Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa

The Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa, also known in Italian language as Scuola Normale (English: Normal High School College of Pisa or Normal School), is with no doubt the most elitary college in the whole Italian universities' world. It was founded in 1810, by Napoleonic decree, as branch of the École Normale Supérieure of Paris. Since its foundation, it admitted its students by strong selection, and its main goal was, during that period, essentially to form the best college and high school teachers. Recognized as "national university" in 1862, one year after the Italian independence, and named during that period as "Normal School of the Kingdom of Italy", it then obtained its administrative authonomy in 1936, somehow surviving to the fascist dictatorship of Benito Mussolini. Since that period, the Normal School became a entity separate from the University of Pisa, with complete administrative, didactic and regulative freedom.

The Normal School's fields of study are historically two: philosophic and scientific. Currently the college offers the classes as follows:

Philosophic & Literatural Related

• Ancient History and Classical Philology
• Italian Literature and Linguistics
• Arts History and Archaeology
• History and Paleography
• Philosophy

Scientific Related

• Biological Sciences
• Chemistry
• Physics
• Computer Science
• Mathematics
• Physics (Improvement Course)
• Physics of Condensate (Improvement Course)
• Molecolar Biophysics (Improvement Course)
• Mathematics (Improvement Course)
• Mathematics for Finance and Business Technologies (Improvement Course)
• Neurobiology (Improvement Course)
• Molecolar Biology (Improvement Course)
• Chemistry (Improvement Course)

In order to become a student member of the Normal School, it is necessary for the candidate to pass a quite-selective admission exam, with questions which space into the entire chosen field of study: for example, for a would-be Computer Science student, it's not sufficient to be an IT guru, but it's necessary to have a higher-than-average, valuable knowledge about mathematics, physics and chemistry too.

The Normal School is still located to its first historical building, called Palazzo della Carovana, at Piazza dei Cavalieri, into the medieval downtown of Pisa.

It follows a list of some of the most important alumni who have done their studies at the Normal School:

• Enrico Fermi, physic & Nobel prize winner
• Carlo Rubbia, physic & Nobel prize winner
• Giosuè Carducci, poet & Nobel prize winner
• Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, politician, currently President of the Republic of Italy
• Giovanni Gronchi , politician, former President of the Republic of Italy
• Giovanni Gentile, philosopher & politician

Related links

Scuola Normale Superiore - Official Site (in Italian)

See also

• List of Italian universities