The University of Florence ( Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'', UniFI) is an Italian

public research university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national university ...

located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled.

History

The first university in Florence was the Studium Generale, which was established by the

Florentine Republic The Republic of Florence, officially the Florentine Republic ( it, Repubblica Fiorentina, , or ), was a medieval and early modern state that was centered on the Italian city of Florence in Tuscany. The republic originated in 1115, when the Flo ...

in 1321. The Studium was recognized by Pope Clement VI in 1349, and authorized to grant regular degrees. The Pope also established that the first Italian

faculty Faculty may refer to: * Faculty (academic staff), the academic staff of a university (North American usage) * Faculty (division), a division within a university (usage outside of the United States) * Faculty (instrument) A faculty is a legal in ...

of theology would be in Florence. The Studium became an imperial university in 1364, but was moved to

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

in 1473 when Lorenzo the Magnificent gained control of Florence. Charles VIII moved it back from 1497 to 1515, but it was moved to Pisa again when the Medici family returned to power. The modern university dates from 1859, when a group of disparate higher-studies institutions grouped together in the Istituto di Studi Pratici e di Perfezionamento, which a year later was recognized as a full-fledged university by the government of newly unified Italy. In 1923, the Istituto was officially denominated as University by the Italian Parliament.

Organization

The university is subdivided into 12 schools, which are: Agriculture; Architecture; Arts; Economics; Education; Engineering; Law; Mathematics, Physics and Natural Sciences; Medicine and Surgery;

Pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

; Political Science; and Psychology. Faculties are located in traditionally strategic areas based on their subject matter. The Faculty of Economics, Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Political Sciences are in the

Polo delle Scienze Sociali Polo is a ball game played on horseback, a traditional field sport and one of the world's oldest known team sports. The game is played by two opposing teams with the objective of scoring using a long-handled wooden mallet to hit a small hard ...

(campus of social sciences), in the Novoli district, near the new courthouse. The Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, the Faculty of Pharmacology, and certain scientific and engineering departments are in the Careggi district, close to the hospital. The Faculty of Engineering is located at the S. Marta Institute, whereas the Faculty of Agriculture is in front of the

Parco delle Cascine The Parco delle Cascine (Cascine Park) is a monumental and historical park in the city of Florence. The park covers an area of 160 hectares (395 acres). It has the shape of a long and narrow stripe, on the north bank of the Arno river. It extends ...

. The Faculty of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences is located in

Sesto Fiorentino Sesto Fiorentino (), known locally as just Sesto, is a municipality (''comune'') in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, central Italy. History The oldest known human settlement in the area dates from the Mesolithic (c. 9,000 years ago) ...

. The Faculty of Architecture is in the center of the city, as the Accademia di Belle Arti, home of

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

's David. The Faculties of Literature, History, Philosophy, and Pedagogy are in the centre of Florence.

Corporate relations

Florence has a wide network of corporate placement opportunities for its students. Florence has recently collaborated internationally with TreeAndHumanKnot, part of the RisingIndia ThinkTank which provides opportunities abroad for its students.

Notable people

Alumni

Notable alumni of the University of Florence include: *Italian journalists Indro Montanelli, Oriana Fallaci,

Nadia Toffa Nadia is a female name. Variations include Nadja (given name), Nadja, Nadya, Nadine (given name), Nadine, Nadiya, and Nadiia. Most variations of the name are derived from Arabic, Slavic languages, or both. In Slavic, names similar to ''Nadia'' m ...

*Former Governor General of Canada and current

Secretary-General of La Francophonie The (OIF; sometimes shortened to the Francophonie, french: La Francophonie , but also called International Organisation of in English-language context) is an international organization representing countries and regions where French langua ...

Michaëlle Jean *Pope Pius II *Italian Prime Ministers

Giovanni Spadolini Giovanni Spadolini (21 June 1925 – 4 August 1994) was an Italian politician and statesman, who served as the 44th prime minister of Italy. He had been a leading figure in the Republican Party and the first head of a government to not be ...

