The University of Genoa () is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are "the key sites of Knowledge production modes, knowledge production", along with "intergenerational ...

. It is one of the largest universities in Italy and it is located in the city of

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, on the

Italian Riviera The Italian Riviera or Ligurian Riviera ( ; ) is the narrow coastal strip in Italy which lies between the Ligurian Sea and the mountain chain formed by the Maritime Alps and the Apennines. Longitudinally it extends from the border with F ...

in the

Liguria Liguria (; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is roughly coextensive with ...

region of northwestern Italy. The original university was founded in 1481.

Campuses

The University of Genoa is organized in several independent campuses located in different city areas: *The Balbi campus: includes the Rectorate, the central administration offices, the departments of Economics, Humanities, Philosophy, Languages, Law and Political Science; * The Sarzano campus: includes the departments of Education Sciences and Architecture; * The Albaro campus: comprises the departments of Engineering; * The Valletta Puggia campus: comprises the Departments of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry; * The San Martino campus: comprises the Departments of Medicine and Earth Sciences; Of great historical and artistic interest are the buildings in

Via Balbi Via or VIA may refer to the following: Arts and entertainment * ''Via'' (Volumes album), 2011 * Via (Thalia Zedek album), 2013 * VIA (music), Soviet and Russian term for a music collective Businesses and organisations * Via Foundation, a Cze ...

and in particular: the main university premises (via Balbi, 5) designed by the architect

Bartolomeo Bianco Bartolomeo Bianco (1590 – 1657) was an Italian architect of the early Baroque. Born at Como, he was the designer of several palaces in Genoa, where he moved to follow his father, also an architect. His works include the building which is now ...

and built in 1640, Palazzo Balbi Cattaneo (via Balbi, 2), and Palazzo Balbi Senarega (via Balbi, 4). Also of major historical interest is the complex of Albergo dei Poveri (piazza Emanuele Brignole). The university's

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

, the

Orto Botanico dell'Università di Genova The Orto Botanico dell'Università di Genova (1 hectare), also known as the Orto Botanico di Genova, is a botanical garden operated by the University of Genoa, and located at Corso Dogali, Genoa, Liguria, Italy. The garden was established in 1803 ...

, occupies one hectare in the city center, just above the university's main building. University of Genoa also has a number of regional campuses in

Savona Savona (; ) is a seaport and (municipality) in the west part of the northern Italian region of Liguria, and the capital of the Province of Savona. Facing the Ligurian Sea, Savona is the main center of the Riviera di Ponente (the western se ...

Imperia Imperia (; or ) is a coastal city and ''comune'' in the Regions of Italy, region of Liguria, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Imperia, and historically it was capital of the ''Intemelia'' district of Liguria. Benito Mussolini create ...

Ventimiglia Ventimiglia (; , ; ; ) is a resort town in the province of Imperia, Liguria, northern Italy. It is located west of Genoa, and from the French-Italian border, on the Gulf of Genoa, having a small harbour at the mouth of the Roia river, w ...

and

La Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguria ...

. In particular, * The Savona campus: hosts courses in Engineering, Medicine and Communication Sciences; * The La Spezia campus: hosts courses in Engineering, Design, Economics and Law; * The Imperia campus: hosts courses in Law and Economics. Near Ventimiglia, the University of Genoa operates the Hanbury Botanical Garden, a Protected Area and candidate for UNESCO World Heritage status within the "Mediterranean Alps" project.

History

In the 13th century in Genoa there were already Colleges which conferred degrees in

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

and

arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

. The College of Theology was established officially in 1471 with a

papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...

Sixtus IV Pope Sixtus IV (or Xystus IV, ; born Francesco della Rovere; (21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 August 1471 until his death in 1484. His accomplishments as pope included ...

(Francesco della Rovere). Some years after dates the promulgation of a Statute of the College of Medicine by the Council of the Elders in 1481. In 1569, by a decree of the Senate of

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( ; ; ) was a medieval and early modern Maritime republics, maritime republic from the years 1099 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italy, Italian coast. During the Late Middle Ages, it was a major commercial power in ...

, the Colleges were incorporated into the schools run by the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

. The Jesuits settled near the old Church of San Girolamo Del Rosso, and enlarged their premises by buying some land on which to house their College and schools. The building, which is now the main university premises, was designed by the architect

, and began to be used in 1640. After the suppression of the

Society of Jesus The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

in 1773, a special committee reorganized the various courses of study, dividing them in higher education (Canon Law, Philosophy, Civil Law, Theology, Logic and Metaphysics, Physics) and primary education (courses in Rhetoric, Reading and Writing). After the establishment of the French Empire, which absorbed the Republic of Genoa, higher education was subdivided into different special schools: Law, Medicine, Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Commerce, Language and Literature, Chemistry. The University of Genoa was affiliated to the Imperial

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

. It was reinstated as a separate university in 181

After the fall of Napoleon, the provisional Government of the Republic appointed a new Committee in charge of higher education, and at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, it was decided that the University of Genoa be entrusted to the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica among other names, was a State (polity), country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century, and from 1297 to 1768 for the Corsican part of ...

