Where I’m studying
The Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa (commonly known in Italy as "la Normale") is a public university institution in Pisa and Florence, Tuscany, Italy, currently attended by about 600 undergraduate and postgraduate (PhD) students.
It was founded in 1810 with a decree by Napoleon as a branch of the École normale supérieure in Paris, with the aim of training the teachers of the Empire to educate its citizens. In 2013 the Florentine site was added to the historical site in Pisa, following the inclusion of the Institute of Human Sciences in Florence (SUM). Since 2018 the Scuola Normale Superiore has been federated with the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa and with the Institute for Advanced Studies of Pavia, the only other two university institutions with special status that, in the Italian panorama, offer, in accordance with standards of excellence, both undergraduate and postgraduate educational activities.
Eminent personalities from the world of science, literature and politics have studied at the Normale, among them Giosuè Carducci, Carlo Rubbia, Enrico Fermi, Aldo Capitini, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Giovanni Gronchi, Giovanni Gentile as well as Alessio Figalli, in more recent times.
The Faculty of Humanities is divided into subject areas, within which the individual courses are organized. The subject areas refer to: Literature, philology and linguistics; Philosophy; History and paleography; History of Art and Archaeology; Ancient history and classical philology. The Faculty of Sciences is divided into subject areas, within which the individual courses are organized. The subject areas are:Chemistry and geology; Physics; Mathematics and computer science; Biological sciences. The Department of Political and Social Sciences covers the subject areas of political and social sciences.
The Scuola Normale Superiore offers both undergraduate education (which corresponds to the university curriculum of the bachelor's and master's degree) and postgraduate (PhD) education.
The undergraduate courses of the SNS (Bachelor's and master's degrees) cover the teaching curriculum of three macro-disciplinary areas: Letters and Philosophy, Sciences and Political-Social Sciences (the latter only for master's degrees).The students selected through competition must follow both the courses taught at the Normale and the corresponding courses of study of the University, respecting rigorous study obligations. Studies are free of charge.
The Scuola Normale Superiore was the first Italian institution to create a PhD programme, in 1927. To date, the PhD courses of the Faculty of Humanities are:
Philosophy
History
Italian Studies and Modern Philology
History of Art
Classics
The PhD courses of the Faculty of Sciences are:
Astrochemistry
Data Science
Physics
Maths
Mathematics for finance
Methods and models for molecular sciences
Nanosciences
Neuroscience
The PhD courses of the Department of Political and Social Sciences are:
Political science and sociology
Transnational Governance
Admission to the undergraduate courses and to the postgraduate courses (PhD) takes place by competition. You can access the Normale from the first year of university, or after obtaining a three-year degree. Finally, you can be admitted to the Scuola as a postgraduate student (PhD).
For admission to the undergraduate courses, a commission formed by the research staff of the Scuola Normale and of other universities assesses candidates, attempting to identify talent for study and research. The tests, which usually take place in August and September, are written and oral, and concern the disciplinary fields chosen by candidates for their academic career. The exam topics are studied in such a way that admission to the Scuola is guaranteed not for notional and mnemonic skills but rather for originality and intuition.
For access to the first year, A-level results and any other previous qualifications are not assessed during the exam. For access to the fourth year, results obtained for the bachelor's degree and any other previous qualifications are not assessed during the exam. The selection is rigorous: only about 5% of those who take part in the competition are usually admitted. Students of the Scuola Normale Superiore do not pay any fees for their studies: university fees are reimbursed and accommodation and board are free.
For admission to the Postgraduate Course (PhD) the competition, open to graduates from all over the world, is based on qualifications and exams. Those selected receive a scholarship, as well as additional ad hoc grants for research activities in Italy and abroad.
The Scuola Normale is located in its original historical building, called Palazzo della Carovana, in Piazza dei Cavalieri, in the medieval centre of Pisa.