, Lamberto Dini and Matteo Renzi *Italian political leaders Giorgio La Pira *Architect

Pier Carlo Bontempi Pier Carlo Bontempi (born 1954) is an Italian architect. He is a representative of New Urbanism and New Classical Architecture, with a particular emphasis on urban context and the continuity of architectural traditions. Bontempi was awarded t ...

*President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli. *Architect Hamid Gabbay *Astrophysicist Margherita Hack *Immunologist

Paola Ricciardi-Castagnoli Paola Ricciardi-Castagnoli (born September 14, 1948), is an Italian Immunologist based in Siena, Italy. Paola is the scientific director of Toscana Life Sciences Foundation (TLS) in Siena. She was former scientific director of the Singapore Im ...

*Philosopher

Giacomo Marramao Giacomo Marramao (born 1946) is an Italian philosopher who teaches theoretical philosophy and political philosophy at the Roma Tre University in Rome. Education Marramao studied at the University of Florence where he graduated in philosophy und ...

* United Nations official

Annalisa Ciampi Annalisa Ciampi is an Italian law professor and public official. In 2017, Ciampi served as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association. Education Ciampi received her Juris Doctor degree from ...

*Poets Margherita Guidacci and

Mario Luzi Mario Luzi (20 October 1914 – 28 February 2005) was an Italian poet. Biography Born in Castello, near Sesto Fiorentino, Luzi's parents, Ciro Luzi and Margherita Papini, hailed from Samprugnano (later Semproniano). He spent his youth in Castel ...

*Doctor

Francesco Antommarchi Francesco, the Italian language, Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis (given name), Francis", is the List of most popular given names, most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: Pe ...

, personal doctor of Napoleon *Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf of the International Court of Justice *Philosopher Giovanni Gentile *Indian Luge Player Shiva Keshavan * Francesco Milleri, CEO of Luxottica * Giulio Racah, Acting President of the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

Mirella Levi D'Ancona Mirella Levi D'Ancona (1919–2014) was an Italian-born American professor and art historian. She was professor emeritus at Hunter College (from 1959–1986) in art history. D’Ancona did critical research on iconography of animal, floral and veg ...

, art historian

Faculty

* John Argyropoulos taught Greek from 1456. *

Raphael Badius Raphael Badius was a Florence, Florentine Dominican Order, Dominican of the seventeenth century. Overview Badius was versed in Tuscany, Tuscan and Florentine antiquities, and his researches made him conversant with matters of history and hagiogra ...

, dean in 1681 * Carlo Emilio Bonferroni, statistician *

Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was somet ...

, poet, professor of Ancient Greek and Literature * Piero Calamandrei, jurist, professor in the faculty of law, born in 1889. * Antonio Cassese, international jurist, president of several international tribunals * Mario Draghi, prime minister of Italy from 2021, President of ECB, full professor of Monetary Economics and Monetary Policy in the faculty of Political Science from 1981 to 1991. *

Enrico Fermi Enrico Fermi (; 29 September 1901 – 28 November 1954) was an Italian (later naturalized American) physicist and the creator of the world's first nuclear reactor, the Chicago Pile-1. He has been called the "architect of the nuclear age" and ...

, physicist and Nobel prize, professor of Mathematical Physics *

Giorgio Gaja Giorgio Gaja is an Italian jurist. A scholar in international law, he was elected in 2012 as a judge of the International Court of Justice. Early life and education Giorgio Gaja was born in Lucerne, Switzerland in 1939. In 1960, he graduated f ...

, international jurist, former member of the International Law Commission and judge of the International Court of Justice * Paolo Grossi, judge of the Constitutional Court of Italy *

, poet, professor of French language and Literature * Giovanni Sartori, political scientist, professor of Political Science, born in 1924 in Florence. *

, historian and important Italian politician, professor of Contemporary History, born in 1925 in Florence. * Leonardo da Vinci carried out studies on anatomy at the

Santa Maria Nuova Hospital Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnight ...

in the center of town which is today a teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Florence. * Giuseppe Conte, prime minister of Italy from 2018 to 2021, teaches

private law Private law is that part of a civil law legal system which is part of the ''jus commune'' that involves relationships between individuals, such as the law of contracts and torts (as it is called in the common law), and the law of obligations ( ...

Points of interest

* Museo Galileo * Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze * Orto Botanico di Firenze