← Back to the rankingIstituto di Cultura e Lingue Marcelline - Genova
Genoa, Italy · est. 1882 · Private
Illustration · Genoa
The Istituto di Cultura e Lingue Marcelline is a Catholic paritaria school of the Sisters of Santa Marcellina in Genoa. Since 1882 it has been housed in Villa Brignole Sale in Albaro, a historic villa with a large park. The school calls itself the only Catholic bilingual paritaria school in the city: the La barca nursery, a scuola dell'infanzia with daily sessions with native English speakers, a scuola primaria and a middle school relaunched for 2024-2025. Teaching follows the Italian curriculum in Italian, but English starts with the youngest groups: in primary school there are 3 hours of English plus 4 hours of subjects taught in English by the CLIL method alongside the class teacher. In parallel, an optional Cambridge Primary programme for ages 5-11 (English, science, Global Perspectives) together with afternoon sessions gives up to 16 hours a week in English with native speaker teachers. Chinese is taught from the scuola dell'infanzia. The school is proud of its INVALSI results and its long music tradition, with its own choir.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · Primary · National programme
Languages of instruction
Italian, English
About the fees The latest published fee schedule is for 2021-2022: a 350 EUR annual non-refundable enrolment fee and primary fees of 2940 EUR a year in three instalments of 980 EUR. The fee covered timetabled lessons, the afternoon break and access to afternoon sessions and the Cambridge programme. The school mentioned discounts for siblings and Liguria regional grants. The school does not publish current fees for 2026-2027 on its website.
Admissions Children are enrolled in the scuola dell'infanzia and primary school with an enrolment form; parents can visit by appointment with the coordinating teachers, and Open Days are held. The school says it aims to welcome every child families entrust to it and responds to the needs of children with dyslexia, disabilities and giftedness. Entry to the Cambridge Primary programme is by an English placement test at the school, which sets the child's level; the programme is also open to children from other schools.
Stages and year groups Grades nido, scuola dell'infanzia, 1-5 primaria, 1-3 secondaria di primo grado. Italian paritaria curriculum: nido, scuola dell'infanzia (mixed groups aged 3-5, bilingual, with native English speakers every day), scuola primaria grades 1-5 and scuola secondaria di primo grado (announced for 2024-2025, no detailed programme on the website). The school says it educates children from 3 to 14. Cambridge Primary is an optional parallel programme for ages 5-11: Cambridge English, Cambridge Science and Cambridge Global Perspectives with native speaker teachers, entry by test, up to 16 hours a week, with an optional exam at the end of primary school. There is also Trinity College London exam preparation: A2+/B1 level at the end of primary school and B1/B2 at the end of middle school.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · Primary · authorised programmeThe Cambridge register names the school as its centre; it teaches Cambridge Primary. Cambridge Primary is an optional parallel programme for ages 5-11 covering English, Science and Global Perspectives with native speakers, up to 16 hours a week in English, with an optional final exam.
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: Primary (ages 5-11). Primary is the primary stage, ages 5 to 11: English, mathematics and science to Cambridge syllabuses. At the end of the stage a school may run the optional Checkpoint test, which is marked in Cambridge.
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 hall
✓Library
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field
Clubs and activities: Marcelline Choir · Football · Karate · Tennis · Dance · Music and Piano Courses · Coding and Robotics · Advanced Computer Science · Theatre in Action · Cambridge Plus
Summer programme away from campus: . The school runs no camp of its own on campus
Summer School 2026 from 15 June to 17 July for ages 6-13: sport and intensive English with native speakers and a possible final certificate, then sport, English and robotics; from 29 June there is a group for future first graders. Pupils from grade 3 can take a week of sport and English in England in July; in June there are intensive tennis courses.
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
Each primary class has a main teacher for humanities and science and specialist teachers of English, art, music, PE and computing; English and the Cambridge subjects are taught by specialists and native speakers. The school does not publish staff numbers or 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 policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
The school has a safety officer, a code of ethics and an organisational model under Law 231, and a whistleblowing procedure. The grounds are described as safe and spacious, inside a park.
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 data60 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data80 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 Value for money (6%) scored at the median95 "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