Scuola Svizzera Bergamo is the oldest of the 17 Swiss schools abroad recognised by the Swiss Confederation: it was founded in 1892 by the Legler textile family in Ponte San Pietro as a German-language school for the children of their managers, has been recognised as a Swiss school abroad since 1965 and moved to its current building in Bergamo in 2005. It is a private school recognised by the Italian state but not paritaria: it chooses its own programme, teachers and materials, and students sit the end-of-cycle exams of primary and lower secondary at an external state school. The school teaches children aged 3 to 13: a three-year Kindergarten, five-year scuola primaria and three-year scuola secondaria di primo grado. The languages of instruction are German and Italian, which the school calls its first languages; English is taught from age 4 and French from lower secondary. Class teachers are German native speakers with teaching qualifications, working alongside teachers of the Italian state curriculum. The school describes itself as inspired by Pestalozzi's pedagogy (head, hand, heart). More than half of the students are Italian, the rest come from EU countries (especially Germany), Switzerland and elsewhere. Graduates continue at Italian licei or at the liceo of the Swiss School of Milan.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $5 423–7 456 a year
4 800–6 600 EUR
Programmes
Swiss programme · National programme
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
German, Italian
Languages taught
English, French
Class size
no more than 24 students per class
Registration fee
≈ $565
500 EUR
About the fees Fees for 2026/2027 (contributo scolastico) per year: Kindergarten 4800 EUR, primary grades 1-2 5900 EUR, primary grades 3-5 6000 EUR, lower secondary 6600 EUR. Teaching materials in primary and lower secondary are 400 EUR per year. Afternoon care until 15:30: Kindergarten 3000 EUR, grades 1-2 1700 EUR, grades 3-5 1500 EUR; canteen 5 days a week 1500 EUR. Full-day totals: 9300 EUR in Kindergarten, 9500 EUR in grades 1-2, 9400 EUR in grades 3-5, 8500 EUR in lower secondary; the all-inclusive package until 15:30 is 7200, 7600, 7700 and 7800 EUR. Care until 17:30 is another 700 EUR per year. Reductions: Swiss students 10%, second child 10%, third child 20%. Payment in 10 monthly direct debits or in full by 30 September.
Admissions The first year of Kindergarten admits children who are 3 or turn 3 in the year of entry, with no restriction of nationality or mother tongue, as the school puts it. From grade 2 of primary there may be an entrance test in German; without German, admission is at the discretion of the school management; the school strongly recommends at least one year of its Kindergarten, or reasonable German, or after-school care with German support lessons. Current students have priority for the following year. An enrolment fee is paid on admission; special circumstances may be put in writing to the school board.
Stages and year groups A Swiss school with the Italian state curriculum: Kindergarten for ages 3-5 with full German immersion and English from age 4; scuola primaria (ages 6-10) - reading and writing in Italian and German together, mathematics by the Swiss method, a weekly work plan (Wochenplan); in grade 5 the licenza elementare exam at an external state school and certificates in German (A2) and English (Movers, A1); scuola secondaria di primo grado (ages 11-13, 35 hours a week) - French is added, in grade 3 the licenza media exam at an external state school and certificates in German (B2), English (KET) and French (DELF A2). The school does not run Cambridge International courses: Cambridge here means only Cambridge English language exams, and the school is an authorised exam centre. There is no liceo; Swiss schooling can continue at the liceo of the Swiss School of Milan.
Address Via A. Bossi 44, 24123 Bergamo
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
educationsuisse · accreditationThere is no Cambridge International: this Swiss school teaches in German and Italian, follows the Italian state curriculum alongside, and pupils sit the licenza exams at a state school. It is a Swiss school abroad recognised by the Swiss Confederation (educationsuisse).
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
educationsuisseSwiss school abroad recognised by the Confederation
State recognition by Switzerland: the school follows the Swiss curriculum and takes pupils to the Swiss Matura, usually bilingual, alongside the certificate of the host country. Each school has a patron canton answerable for the content of the programme. Sixteen schools are recognised worldwide, so this is a narrow list rather than an industry association: far more schools call themselves Swiss.
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 →Swiss programme
The school programme of Switzerland. Schools abroad recognised by the Confederation take pupils through to the Swiss maturity certificate, the Matura, used for entry to Swiss universities. There are sixteen recognised schools in the whole world, and each has a sponsoring canton answering for the content of the programme.
What this means for this school. In a school abroad the Swiss maturity is usually bilingual and runs alongside the certificate of the host country, so a leaver ends up with two documents. Recognition is granted to the school as a whole rather than to separate stages, unlike French homologation, which covers now one set of year groups, now another.
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 hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Art studio · Playground
Campus: A building in the residential Monterosso district in north-east Bergamo, at the foot of the Maresana hill, with a large garden: a playground with wooden structures, a courtyard with a rubber surface, a separate kindergarten play area and a rope pyramid at the entrance. The barrier-free kindergarten is on the ground floor with its own entrance and three classrooms next to the canteen. The three-storey school has a gym, a library, a computer lab, a handicraft room and a painting room. The canteen has its own kitchen and an organic menu. After-school care (doposcuola) runs until 17:30 with supervised homework.
Clubs and activities: Music · School Choir · Typing · Multisport · Cooking in English · Skiing
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
What the listings show: Class teachers are German native speakers with teaching qualifications; alongside them work teachers of the Italian state curriculum and Italian-taught subjects, foreign language teachers and teaching assistants. Teachers come from Switzerland, Italy, Germany, France, the UK and Spain; the head is appointed by the school board and is traditionally a Swiss citizen.
The school names two English teachers and the head.
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 data80 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
Bergamo, Italy · est. 1892 · Private