← Back to the rankingLiceo Scientifico «Lorenzo Respighi»
Piacenza, Italy · est. 1924 · State
Illustration · Piacenza
Liceo Scientifico Lorenzo Respighi is a state science liceo in Piacenza, one of the first eight science licei in Italy, opened in 1924; it is named after the local mathematician and astronomer Lorenzo Respighi. Since its founding the liceo has offered only the science track. It has 1257 students in 54 classes: years 1-2 in the building on Via Nasolini, years 3-5 in the historic building on Piazzale Genova. Lessons are in Italian under the state curriculum, over five years, five days a week, ending with the esame di Stato. Tracks: science liceo with STEAM, mathematics liceo and Cambridge options, applied sciences liceo with computer science, physics and Science L@b options, and a sports liceo. In the Cambridge section mathematics, biology and history partly follow the Cambridge IGCSE syllabus in English, with exams in years 3, 4 and 5. There is an Italy-USA double diploma programme, Erasmus+ and study abroad for part of the year. Students of the liceo have won gold and bronze medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad.
Key facts
Programmes
Cambridge · IGCSE · National programme
Languages of instruction
Italian, English
About the fees Tuition at the state liceo is free. Families pay for Cambridge exams; the school mentions the extra charge for the course without an amount. FIRST and IELTS preparation courses were free in the 2025-2026 school year, funded by European funds.
Admissions Enrolment in the first year is through the state online procedure; the application can list up to three preferred options, sections open with enough applicants, and the liceo confirms them by the end of February. Without an explicit choice a student may be placed in any option except the Cambridge section, which is by choice only. If there are more applicants than places, a ranking is made by the average mark for the first term of the third year of middle school, with ties decided by time of enrolment. The sports liceo has separate criteria. The liceo hosts foreign students on international mobility programmes; designated teachers help with enrolment of children with special educational needs.
Stages and year groups Italian state liceo scientifico curriculum, 5 years, ending with the esame di Stato; 30 hours a week in years 1-2, 32 hours in years 3-5, five days. Tracks: liceo scientifico with STEAM, Liceo Matematico and Cambridge options; liceo scientifico opzione scienze applicate with Informatica, Fisica and Science L@b options; liceo scientifico ad indirizzo sportivo. Cambridge International in the Cambridge section of the science liceo: the Laboratorio Cambridge IGCSE, 2 hours a week in years 1-4 and 1 hour in year 5, with biology and mathematics in years 1-2, biology and history in years 3-4 and history in year 5 until the exam; IGCSE Mathematics exam in year 3, IGCSE Biology in year 4, IGCSE History in year 5. Separately, for all year 3 students, a 30-hour afternoon course prepares for the IGCSE English as a Second Language exam at B2 level. There is an Italy-USA double diploma programme.
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 section of the science liceo, in years 1-5, maths, biology and history are partly taught to the IGCSE syllabus in English, with exams in years 3, 4 and 5.
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
Exam results At the esame di Stato in the 2024-2025 school year, 38% of graduates scored more than 80 out of 100 and 10% scored 100 out of 100, half of them with honours. Students of the liceo won gold and bronze medals at the 66th International Mathematical Olympiad. The school does not publish IGCSE results.
Facilities from the school's official website
·Swimming poolnot stated on the website
✓Sports hall
✓Laboratories
✓Theatre or assembly hall
✓Library
·Cateringnot stated on the website
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Makerspace
Clubs and activities: Choir · Liceo Respighi Orchestra · AperiOpera (opera club) · Theatre · MTeam (mathematics team) · Physics, Science and Chess Teams · French Language Courses · Book Club and Creative Writing · Il Buco (school newspaper) · F1 in Schools · Sailing Course · National Languages Championship
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
Language exam courses are taught by liceo teachers and native English speakers; the Cambridge English courses coordinator holds a PhD from University College London. Two designated teachers advise on enrolment of children with special needs.
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 policy
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
✓Anti-bullying policy
A free psychological counselling service is available to students, parents and teachers. The liceo has an internal code against bullying and cyberbullying, an emergency plan and programmes on adolescent anxiety; students with dyslexia and special needs receive particular attention.
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 data80 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data70 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)85 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 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