Istituti De Amicis is a private, secular paritaria middle and upper secondary school in central Milan, founded in 1923 by professor Michele Maria Tumminelli; the school calls itself the oldest private secular school in Italy. It has a scuola media and seven upper secondary tracks: liceo classico, liceo scientifico, liceo scientifico sportivo, Liceo Linguistico Internazionale, liceo delle scienze umane (LICOS) and the four-year technical economic institute ITEM. Since 2021 it has been a Cambridge International School: students of the Liceo Linguistico Internazionale prepare for Cambridge exams in the first four years alongside the Italian curriculum - IGCSE in years 1-2 and AS or A Level in years 3-4, with some lessons entirely in English. The middle school also teaches some lessons in English: Global Perspectives and science. The main language of instruction is Italian. Since 2015 the school has been in the Apple Distinguished School programme and all students work on iPads.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE, A-Level · National programme
Languages of instruction
Italian, English
Languages taught
French, German, Spanish, Latin
About the fees The school does not publish the retta on its website; it only states that afternoon homework support in the middle school is included in the retta. The school points to a state grant for families of paritaria school students of up to 1500 euros per student (for the 2025-2026 school year, scuola media and years 1-2 of upper secondary, with ISEE up to 30000 euros).
Admissions The school admits students to the scuola media after primary school and to year 1 of the liceo after middle school; new upper secondary students get a gentle start with gradual adaptation. Families get to know the school at open days with online registration (the first in 2026-2027 is on 24 October), then enrol through the office. The website describes no entrance exams or language requirements and says nothing about admitting foreign students.
Stages and year groups Lower secondary school (years 1-3, with Global Perspectives and science in English and Spanish as a second language) and upper secondary school ending with the esame di Stato: liceo classico, liceo scientifico, liceo scientifico sportivo, Liceo Linguistico Internazionale, liceo delle scienze umane LICOS; ITEM is a paritaria technical economic institute with a diploma in four years and two foreign languages. Cambridge (Liceo Linguistico Internazionale only): in years 1-2 preparation for IGCSE in English, Français or Deutsch, Español, History or Travel and Tourism, Global Perspectives; in years 3-4 AS or A Level in English, History or Travel and Tourism and Psychology; Global Perspectives, Travel and Tourism, History, Mathematics and Psychology are taught entirely in English. In the linguistic liceo, from year 3 there are courses for the CAE, DELF, ZD and DELE language exams and two subjects taught through CLIL.
Address Via Alfonso Lamarmora 34, 20122 Milano (MI)
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. Only in the International Language liceo: IGCSEs in years 1-2 (English, languages, History or Travel and Tourism, Global Perspectives), then AS or A Levels in years 3-4 (English, History or Travel and Tourism, Psychology).
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 hallnot stated on the website
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·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
Campus: The school runs five days a week, Monday to Friday. Since 2015 it has been part of the Apple Distinguished School programme: first-year students receive an iPad, classrooms have interactive whiteboards, there are Swift programming labs, and students' internet access is controlled by a central server. In the middle school, homework support with teachers runs after lessons from 14:30 to 17:00 and is included in the retta; under the Full School project the school stays open for upper secondary students five days a week from 14:45 to 16:45 with three teachers of different subjects. There is individual extra tuition (Sportello Help), a theatre season and a music and singing school.
Clubs and activities: Theatre Season · School of Music and Singing · Full School (supervised after-school study) · Help Desk (one-to-one extra lessons) · Peer Tutoring · Financial Education · Kindness Project
Summer programme away from campus: . The school runs no camp of its own on campus
In summer the school organises language trips abroad: in 2026 a Spanish course in Málaga from 5 to 18 July, with intensive lessons in the morning, sports in the afternoon and trips to Seville and Granada.
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
The team page names the president, the head, the deputy heads of each track and the heads of services. English in the Cambridge classes is taught together with native speakers; the school has a dedicated inclusion coordinator for students with learning differences and trains teachers on neurodiversity.
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 notifies a parent by SMS of a student's absence or lateness; the head and deputy heads are always present and meet families. A dedicated inclusion coordinator supports students with dyslexia, ADHD, autism and other needs; the middle school runs a kindness and conflict management project. A whistleblowing procedure is published.
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 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 Value for money (6%) scored at the median68 "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
Milan, Italy · est. 1923 · Private