, enjoying the same privileges as those granted to the

University of Turin The University of Turin (Italian language, Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Torino'', UNITO) is a public university, public research university in the city of Turin, in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region of Italy. It is one of the List ...

. The university was closed owing to political disturbances between 1821 and 1823 and again between 1830 and 1835. In 1870, two first technical institutes of higher education were established: the Royal Naval School and the Royal School of Economic Studies, that in 1936, were absorbed by the Royal University of Genoa, becoming the Faculties of Engineering and Economics respectively. In the late 20th century, the university expanded rapidly, with new regional campuses. In 1996, some departments were established in

within a remodeled Army Barrack area. That campus hosts the Department of Engineering and also courses in Business. New laboratories have been made in Simulation, Logistics & Industrial Engineering, among others.

Organization

Schools and Departments

As of the academic year 2012-2013, the university is headed by a rector and it was divided into 5 schools, comprising a total of 23 departments (one of which is inter-school): * School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Physics ** Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry (DCCI) ** Department of Physics (DIFI) ** Department of Mathematics (DIMA) ** Department of Earth, Environmental and Life Sciences (DISTAV) ** Department of Computer Science, Bioengineering, Robotics and System Engineering (DIBRIS) inter-school department * School of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences ** Department of Pharmacy (DIFAR) ** Department of Internal Medicine and Medical Specialties (DIMI) ** Department of Experimental Medicine (DIMES) ** Department of Neurosciences, Rehabilitation, Ophthalmology and Maternal-Fetal Medicine (DINOGMI) ** Department of Surgical and Integrated Diagnostic Sciences (DISC) ** Department of Health Sciences (DISSAL) * School of Social Sciences ** Department of Economics (DIEC) ** Department of Law (DIGI) ** Department of Science Education (DISFOR) ** Department of Political Sciences (DISPO) * School of Humanities ** Department of Antics, Philosophy and History (DAFIST) ** Department of Italian, Roman, Antics, Arts and Drama Studies (DIRAAS) ** Department of Modern Cultures and Languages (DLCM) * Polytechnic School ** Department of Computer Science, Bioengineering, Robotics and System Engineering (DIBRIS) inter-school department ** Department of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering (DICCA) ** Department of Mechanical, Energy, Management, and Transportation Engineering (DIME) ** Department of Naval, Electrical, Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering (DITEN) ** Department of Architectural Sciences (DAD) The University of Genoa shares a branch campus of

Florida International University Florida International University (FIU) is a public research university with its main campus in Westchester, Florida, United States. Founded in 1965 by the Florida Legislature, the school opened to students in 1972. FIU is the third-largest univ ...

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, in Genoa. The two universities mutually host students of either university's School of Architecture.

Rankings

In the ranking of Italian universities, the University of Genoa is ranked 13th by

ARWU The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong Universi ...

, 18th by QS, and 18th by

THE ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

. The university is ranked 151–200 in Engineering - Civil and Structural in the QS World University Subject Rankings. Times Higher Education gave the university a rank of 150+ in the Law category in its 2020 list of subjects. According to

Microsoft Academic Search Microsoft Academic Search (MAS) was a research project and academic search engine retired in 2012. It relaunched in 2016 as Microsoft Academic, which in turn was shut down in 2022. The content of the latter was allegedly incorporated into The L ...

2016 rankings, the University of Genoa has high-ranking positions among the

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an universities in multiple

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

fields: * in

machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of study in artificial intelligence concerned with the development and study of Computational statistics, statistical algorithms that can learn from data and generalise to unseen data, and thus perform Task ( ...

and

pattern recognition Pattern recognition is the task of assigning a class to an observation based on patterns extracted from data. While similar, pattern recognition (PR) is not to be confused with pattern machines (PM) which may possess PR capabilities but their p ...

the University of Genoa is the best scientific institution in Italy and is ranked 36th in Europe; * in

computer vision Computer vision tasks include methods for image sensor, acquiring, Image processing, processing, Image analysis, analyzing, and understanding digital images, and extraction of high-dimensional data from the real world in order to produce numerical ...

the University of Genoa is the best scientific institution in Italy and is ranked 34th in Europe; * in

computer graphics Computer graphics deals with generating images and art with the aid of computers. Computer graphics is a core technology in digital photography, film, video games, digital art, cell phone and computer displays, and many specialized applications. ...

the University of Genoa is ranked 2nd institution in Italy and 35th in Europe.

