← Back to the rankingLiceo Classico Musicale F. Petrarca
Arezzo, Italy · est. 1857 · State
Illustration · Arezzo
Liceo F. Petrarca is a state classical and music liceo in Arezzo. The liceo opened in 1857, was named after Francesco Petrarca by royal decree in 1865, and in 1984 added a music track that became the liceo musicale. Today the liceo classico has a traditional track, Cambridge, mathematics and science, biomedical and a Rondine class (a method for peaceful conflict resolution); the liceo musicale has traditional and Cambridge tracks. In the Cambridge sections an hour with a native-speaker teacher is added: in English and mathematics in the liceo classico, in English and music theory in the liceo musicale; students take IGCSE exams in English as a Second Language and Mathematics (classico) or Music (musicale). Other subjects are taught in Italian. 638 students attend in 31 classes, with 81 teachers.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE · National programme
Languages of instruction
Italian, English
Class size
on average 20 students per class
About the fees A state school of the Ministry of Education (scuola statale): tuition is free. The Cambridge section costs 200 euros a year from year 1 to year 4.
Admissions Admission requires the lower secondary diploma (scuola secondaria di primo grado); enrolment is through the state Iscrizioni online procedure. The liceo musicale, including its Cambridge section, admits students after an entrance test by the end of February: a motivational interview, an oral exam in theory, analysis and composition, and an instrumental performance before a panel of teachers and, where possible, a conservatory representative. The Cambridge section is fee-paying. The school says nothing about admitting foreign students.
Stages and year groups Grades 1-5 (scuola secondaria di secondo grado), 31 classes. Five-year liceo classico and liceo musicale ending with the esame di Stato (maturità). Liceo classico: traditional, Cambridge, mathematics and science, Biologia con curvatura biomedica (since 2022/2023), Rondine class. Liceo musicale: traditional and Cambridge; instruments: voice, guitar, clarinet, accordion, flute, oboe, percussion, piano, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, violin, cello. Cambridge IGCSE in the liceo classico: Mathematics (exam at the end of year 3 or start of year 4) and English as a Second Language (end of year 3-4), with 1 extra hour a week with a native speaker in English (years 1-5) and mathematics (years 1-4). Cambridge IGCSE in the liceo musicale: Music (end of year 3-4) and English as a Second Language, with 1 hour a week with a native speaker in English and in theory, analysis and composition.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE · authorised programmeThe Cambridge register names the school as its centre; it teaches Cambridge IGCSE. Cambridge sections add an hour a week with a native speaker: IGCSE English and Maths in the classical liceo, English and Music in the music liceo, with exams in years 3-4.
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 hall
✓Library
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Campus: Three buildings in central Arezzo. The liceo classico has two language labs (one temporarily used as a classroom), a STEM lab, an IT room, a library with a reading room, a multimedia room and an assembly hall; all buildings have fibre and wi-fi. The liceo musicale has the Luciano Berio music technology lab with 25 workstations, recording software and mixing desks, a studio behind the stage of the Salone Vasariano, the Teatro Vasariano itself for choir, orchestra and ensembles, and 20 instrument rooms with 17 pianos (5 of them grand pianos), strings, wind and percussion. The gyms are in other buildings in the city.
Clubs and activities: Symphony Orchestra · Wind Orchestra · String Orchestra · Choir · Pop/Rock Factory · Jazz Course · Theatre at the Petrarca · Classics on Stage · Cinema and Acting · Dedalus (school newspaper) · Mathematical Emotions with ISLE · Erasmus
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
✓Number of teachers81
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
81 teachers; in the Cambridge sections native English-speaking teachers work alongside the English, mathematics and music theory teachers; some teachers trained at Rondine Academy and are certified in the Rondine method.
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 policynot stated on the website
The school runs a free psychological counselling service that students attend voluntarily; there is a team for preventing early school leaving.
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 data70 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