Library
edit
The Library was established at the same time as the Scuola and is an essential tool for teaching and research. It currently occupies three locations overlooking Piazza dei Cavalieri – the Palazzo dell'Orologio, the Palazzo della Canonica and a part of the Palazzo della Carovana – and, a short distance away, the location of Palazzo del Capitano. The book collection, for the most part with open shelves, has now exceeded one million volumes in total. It focuses on the disciplines under study at the Normale, and also houses texts on information science, bibliography and librarianship. In addition to the regular acquisitions, it has also been enriched by donations by various scholars connected to the Scuola; among these we can mention Eugenio Garin, Michele Barbi, Francesco Flamini, Cesare Luporini, Vittore Branca, Giorgio Pasquali, Arnaldo Momigliano, Paul Oskar Kristeller, Delio Cantimori, Sebastiano Timpanaro, Clifford Truesdell and Ettore Passerin d'Entrèves. A digital library is also being developed as part of the library service.
The Archival Centre of the Scuola Normale Superiore, established in October 2013, preserves, in addition to the rich documentary heritage of the Scuola, numerous archives of 19th and 20th century cultural figures acquired through testamentary legacies, gifts and deposits but also thanks to a targeted purchasing policy. Many collections come from former students and / or former lecturers of the Scuola Normale (collections from the directors Enrico Betti, Alessandro d'Ancona, Ulisse Dini, Luigi Bianchi and Gilberto Bernardini), but also from gifts or purchases: among these, mention must be made of the Salviati archive, which, among its important documents, also preserves an autograph manuscript by Machiavelli.
The research centres and the laboratories operating at the Normale are:
Bio@SNS – Laboratorio di Biologia(Biology Laboratory)
CRM – Centro di Ricerca Matematica Ennio De Giorgi (Ennio De Giorgi Mathematics Research Centre)
DocStAr – Documentazione Storico Artistica (Artistic Historical Documentation)
NEST – National Enterprise for nanoScience and nanoTechnology
SAET – Storia, Archeologia, Epigrafia, Tradizione dell'antico (History, Archaeology, Epigraphy, Tradition of the ancient)
SMART – Strategie Multidisciplinari Applicate alla Ricerca e alla Tecnologia (Multidisciplinary Strategies Applied to Research and Technology)
STAR – Systems and Theories for Astrochemical Research
The students of the Scuola Normale, in Pisa, are currently housed in four colleges, located in the town:
The Carducci College is located in via Turati, not far from Pisa central station; it has been owned by the Scuola since 1994. Partially restored in 2002, it is also being renovated at the moment. This building was dedicated to the illustrious poet and scholar, Giosuè Carducci, who was an undergraduate student of the faculty of humanities from 1853 to 1856 and a Nobel Prize winner for literature in 1906.
The Fermi college, owned by the Scuola since 1993, is located a few steps away from the Palazzo della Carovana and has been used as accommodation for students since 1996. It is dedicated to the distinguished Italian physicist Enrico Fermi, a normalista as well as Nobel Prize winner for physics in 1938.
The Faedo College, which opened in 2006, is the last residential college acquired by the Scuola Normale and is shared with the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna. The building is located in Via del Giardino, near the Palazzo di Giustizia, and is dedicated to Alessandro Faedo, a normalista who subsequently became rector of the University of Pisa, president of the National Research Council and senator.
The Timpano College was the first real estate donation to the Scuola, in 1932: located on the Lungarno Pacinotti, it was donated to the Scuola by a singular character, the Calabrian Domenico Timpano, who had made a fortune selling, in the United States at the time of Prohibition, alcohol-based restorative products from his pharmaceutical industry. The building, damaged during the Second World War by the explosion of the nearby Ponte Solferino, was rebuilt in the 1950s, and was initially the female housing section for students of the Scuola Normale Superiore. Currently it is assigned to students and scholarship holders and is divided into three colleges: Timpano, Timpanino and Acconci (the latter acquired in 1967).
Students of the postgraduate course do not usually stay in the colleges, but receive a monthly grant for accommodation; in Florence, however, the Residenza Capitini – a building owned by the City of Florence, recently renovated with funds made available by the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research – can accommodate students of the postgraduate courses of the Department of Political and Social Sciences .
Those who have right of access to the canteen of the Scuola Normale, located on the lower floors of Palazzo D'Ancona (in the immediate vicinity of the Palazzo della Carovana, in Via Consoli del Mare 5) are: undergraduate students, Italian and international PhD students, research grant holders, scholarship holders, teaching and administrative staff, and guests of the Scuola.
