The Liceo Classico Umberto I is one of the oldest state classical licei in Palermo: it was officially established in 1878 as the city's second liceo, and its roots go back to the Sant'Anna schools opened in 1788. Since 1962-1963 the liceo has been in its building on Via Filippo Parlatore in the Malaspina district; its alumni include the painter Renato Guttuso, the politician Giorgio La Pira and the judge Giovanni Falcone. The five-year liceo classico curriculum is taught in Italian. Besides the standard track there is an international classical liceo with German (in its eighth year, a partner school of the German schools network) and a Cambridge International section where since 2018-2019 some subjects have been taught in English on IGCSE syllabuses: English as a Second Language, geography, mathematics and history; over five years students sit four IGCSE exams. From grade 3 students may choose the Galeno biomedicine course, and the upper years have an extracurricular mathematics and coding course, Euclide.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE · National programme
Languages of instruction
Italian, English
Languages taught
German, Latin
About the fees The liceo is a state school and charges no tuition. For the Cambridge International section families pay a contribution: 350 euros in 2024-2025 (for native-speaker teachers, teacher training, teaching materials and the Cambridge membership fee); later the school announced a reduction of the contribution.
Admissions Enrolment in grade 1 follows the state online procedure (iscrizioni online) within the dates set each year by the ministry, usually in November. The Cambridge International section (corso C) admits students with an A2 English certificate or a final grade of 9 or 10 from lower secondary school; families pay a contribution. The public pages of the website do not say anything about admitting foreign students or children without Italian.
Stages and year groups Grades 1-5 scuola secondaria di secondo grado. Five-year liceo classico on the Italian curriculum with the esame di Stato. Tracks: Liceo Classico (optional three-year Galeno biomedicine course from grade 3), Liceo Classico Internazionale ad Opz. Tedesco, Cambridge International section (corso C). Cambridge: IGCSE English as a Second Language (grades 1-2), Geography (grade 3), Mathematics (grade 4), History (grade 5, October exam); subjects are taught in English by certified Italian teachers and native speakers, with extra hours by native speakers; 30 hours a week in grades 1-2 and 34 hours in grades 3-4 versus 27 and 31 in the standard curriculum. Separately there is a Cambridge Assessment English section - 2 hours a week with a native speaker preparing for language exams. The extracurricular Euclide course (mathematics and coding) is for grades 3-5.
Address Via Filippo Parlatore 26/C, 90145 Palermo (sede centrale); Via Regione Siciliana 1751, 90135 Palermo (succursale)
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
Cambridge · IGCSE · authorised programmeThe Cambridge register names the school as its centre; it teaches Cambridge IGCSE. In the Cambridge International section, English, geography, maths and history are taught in English with native speakers, leading to four IGCSE exams over five years.
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
·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: Two sites in Palermo: the main building on Via Filippo Parlatore in the Malaspina district, between Via Dante and Piazza Busacca, where the liceo has been since 1962-1963, and a branch on Via Regione Siciliana. The main building has an assembly hall (Aula Magna). The public pages of the website do not describe labs, a gym or a library.
Clubs and activities: Galeno - Biomedicine Enrichment Programme · Euclide - Mathematics Enrichment Programme · Translation Slam · Language Study Trip to Oxford · Language Trip to Derry · German International Section Christmas Party
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
In the Cambridge International section IGCSE subjects are taught by Italian teachers with English certificates together with native speakers; the section has a coordinator and an exams officer. German teachers cooperate with the liceo in the German section.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
The school says nothing on its website about security, medical care or pupil support.
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 data76 "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
Palermo, Italy · est. 1878 · State