I.S.I.S. Paolo Carcano in Como, known locally simply as the Setificio, is a state upper secondary institute that grew out of a silk-making school founded in 1868; in 1903 it became a state school named after senator Paolo Carcano, and in 1975 it moved to its current building in the textile technology district. Today one management runs an istituto tecnico tecnologico with chemistry, materials and biotechnology (including a four-year chemistry course for textile technologies), Sistema Moda with a unique textile design track, and graphics and communication, as well as a liceo scientifico (scienze applicate option) and a liceo artistico; there are evening courses for adults. Since the 2017-2018 school year the school has been a Cambridge International School: in one section of the liceo scientifico mathematics, geography and biology are taught in English following Cambridge IGCSE and AS & A Level syllabuses, while other subjects are taught in Italian. About 1600 students attend and 116 teachers work there.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level · National programme
Languages of instruction
Italian, English
Languages taught
Spanish, Japanese
Class size
on average 22 students per class in the science liceo, 24 in the art liceo, 22 in the technical institute
About the fees Tuition at this state school is free. The voluntary family contribution (contributo volontario) for the 2026-2027 school year is 120 euros: insurance, electronic register, safety training, psychological service, rental of sports grounds, labs. Students in the Cambridge section pay an annual contribution for course management and native speaker lessons; the school sets the amount each year and lists it on the site without a figure; Cambridge textbooks are bought separately. Extracurricular Cambridge courses carry a separate fee, also listed without a figure.
Admissions Admission follows the state iscrizioni online procedure after scuola secondaria di primo grado. There is no entrance test for the Cambridge section of the liceo scientifico and no language certificate is needed: the general admission criteria apply, with preference for a guidance recommendation for the liceo scientifico and an average mark of at least 8 on leaving the second year of scuola media; if oversubscribed, a waiting list is drawn up. Students outside the Cambridge section take an entry test in logic and mathematics for the Thinking Skills course. For recently arrived foreign students the school has a reception protocol and the project "A bridge to meet": paperwork, first meeting, class placement and an individual learning plan for non-Italian speakers.
Stages and year groups Italian curriculum with the esame di Stato (maturità) in these tracks: istituto tecnico tecnologico - chimica, materiali e biotecnologie (chimica e materiali, biotecnologie ambientali; four-year chimica e materiali per le tecnologie tessili course), Sistema Moda (tessile, abbigliamento e moda; disegno per tessuti), grafica e comunicazione; liceo scientifico opzione scienze applicate (standard, with reinforced computing, with an optional biomedical track from year 3, and the Cambridge section); liceo artistico arti figurative; evening courses for adults. Cambridge: in the Cambridge section of the liceo scientifico, Cambridge IGCSE Mathematics and Geography are taught in English during school hours in years 1-2 (exams at the end of year 2), as well as AS & A Level Mathematics and Biology (biology from year 1; AS exams at the start of year 4, A Level at the start of year 5); years 1-3 have extra hours of English, mathematics and geography, a 30-31 hour week; year 4 prepares for IELTS. IGCSE and AS preparation involves the whole class, A Level is for volunteers with extra after-school courses. Extracurricular courses open school-wide when a group forms: AS & A Level Thinking Skills, IGCSE Mathematics (years 1-2 of the liceo outside the section and the istituto tecnico), IGCSE Chemistry (years 1-2 of the chemistry track), courses of 80 hours over two years.
Address Via Castelnuovo 5, 22100 Como
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level · authorised programmeThe Cambridge register names the school as its centre; it teaches Cambridge IGCSE, AS and A Level. The Cambridge section of the applied-science liceo takes IGCSE Mathematics and Geography in years 1-2 and AS and A Level Mathematics and Biology, with extra after-school courses open to all.
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), A-Level (ages 16-18). IGCSE means exams at around Year 10 or 11, the British counterpart of a lower secondary leaving certificate. A-Level is the senior years, and their results are what British and many other universities admit on.
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 hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Makerspace
Clubs and activities: Informatics Olympiad · Italian Language Olympiad · Mathematics Games · Chemistry Games · Languages Project · MIT Students Project · Theatre at School · Newspaper in the Classroom · School Sports Centre · Multisport
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
✓Number of teachers116
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
According to the PTOF the school has 116 teachers and 44 technical and administrative staff. Extracurricular courses are taught by mathematics and chemistry teachers with CLIL specialisation and a C1 English certificate, Thinking Skills by a native speaker; in the Cambridge section some lessons are co-taught with a native speaker.
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 policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
Since 2022 a listening service for bullying and cyberbullying reports has worked with the school psychologists; there has long been a psychological counselling service for students and parents, and a victims' support desk. Bullying prevention follows national guidelines, with sessions for classes, teachers and parents. Students with special needs and recent arrivals have individual plans.
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%)85 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 data70 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data70 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data70 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
Como, Italy · est. 1868 · State