It was founded in 1810 with a decree by Napoleon as a branch of the École normale supérieure in Paris, with the aim of training the teachers of the Empire to educate its citizens. In 2013 the Florentine site was added to the historical site in Pisa, following the inclusion of the Institute of Human Sciences in Florence (SUM). Since 2018 the Scuola Normale Superiore has been federated with the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa and with the Institute for Advanced Studies of Pavia, the only other two university institutions with special status that, in the Italian panorama, offer, in accordance with standards of excellence, both undergraduate and postgraduate educational activities.
Eminent personalities from the world of science, literature and politics have studied at the Normale, among them Giosuè Carducci, Carlo Rubbia, Enrico Fermi, Aldo Capitini, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Giovanni Gronchi, Giovanni Gentile as well as Alessio Figalli, in more recent times.
The Faculty of Humanities is divided into subject areas, within which the individual courses are organized. The subject areas refer to: Literature, philology and linguistics; Philosophy; History and paleography; History of Art and Archaeology; Ancient history and classical philology. The Faculty of Sciences is divided into subject areas, within which the individual courses are organized. The subject areas are:Chemistry and geology; Physics; Mathematics and computer science; Biological sciences. The Department of Political and Social Sciences covers the subject areas of political and social sciences.
The Scuola Normale Superiore offers both undergraduate education (which corresponds to the university curriculum of the bachelor's and master's degree) and postgraduate (PhD) education.
The undergraduate courses of the SNS (Bachelor's and master's degrees) cover the teaching curriculum of three macro-disciplinary areas: Letters and Philosophy, Sciences and Political-Social Sciences (the latter only for master's degrees).The students selected through competition must follow both the courses taught at the Normale and the corresponding courses of study of the University, respecting rigorous study obligations. Studies are free of charge.
The Scuola Normale Superiore was the first Italian institution to create a PhD programme, in 1927. To date, the PhD courses of the Faculty of Humanities are:
Philosophy
History
Italian Studies and Modern Philology
History of Art
Classics
The PhD courses of the Faculty of Sciences are:
Astrochemistry
Data Science
Physics
Maths
Mathematics for finance
Methods and models for molecular sciences
Nanosciences
Neuroscience
The PhD courses of the Department of Political and Social Sciences are:
Political science and sociology
Transnational Governance
Admission to the undergraduate courses and to the postgraduate courses (PhD) takes place by competition. You can access the Normale from the first year of university, or after obtaining a three-year degree. Finally, you can be admitted to the Scuola as a postgraduate student (PhD).
For admission to the undergraduate courses, a commission formed by the research staff of the Scuola Normale and of other universities assesses candidates, attempting to identify talent for study and research. The tests, which usually take place in August and September, are written and oral, and concern the disciplinary fields chosen by candidates for their academic career. The exam topics are studied in such a way that admission to the Scuola is guaranteed not for notional and mnemonic skills but rather for originality and intuition.
For access to the first year, A-level results and any other previous qualifications are not assessed during the exam. For access to the fourth year, results obtained for the bachelor's degree and any other previous qualifications are not assessed during the exam. The selection is rigorous: only about 5% of those who take part in the competition are usually admitted. Students of the Scuola Normale Superiore do not pay any fees for their studies: university fees are reimbursed and accommodation and board are free.
For admission to the Postgraduate Course (PhD) the competition, open to graduates from all over the world, is based on qualifications and exams. Those selected receive a scholarship, as well as additional ad hoc grants for research activities in Italy and abroad.
The Scuola Normale is located in its original historical building, called Palazzo della Carovana, in Piazza dei Cavalieri, in the medieval centre of Pisa.
