University of Florence

The University of Florence has its origins in the Studium Generale that the Florentine republic decided to establish in 1321. The disciplines taught at the time were civil and canon law, literature and medicine. Many famous names were called upon as lecturers: Giovanni Boccaccio was commissioned to give lectures on the Divina Commedia. The importance of the Studium was sanctioned by a Papal Bull issued by Pope Clement VI, which recognised and validated the qualifications it awarded, extended the privilegia maxima already granted to the Universities of Bologna and Paris, and established the Faculty of Theology. In 1364 with Emperor Charles IV, the Florentine Studium became an imperial university. When they came to rule in Tuscany, the Medici moved it to Pisa in 1472. From that year on, transfers became frequent, depending on changes of government. Charles VIII brought it back to Florence from 1497 to 1515 when, with the return of the Medici, the Studium was again moved to Pisa. Many teaching departments remained in Florence even after this date, whereas research was well supported in the numerous Academies that had flourished in the meantime, such as the Crusca and the Cimento. It was not until 1859, when the Grand Duke was ousted from the government of the region, that all these scattered teaching departments regained the dignity of having their own organisation and structure. Thus the “Istituto Superiore di Studi Pratici e di Perfezionamento” was born, which, in the unified Italian state, would gain recognised university status. It was not until 1924, however, that a special decree officially gave the Institute the name of University. The subsequent organisation of studies at the University was divided between 1924 and 1938 into the Faculties of Agriculture, Architecture, Economics, Pharmacy, Law, Humanities, Teacher Training, Medicine and Surgery, Mathematics, Physics and Natural Sciences and Political Science. To these ten faculties, the Faculty of Engineering was added in 1970, whose first two-year course, however, had already been operating since the 1924-25 academic year. Then, in July 2002, the Faculty of Psychology was established. Since 1 January 2013, following the reform introduced by Law 240/2010, the Faculties have been abolished; the task of coordinating teaching activities and managing the related services is carried out by the Schools. Today, it is one of the largest research and higher education organisations in Italy, with 1,800 structured lecturers and researchers, around 1,600 technical and administrative staff, and over 1,600 doctoral and post-doctoral students.