← Back to the rankingIstituto del Sacro Cuore
Florence, Italy · est. 1881 · Private
Illustration · Florence
The Istituto del Sacro Cuore is a Catholic school run by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Florence, on the hill by Viale Michelangiolo. The congregation opened a boarding school for girls here in 1881; the middle school and the ginnasio-liceo have been state recognised since 1939, and the nursery and primary school were added later. Today it offers the full path from nursery (from 12 months) to liceo: nido, scuola dell'infanzia, scuola primaria paritaria, scuola secondaria di primo grado and a liceo with three tracks - classico, scientifico and linguistico. Teaching follows the Italian curriculum in Italian, with strong English (native speakers from the nursery) and French from primary school. Liceo graduates receive the Italian maturità and an American High School Diploma; the linguistico track offers ESABAC, the double Italian-French diploma. Liceo lessons run Monday to Friday from 8:00 to 14:15, Saturday is free. The sisters live at the school and accompany the students; there is a boarding house for girls.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $4 406–7 117 a year
3 900–6 300 EUR
Programmes
American programme · National programme
Admits from
1 year · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
Italian, English
Languages taught
French, German, Spanish, Chinese, Latin
About the fees Fees for 2026-2027 (retta annua): scuola dell'infanzia 3900 EUR, primary school 4200 EUR, middle school 5100 EUR, liceo 6300 EUR; payable in full before the year starts or in 10 instalments (392, 422, 512 and 632 EUR respectively, including a 2 EUR stamp duty). The nursery is paid monthly: 730 EUR until 13:30, 780 EUR until 16:00, 800 EUR until 17:30. Boarding for girls is 8700 EUR a year on top of school fees; with school fees and the first enrolment fee the total is 14180 EUR in primary, 15430 EUR in middle school and 16680 EUR in the liceo. Fees include teaching, the electronic register, insurance, heating and shared early years materials; they exclude canteen and after school care, textbooks, uniform, transport, language exams, clubs and trips.
Admissions Enrolment is by the 2026-2027 Modulo di Iscrizione signed by the parents, together with a birth certificate, a nulla osta (for pupils transferring from another school), a vaccination certificate and the last school report; primary, middle school and liceo applicants also fill in a background questionnaire, and early years, primary and middle school a canteen questionnaire. The enrolment fee is non-refundable and must be paid in advance to secure the place. The scuola dell'infanzia takes children from 2.5 years, including early entrants who turn 3 by 30 April; the nursery takes children from 12 to 36 months. The school does not describe entrance tests or special conditions for foreign students.
Stages and year groups Grades nido, scuola dell'infanzia, 1-5 primaria, 1-3 secondaria di primo grado, 1-5 liceo. Italian paritaria curriculum: nido (12-36 months), scuola dell'infanzia (three age groups), scuola primaria (grades 1-5), scuola secondaria di primo grado (grades 1-3, esame di Stato), liceo grades 1-5 with the classico, scientifico and linguistico tracks and the final esame di Stato; a liceo delle scienze umane is announced for 2026-2027. The American programme is built into the liceo curriculum: extra English hours with native speakers, American History and Government in English in grade 4, American Literature in grades 4-5, TOEFL preparation; graduates of all tracks receive the American High School Diploma. The liceo linguistico offers ESABAC: French language and literature and history in French in grades 3-5, Italian diploma and French baccalauréat from one exam. The school does not mention Cambridge or IB programmes.
Address Viale Michelangiolo 27, 50125 Firenze
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cognia · accreditationThere is no Cambridge programme: the school follows the Italian curriculum to the state exam, with an American programme built into the liceo leading to a US High School Diploma. The school is accredited by Cognia.
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
CogniaCognia, formerly AdvancED
The widest-reaching American accreditation: some forty thousand schools in over a hundred countries. It accredits both individual schools and whole school systems. It also sells a paid membership with no inspection behind it, and that membership is often passed off as accreditation.
What the badge means for this school. The school has been through this organisation's accreditation. It was judged as a whole: governance, safeguarding, staff, premises, teaching. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →American programme
The American school programme, with the High School Diploma at the end. It usually comes together with AP courses, which the College Board stands behind, and with an American accreditation - MSA, NEASC or Cognia.
What this means for this school. The diploma is written out by the school itself: the American programme has no common leaving exam, and the content of the senior years is set by the school. Outside checking therefore rests on two things here - the accreditation of the school, and the AP exams if the school runs them.
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 Oxford · University College London (UCL) · University of St Andrews · University of Manchester · Durham University · University of Leeds · University of Birmingham · University of Sheffield · New York University · Boston College · University of Miami · Berklee College of Music
and others, 26 universities in the school's list in allThe liceo page lists universities graduates have entered: Italian universities and military academies, and universities in the UK, the US, France, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. Alumni testimonials mention admission to Oxford, UCL, Edinburgh and St Andrews.
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
✓Boarding
Also on site: Sports ground or field
Clubs and activities: Sacred Heart Choir · Volleyball/Minivolley · Horse Riding · Country Time · Athletics · Theatre · Art Workshops · Science Fair · Student Council · National Honor Society · European People · Piano and Violin · Chinese
Summer programme away from campus: . The school runs no camp of its own on campus
In June the Sacro Cuore Summer Camp (SC²) runs three weeks of English camp for primary pupils with native speaker teachers, each week on a theme. In summer the sisters take liceo students on a language trip to the US (Boston in 2025), the middle school travels to the UK or Ireland (Dublin in 2025), and there are trips to France.
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 school is run at every level by the sisters of the congregation; English is taught by qualified native speakers, with one or two hours a week of English Conversation with a native speaker in primary school. The staff page currently names three staff members, the rest is marked as coming soon.
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 is open every day with supervision from 7:30 to 17:00. The educational co-responsibility pact commits the school to safety and to supervising pupils in lessons and breaks; mobile phones are handed in to boxes in each classroom during lessons.
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 data55 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data85 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