← Back to the rankingIstituto di Istruzione Superiore "Charles Darwin"
Rome, Italy · est. 1985 · State
Illustration · Rome
Istituto di Istruzione Superiore «Charles Darwin» is a state upper secondary school in Rome's Appio-Tuscolano district. It combines a tourism technical school, formerly «Marco Polo», independent since 1985, and a liceo scientifico, formerly «Pitagora», which has worked in the district for more than 30 years; they have been together since 2008-2009, and the name of Charles Darwin was chosen by a vote of students and teachers in 2009-2010. The tourism technical school teaches five languages - English, French, Spanish, German and Chinese - and has digital web marketing and sports tracks as well as evening courses for adults; the science liceo has a materials science option. The school has recently opened Cambridge sections: in the science liceo students prepare over two years for Cambridge IGCSE exams in English as a Second Language and History, with two extra hours a week with a native speaker. About 900 teenagers aged 14-19 attend; the main language of instruction is Italian.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE · National programme
Languages of instruction
Italian, English
Languages taught
French, Spanish, German, Chinese
About the fees The school is a state school and tuition is free. For the extra hours with a native speaker in the Cambridge section families pay an annual contribution; the school calls it minimal and writes that the amount depends on the number of students enrolled.
Admissions Admission to first-year classes is through the national Iscrizioni online procedure; for 2026-2027 the school accepted all applications to both the science liceo and the tourism technical school, including the Cambridge, materials science and digital marketing sections. Only the technical school's sports track had more applicants than places: there a ranking is drawn up from the first-term report of year 3 of lower secondary, and those not admitted to it are still accepted by the school. The Cambridge section is opened only if enough students enrol. The school welcomes students from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds: it has an admission and integration protocol for students without Italian citizenship with language support.
Stages and year groups Italian state upper secondary curriculum, five years ending with the esame di Stato (maturità): liceo scientifico (including the scienze e tecnologie dei materiali option and a Cambridge section) and istituto tecnico per il turismo leading to the perito turistico diploma (languages - English, French, Spanish, German, Chinese; digital web marketing and sportivo tracks; a Cambridge section with Spanish as the second language); an evening second-level tourism technical course for adults. Cambridge section: the aim for the first classes is to obtain, after two years, IGCSE English as a Second Language and a certificate in a second subject approved each year by the teachers' council. Currently in the science liceo this is IGCSE English as a Second Language and History, with 2 extra hours a week in years 1-2 with a native-speaker teacher; in the technical school, if a first-year class is formed, IGCSE English as a Second Language and Geography, with 1 extra hour a week.
Address Via Tuscolana 388, 00181 Roma
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE · authorised programmeThe Cambridge register names the school as its centre; it teaches Cambridge IGCSE. A new Cambridge section of the science liceo adds 2 hours a week with a native speaker in years 1-2 for IGCSE ESL and History; the tourism institute offers ESL and Geography if a class fills.
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 hallnot stated on the website
✓Laboratories
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Clubs and activities: School Sports Centre · IMUN and MUNER - United Network · Diplomacy Education - Global Action · L'Origine (student newspaper) · Philosophy Championships · Problem Solving Olympiad · Languages Olympiad · Newspaper in the Classroom · Creative Writing Workshop
Teaching staff
The school publishes neither the number of its teachers nor their qualifications.
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
·Counsellornot stated on the website
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school has an evacuation plan, an admission protocol for foreign students, an inclusion plan for students with special needs and projects on preventing gender-based violence and on education for peace.
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 data55 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data60 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