Scuola Svizzera di Roma was founded in 1946: at the end of the war the children of Swiss families in Rome studied with a governess in the dining room of the Wirth family's Hotel Victoria, other children joined them, and in May 1946 the parents formed an association and in November officially opened the school. In 1947 it moved to the villa on via Malpighi, and the first 89 children arrived. The liceo has run since 1965, since 1967 the canton of St. Gallen has recognised the school as an official cantonal school, and since 1971 it has been its patron. It is a not-for-profit, non-denominational and politically neutral school, recognised as a Swiss school abroad in Switzerland and in Italy; it is run by the Swiss School of Rome Association and a board elected every three years, under the supervision of the Swiss Federal Department of Home Affairs. The language of instruction is German, and in grade 1 children learn to read and write in German and Italian in parallel; by graduation students are bilingual (German at Goethe C2), have English at Cambridge Advanced C1 level and can reach a high level in French (DELF B2) and Latin. The curriculum is Swiss, following the St. Gallen curricula from kindergarten to liceo, with permeability to the Italian system: after grade 5 the esame di idoneità, after lower secondary the esame di Stato (licenza media), and the liceo ends with the federal Swiss maturità, which is equivalent to the Italian esame di Stato for university admission. The school has about 60 teachers from Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Austria, France and the USA and students of about 20 nationalities; classes are small.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $8 699–10 043 a year
7 700–8 890 EUR
Programmes
Swiss programme · National programme
Admits from
3 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
German, Italian
Languages taught
English, French, Latin
Class size
small classes, two classes per year in primary; the school does not give an exact class size
Registration fee
≈ $395
350 EUR
About the fees Fees for 2026/2027 (contributo scolastico) for non-Swiss students, first child: kindergarten 7700 EUR, scuola primaria 7720 EUR, scuola media 8050 EUR, liceo 8890 EUR; fees are lower for the second, third and fourth child (for example 7470, 6670 and 4900 EUR in the liceo). For Swiss students: 5080, 5100 and 5310 EUR in kindergarten, primary and lower secondary. Fees include teaching materials, administrative costs and insurance, and in kindergarten and primary a T-shirt and cap for trips. Meals are compulsory from kindergarten to year 3 of lower secondary: per the fee schedule 965 EUR per year in kindergarten (5 days), 770 EUR in primary and 890 EUR in lower secondary (4 days a week); totals with meals and the enrolment fee are 9015, 8840, 9290 and 9240 EUR. Payment in two instalments on 1 September 2026 and 1 February 2027.
Admissions The Vorkindergarten admits children who turn 3 by 31 December of the school year. Enrolment for 2026/2027 is open: the school invites families to an open day and visits, and the website has a non-binding reservation form asking for the class, nationality and mother tongue of the child. The enrolment fee and the form signed by both parents are due by 15 May 2026; students are admitted to lessons only if the fee and both fee instalments are paid on time. Different fee scales apply to Swiss and non-Swiss students.
Stages and year groups A Swiss curriculum following the St. Gallen curricula (Lehrplan 21) with permeability to the Italian system. Vorkindergarten and Kindergarten (mixed-age classes for ages 4-5, two teachers each): German immersion. Scuola primaria (5 years, two classes per year): German is the main language, Italian from grade 1, English from grade 3; at the end of grade 5 the esame di idoneità against Italian objectives. Scuola media (3 years): Swiss curriculum with teachers from Switzerland or trained in its approach, and from year 2, especially year 3, an extended programme in Italian (Italian, geography, history, art history, mathematics, science) with Italian textbooks; in year 3 all take Goethe B2 in German, optionally English B1 and French A2; at the end the esame di Stato (licenza media). Liceo (5 years): the federal Swiss maturità under the ORM and RRM, with two profiles - economics and law or physics and applied mathematics; French in the first two years, and from year 3 a fourth language chosen between French and Latin; history, geography, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, philosophy and visual arts. The maturità gives access to all Swiss universities without exams, to Italian universities and, with the required language skills, to EU universities. The school does not run Cambridge International courses.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
educationsuisse · accreditationA St. Gallen Swiss curriculum taught in German, with the Italian state exam after middle school and a Swiss federal maturità at the end. 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 hallnot stated on the website
·Laboratoriesnot stated on the website
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
✓Library
✓Catering
·School transportnot stated on the website
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
✓Teacher qualifications
✓Number of teachers60
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
What the listings show: About 60 teachers from Switzerland and Italy, as well as Germany, Austria, France and the USA, experienced in bilingual teaching and Swiss pedagogy; all lessons are taught by native speakers. In lower secondary teachers come from Switzerland or are trained in the Swiss approach, and Italian subjects are taught by Italian teachers. The liceo vice-principal is recognised as a gymnasium teacher by the canton of St. Gallen.
The school has leads for German and Italian, German as a second language in kindergarten, gifted education, special needs education and the library.
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 data70 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data65 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data55 "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
Rome, Italy · est. 1946 · Private