← Back to the rankingIstituto di Istruzione Superiore Statale «Antonio Pesenti»
Cascina, Italy · est. 1974 · State
Illustration · Cascina
Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Statale «Antonio Pesenti» is a state upper secondary school in Cascina near Pisa. It opened in 1974 as an experimental ministry school, was named after the economist Antonio Pesenti in 1985 and gradually became a liceo and technical institute. Today it has 973 students in 44 classes: a scientific liceo (traditional with enhanced physics and science, international with Cambridge, applied sciences, sports), a language liceo including Chinese (a Confucius class since 2018) and Portuguese, and a technical institute for economics. Teaching is in Italian and ends with the esame di Stato. The international scientific track has run since 2007: mathematics, physics and biology are taught partly in English through CLIL, and students take IGCSE Mathematics at the end of year 2, IGCSE Physics in year 3 or 4, IGCSE Biology at the end of year 4 and AS and A Level Mathematics at the start of year 5; years 1-2 have an extra hour of English with a native speaker. Many teachers hold PhDs and master's degrees.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level · National programme
Languages of instruction
Italian, English
Languages taught
French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Latin
About the fees The school is a state school and tuition is free. The site and the PTOF give no information on a charge for the Cambridge course, IGCSE exam fees or a voluntary family contribution.
Admissions Enrolment in the first year follows the state procedure on the Unica platform (for the 2026-2027 school year from 13 January to 21 February 2026) using SPID, CIE, CNS or eIDAS; a parent submits the application. The language liceo and the sports liceo are oversubscribed and the school publishes admission rankings, with a draw for the sports liceo; the site does not describe selection for the international track. The school says students who do not speak Italian are few, a handful each year, and every year it organises Italian as a second language lessons, open classes and cultural mediation for them.
Stages and year groups Liceo scientifico: tradizionale (with enhanced physics and science), opzione Internazionale (Cambridge), scienze applicate, sportivo; liceo linguistico (English plus two of French, Spanish, German and Portuguese; a separate line with Chinese); istituto tecnico economico (Amministrazione, Glocal Economy Oriented project). All tracks are five years ending with the esame di Stato. Cambridge: in the international scientific track mathematics, physics and biology are taught partly in English (CLIL), with IGCSE Mathematics at the end of year 2, IGCSE Physics at the end of year 3 or 4, IGCSE Biology at the end of year 4 and AS and A Level Mathematics at the start of year 5, in October-November and May sessions; 30 hours a week, with an extra English hour and a 16-hour conversation module with a native speaker in years 1-2.
Address Via Aldo Moro 6, 56021 Cascina (PI)
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 science liceo's international track takes IGCSE Mathematics (year 2), Physics (years 3-4) and Biology (year 4), then AS and A Level Mathematics at the start of year 5.
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 pool
✓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: Debate · Mathematics Olympiad · Physics Olympiad · Neuroscience Olympiad · Latin Certamina (Latin competitions) · Spanish-Language Theatre · AttivaMente a Teatro (theatre project) · Fencing · Confucius Classroom · Portuguese Language Course
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
A large share of teachers hold postgraduate degrees (PhD and master's), many language teachers hold international certificates and qualifications to teach subjects in a foreign language; dedicated teachers prepare students for IGCSE exams in mathematics, physics and biology. The school does not publish staff numbers or class sizes beyond an average of 22 students per class.
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
A psychologist is permanently present for students, families and staff, and there is a counselling service; the school runs bullying and cyberbullying prevention and projects on inclusion, cultural mediation and welcoming new 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%)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 data65 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data75 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