Library
edit
The Library was established at the same time as the Scuola and is an essential tool for teaching and research. It currently occupies three locations overlooking Piazza dei Cavalieri – the Palazzo dell'Orologio, the Palazzo della Canonica and a part of the Palazzo della Carovana – and, a short distance away, the location of Palazzo del Capitano. The book collection, for the most part with open shelves, has now exceeded one million volumes in total. It focuses on the disciplines under study at the Normale, and also houses texts on information science, bibliography and librarianship. In addition to the regular acquisitions, it has also been enriched by donations by various scholars connected to the Scuola; among these we can mention Eugenio Garin, Michele Barbi, Francesco Flamini, Cesare Luporini, Vittore Branca, Giorgio Pasquali, Arnaldo Momigliano, Paul Oskar Kristeller, Delio Cantimori, Sebastiano Timpanaro, Clifford Truesdell and Ettore Passerin d'Entrèves. A digital library is also being developed as part of the library service.
The Archival Centre of the Scuola Normale Superiore, established in October 2013, preserves, in addition to the rich documentary heritage of the Scuola, numerous archives of 19th and 20th century cultural figures acquired through testamentary legacies, gifts and deposits but also thanks to a targeted purchasing policy. Many collections come from former students and / or former lecturers of the Scuola Normale (collections from the directors Enrico Betti, Alessandro d'Ancona, Ulisse Dini, Luigi Bianchi and Gilberto Bernardini), but also from gifts or purchases: among these, mention must be made of the Salviati archive, which, among its important documents, also preserves an autograph manuscript by Machiavelli.
The research centres and the laboratories operating at the Normale are:
Bio@SNS – Laboratorio di Biologia(Biology Laboratory)
CRM – Centro di Ricerca Matematica Ennio De Giorgi (Ennio De Giorgi Mathematics Research Centre)
DocStAr – Documentazione Storico Artistica (Artistic Historical Documentation)
NEST – National Enterprise for nanoScience and nanoTechnology
SAET – Storia, Archeologia, Epigrafia, Tradizione dell'antico (History, Archaeology, Epigraphy, Tradition of the ancient)
SMART – Strategie Multidisciplinari Applicate alla Ricerca e alla Tecnologia (Multidisciplinary Strategies Applied to Research and Technology)
STAR – Systems and Theories for Astrochemical Research
The students of the Scuola Normale, in Pisa, are currently housed in four colleges, located in the town:
The Carducci College is located in via Turati, not far from Pisa central station; it has been owned by the Scuola since 1994. Partially restored in 2002, it is also being renovated at the moment. This building was dedicated to the illustrious poet and scholar, Giosuè Carducci, who was an undergraduate student of the faculty of humanities from 1853 to 1856 and a Nobel Prize winner for literature in 1906.
The Fermi college, owned by the Scuola since 1993, is located a few steps away from the Palazzo della Carovana and has been used as accommodation for students since 1996. It is dedicated to the distinguished Italian physicist Enrico Fermi, a normalista as well as Nobel Prize winner for physics in 1938.
The Faedo College, which opened in 2006, is the last residential college acquired by the Scuola Normale and is shared with the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna. The building is located in Via del Giardino, near the Palazzo di Giustizia, and is dedicated to Alessandro Faedo, a normalista who subsequently became rector of the University of Pisa, president of the National Research Council and senator.
The Timpano College was the first real estate donation to the Scuola, in 1932: located on the Lungarno Pacinotti, it was donated to the Scuola by a singular character, the Calabrian Domenico Timpano, who had made a fortune selling, in the United States at the time of Prohibition, alcohol-based restorative products from his pharmaceutical industry. The building, damaged during the Second World War by the explosion of the nearby Ponte Solferino, was rebuilt in the 1950s, and was initially the female housing section for students of the Scuola Normale Superiore. Currently it is assigned to students and scholarship holders and is divided into three colleges: Timpano, Timpanino and Acconci (the latter acquired in 1967).
Students of the postgraduate course do not usually stay in the colleges, but receive a monthly grant for accommodation; in Florence, however, the Residenza Capitini – a building owned by the City of Florence, recently renovated with funds made available by the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research – can accommodate students of the postgraduate courses of the Department of Political and Social Sciences .
Those who have right of access to the canteen of the Scuola Normale, located on the lower floors of Palazzo D'Ancona (in the immediate vicinity of the Palazzo della Carovana, in Via Consoli del Mare 5) are: undergraduate students, Italian and international PhD students, research grant holders, scholarship holders, teaching and administrative staff, and guests of the Scuola.