Students

In the academic year 21/22, the university has a student population around 39,766. Of these, 33,920 are students entrolled in bachelor's and master's degree courses; 3,328 are students enrolled in doctorate, master's or specialisation school courses. Finally, 2,518 are students enrolled in other courses. The number of freshmen was 6,293 and the number of graduating students was 5,257.

Faculty

In 2021, there were 1,307 professors and scientific employees and 1,228 non-scientific employees working for University of Genoa.

Honorary titles

Since its foundation, the University of Genoa has awarded 46 gold medals to Italian students and 2 gold medals to international students, namely the Israeli student Khor Hoksari in 1993 and the Albanian student Agasi Bledar in 2021. Since 1992, it has awarded 140 honorary degrees and 1 honorary doctorate. The most recent honorary titles granted are:

Notable alumni

Giacomo Della Chiesa studied theology at Genoa and later became Pope Benedict XV *

Ornella Barra Ornella Barra (born 20 December 1953) is an Italian-born Monegasque businesswoman. A qualified pharmacist, she is chief operating officer, international of Walgreens Boots Alliance. She is married to the Italian billionaire Stefano Pessina. Biog ...

, founder of a pharmaceutical distribution company known as Di Pharma. Now chief executive of Alliance Healthcare, the Pharmaceutical Wholesale Division of Alliance Boots * Carlo Maria Becchi, theoretical physicist * Luigi Corradi, engineer and CEO of

Trenitalia Trenitalia Società per azioni, SpA is the primary train operator of Italy. A subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, itself owned by the Italian government. It was established in 2000 following a European Union directive on the deregulati ...

* Gianaurelio Cuniberti, Italian scientist and professor * Giacomo Della Chiesa, later

Pope Benedict XV Pope Benedict XV (; ; born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, ; 21 November 1854 – 22 January 1922) was head of the Catholic Church from 1914 until his death in January 1922. His pontificate was largely overshadowed by World War I a ...

Fabio Fazio Fabio Fazio (; born 30 November 1964) is an Italian television presenter. After debuting in 1982, he presented many TV programs, including '' Quelli che... il Calcio'', '' Vieni via con me'' and ''Quello che (non) ho''. Since 2003, he presents ...

, television presenter *

Kostas Georgakis Kostas Georgakis (; 23 August 194819 September 1970) was a Greek student studying geology in Italy. On 26 July 1970, while in Italy, he gave an interview denouncing the dictatorial regime of Georgios Papadopoulos. The junta retaliated by attacki ...

anti-fascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...

dissident who set himself ablaze as a protest against the

Greek military junta of 1967–1974 The Greek junta or Regime of the Colonels was a right-wing military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974. On 21 April 1967, a group of colonels with CIA backing overthrew the caretaker government a month before scheduled elections wh ...

* Serena Ivaldi, Italian roboticist *

Franco Malerba Franco Egidio Malerba (born 10 October 1946 in Busalla, Metropolitan City of Genoa, Italy) is an Italian astronaut and Member of the European Parliament. He was the first citizen of Italy to travel to space. In 1994, he was elected to the Europ ...

, first Italian astronaut * Vittorio Maragliano, pioneering radiologist *

Giuseppe Mazzini Giuseppe Mazzini (, ; ; 22 June 1805 – 10 March 1872) was an Italian politician, journalist, and activist for the unification of Italy (Risorgimento) and spearhead of the Italian revolutionary movement. His efforts helped bring about the ...

Sandro Pertini Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio "Sandro" Pertini (; 25 September 1896 – 24 February 1990) was an Italian socialist politician and statesman who served as President of Italy from 1978 to 1985. Early life Born in Stella (province of Savona) as t ...

antifascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...

dissident, later 7th

President of the Italian Republic The president of Italy, officially titled President of the Italian Republic (), is the head of state of Italy. In that role, the president represents national unity and guarantees that Italian politics comply with the Constitution. The presid ...

Enrico Piaggio Enrico Piaggio (22 February 1905 – 16 October 1965) was an Italian industrialist. Life Piaggio was born in Pegli, which at that time was an independent municipality. His father was Rinaldo Piaggio, the founder of Piaggio. He graduated with a ...

, industrialist * Tomaso Poggio, Eugene McDermott professor at MIT * Alessandro Riberi, noted physician and surgeon * Federico Sesti, Italian neuroscientist

Collaborations

The University of Genoa has a strong collaboration with the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), since its foundation in 2005.

References

External links

Official University of Genoa website
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Profile of University of Genoa on the Times Higher Education website
{{authority control Educational institutions established in the 15th century 15th-century establishments in the Republic of Genoa 1471 establishments in Europe Metropolitan City of Genoa Education in Genoa