354 students), scuola secondaria di primo grado (289, with a music track since 2023-2024: harp, accordion, saxophone, cello) and five licei (721 students). The licei are: liceo classico europeo with ESABAC (Italian-French double diploma) or German, liceo classico Cambridge, liceo scientifico Cambridge, liceo scientifico internazionale with Spanish or Chinese, and liceo economico sociale with Chinese. Students attend on a half-board basis, with lessons and homework with educators until the evening, and since 1996 the school has had a boarding house for boys and girls aged 14-19, where teenagers from different Italian regions and other countries live. In the Cambridge licei some subjects are taught in English and lead to IGCSE exams; in the European and international licei some subjects are taught in French, German, Spanish or Chinese by native speakers.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE · National programme
Languages of instruction
Italian, English, French, German, Spanish, Chinese
About the fees Tuition at the state school is free. Families pay an annual contribution that partly covers canteen costs; its amount is not on the site. Boarding costs 4000 euros per year in two instalments according to the 2024-2025 enrolment form; there is no more recent price list on the site. INPS pays part of the fees for children of public employees; the school gives scholarships to families in need.
Admissions Enrolment in first classes follows the state online procedure through the Piattaforma Unica with the code of the chosen school. Admission to the schools of the convitto depends on acceptance into half-board or boarding. Places are fewer than applications, so points apply: for primary, siblings at the school, proximity of home or parents' work (zones A and B), special circumstances; for middle school similar criteria, and for the music track an oral and practical audition; for the licei, the average mark in Italian, mathematics and English in class 2 of middle school, English certificates (KET, PET, FCE, Trinity) and certificates in the track language (DELF, DELE, HSK), with extra points for students from the school's own middle school. A state school may not hold entrance tests. The head reserves some places for special cases and international projects. The school admits foreigners: boarders of different nationalities live in the boarding house, foreign students receive individual Italian support, there is a protocol for admitting foreign students and CILS Italian certification. Boarding requires a separate application and a family representative living in Torino.
Stages and year groups Italian curriculum at every stage, with the licei ending in the esame di Stato. Liceo classico europeo: French or German, geography in French or German, law and economics in English; the French track gives the ESABAC double diploma, the German track the Deutsches Sprachdiplom. Liceo scientifico internazionale: Spanish or Chinese as first language with a second subject taught in it; the Spanish track gives recognition of the Bachillerato, the Chinese track access to Chinese universities without a language exam. Cambridge: liceo classico Cambridge - IGCSE Latin (end of class 2), Biology (class 3) and English as a Second Language, English lessons with native teachers, plus German for 5 years; liceo scientifico Cambridge - some subjects in English, IGCSE Mathematics, Physics, Geography at the end of class 2, and the brochure also names English and the option of AS/A Level; liceo classico europeo - optional IGCSE Biology in class 3. In primary, Cambridge English language exams at the end of class 5.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE · authorised programmeThe Cambridge register names the school as its centre; it teaches Cambridge IGCSE. The Cambridge tracks of the classical and science licei teach some subjects in English with IGCSE exams in Latin, biology, maths, physics, geography and English.
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 →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
✓Boarding
Also on site: Sports ground or field · Art studio
Clubs and activities: Sports Clubs: Basketball, Volleyball, Football · Swimming · Convittiadi (sports week of Italian boarding schools) · Umbertiadi (school sports week) · Ski Week · Music Programme: Harp, Accordion, Saxophone, Cello · Film Discussion Club · English Language Workshops
Summer programme away from campus: . The school runs no camp of its own on campus
For primary, a summer seaside stay and a summer camp at the school; for middle school classes 1-2, a seaside or mountain stay after the end of lessons.
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
·Students per teacher or class sizenot stated
What the listings show: Languages are taught by teachers together with native speakers; every class has an educator.
In primary each class has an educator from 12:00 to 17:30; in the boarding house every boarder has an educator-tutor who stays in contact with teachers and the family. The liceo timetable includes afternoon consultations with teachers.
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 policynot stated on the website
A free psychological service (Sportello di ascolto) runs separately for primary, middle school and the licei, for students, parents, teachers and educators, under professional confidentiality. In the boarding house every teenager has an educator-tutor; there are health education projects with nutritionists and adolescent specialists, and a protocol for admitting foreign students.
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 data60 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data85 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
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