Fundação Torino is a bilingual Italian-Brazilian full-day school founded in 1975 in Belo Horizonte, before the first Fiat plant in Brazil opened, so that the carmaker's employees' children could continue their studies at an Italian school. In 1992 it opened to Brazilian students, added the Brazilian curriculum and a kindergarten, and became bicultural. Today the school is in Nova Lima, in the Belo Horizonte metropolitan area, and runs the full Italian pathway from kindergarten (Scuola Materna, from age 2) through primaria and scuola media to a four-year liceo with two tracks: liceo scientifico and liceo delle scienze umane with the economic-social option. Italy recognises the school as a paritaria school; graduates sit the esame di Stato and receive an Italian diploma together with the Brazilian certificate. The school year follows the northern calendar, August to June. Teaching is in Italian and Portuguese; English from age 2, Spanish from grade 6, Latin in the liceo scientifico. According to the PTOF 2025-2028 the school has 1356 students in 71 classes and 106 teachers plus one teacher from the Italian Foreign Ministry. The school is maintained by the carmaker FCA - Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, which the school calls its maintaining body.
Key facts
Programmes
Italian programme · National programme
Admits from
2 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
Italian, Portuguese
Languages taught
English, Spanish, Latin
Students per teacher
about 1 to 13
Class size
The school says classes are much smaller than in Brazilian schools, where classes average more than 40 students; it gives no exact number.
About the fees The school does not publish fees: the parents' FAQ says the monthly fee depends on the level and the timetable, and agreements and discounts must be requested from the school.
Admissions The school is open to everyone regardless of nationality, as it states directly. There is no selection for kindergarten and grade 1, only availability of places. From grade 2 to grades 8-9 candidates have an interview and written tasks in Portuguese, English and Mathematics, and the school reviews the latest report card; Italian is not required beforehand and is taught at school. Newcomers from Brazilian schools from grade 6 take the PIE integration course from February to June with Italian immersion and levelling in Brazilian subjects, and join their class in August. The admissions page says that from grade 9 the school no longer admits students from Brazilian schools. Steps: online pre-registration, a visit with a pedagogical coordinator, assessment, decision of fit or not fit.
Stages and year groups Grades I-IV Materna, 1-12 (I-V Elementare, I-III Media, I-IV Superiore), 71 classes. Italian track, all levels paritaria: Scuola Materna (I-IV Materna, ages 2 to 5, 22.5 hours a week), Scuola Elementare (I-V, ages 6-10, 32 hours), Scuola Media (I-III, 36 hours, ending with the first-cycle exam), Scuola Superiore (I-IV, a four-year liceo, 40 hours): liceo scientifico and liceo delle scienze umane with the economic-social option (law, political economy, business economics). The liceo ends with the esame di Stato and an Italian diploma; the Brazilian track (ensino fundamental and ensino médio) runs in parallel and graduates also receive the Brazilian certificate. Parity: kindergarten, primary, middle school and liceo scientifico by decree 267/3622 of 19.04.2004; liceo delle scienze umane by decree 3515/5175 of 30.11.2012. Correspondence: I Media is grade 6, I Superiore is grade 9, IV Superiore is year 3 of ensino médio.
Address Rua Jornalista Djalma Andrade, 1300, Piemonte, Nova Lima, MG, 34006-203, 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.
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 Bologna
The school does not publish a list of university admissions. Alumni stories name the University of Bologna (tourism economics, psychology) and physics studies in the Netherlands; the parents' FAQ says graduates study at universities in Japan, the USA, Canada, Italy, Germany and other countries. The international office advises on admission to Italian universities and works with a consultancy for the USA, Canada and the UK.
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 · Art studio · Makerspace
Campus: Campus in Nova Lima, in the Piemonte district on the border with Belo Horizonte. It has the Fab Lab Leonardo da Vinci, the only school fab lab in Minas Gerais and part of the global fab lab network; physics, biology and chemistry labs; the Laboratorio Sensoriale Gianni Rodari sensory lab for kindergarten; the Biblioteca Dante Alighieri library with books in Italian, Portuguese, English, French and Spanish, also open to outside readers; the sports school centre, an auditorium, a canteen and an infirmary. According to the PTOF 2025-2028: 2 computer rooms, 2 music rooms, 3 science labs, 2 art rooms, a makerspace, 5 gyms and 2 outdoor areas. It is a day school with no boarding; kindergarten runs a morning or afternoon shift with a full-day option.
Clubs and activities: Sports School (ballet, futsal, artistic gymnastics, jazz dance, judo, volleyball) · Music (singing and violin) · Theatre · Theatre Club · Carpe Diem Cultural Magazine · Model United Nations · Diplomacy Simulation · La Città di Leo (fab lab projects) · Atentado Poético (literary project) · Biotechnology (with the Federal University of Minas Gerais) · Financial Literacy
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
✓Number of teachers107
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
What the listings show: The school says its teachers have training and teaching experience in Brazil and abroad; some kindergarten teachers took University of Perugia courses for bilingual teaching. Each kindergarten class has a native Italian speaker.
According to the PTOF 2025-2028 the school has 106 teachers and one teacher seconded by the Italian Foreign Ministry; the about page names 118 teachers and leaders with their subjects. Key Italian subjects are taught by teachers from Italy, including ministry staff; the school selects the others itself through interviews and CV review.
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
✓Counsellor
·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; the team on the about page includes a school psychologist and pedagogical counsellors for each level.
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 data65 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data85 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median71 "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
Nova Lima, Brazil · est. 1975 · Private