PISA UNIVERSITY

Pisa University has been selected by Roberto Amati in relation to the real history of european integration, then enlisted in the UNIVERSITAS category, accompanied by own fact SHEET useful to the comprehension, completed of historical MAPS AND IMAGES or with a direct linking to the related Blog contents dedicated to the aeternitas and the future of Europe.

	FOUNDATION
Year	1343 A.D.
City	Pisa
Founder	Pope Clement VI
Where	Republic of Pisa
Originary subjects	Civil and Canon Law , medicine , theology

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	NOWADAYS
State	Italy
Name	University of Pisa (Università di Pisa , Scuola Superiore 'Normale')
Seates	Pisa , Florence , Tuscany
Degree programs	every scientific and humaninties disciplines
Library	Library System of the University of Pisa
Collegium	NO
Alumni	Associazione Laureati Ateneo Pisano (ALAP)
Famous teachers	Leonardo Fibonacci , Bartolus de Saxoferrato , Baldus de Ubaldis , Mauro Cristofani , Armando Carlini , Arnold Davidson, Dominic of Flanders, Lorenzo Magalotti , Ugo Spirito , David Levi , Valerio Magrelli , Giovanni Pascoli , Girolamo Maggi , Bernard Comment , Francesco Accarigi , Carlo Costamagna , Lorenzo Bellini , Marcello Malpighi , Robert Schiff , Egon Börger , Corradino D'Ascanio, Eugenio Beltrami , Enrico Bombieri , Giovanni Alfonso Borelli , Sergio Campanato , Benedetto Castelli , Corrado De Concini , Ennio De Giorgi , Luigi Guido Grandi , Alessandro Marchetti , Claudio Procesi , Leonida Tonelli , Angelo Maffucci , Pietro Grocco and Paolo Mascagni , Bernard H. Lavenda , Carlo Matteucci , Roy McWeeny , Giulio Racah , Gian-Carlo Wick , Enrica Calabresi , Giuseppe Toniolo , Philippe Buonarroti , Jože Pirjevec and Pasquale Villari, Luciano Bianciardi , Corrado Malanga
Famous scholars	Giacomo Acerbo , Giuliano Amato , Sandro Bondi , Maria Chiara Carrozza , Carlo Azeglio Ciampi , Massimo D'Alema , Giovanni Gronchi , Guido Buffarini Guidi , Enrico Letta , Antonio Maccanico , Fabio Mussi , Alessandro Natta , Marcello Pera , Enrico Rossi , Carlo Sforza , Sidney Sonnino , Paolo Emilio Taviani , Marcello Spatafora , Ioannis Kolettis , Diomidis Kyriakos , René Préval, Adan Cardenas , Ali Mohammed Ghedi, Archbishop Giovanni Battista Rinuccini , Cardinal Benedetto Accolti the Younger, Cardinal Pietro Accolti , Cardinal Francesco Barberini , Cardinal Cesare Borgia , Cardinal Giovanni Antonio Guadagni , Cardinal Francisco de Remolins , Cardinal Francesco Martelli , Cardinal Bandino Panciatici , Cardinal Raffaele Riario, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Tolomei , Pope Clement IX , Pope Clement XII , Pope Leo X , Pope Paul III , Pope Urban VIII , Rabbi Elio Toaff , Minister Angus Morrison , Paolo Farinella , Franco Pacini , Viviana Acquaviva , Clara Franzini-Armstrong , Giovanni Arcangeli , Guido Pontecorvo , Aldo Andreotti , Enrico Betti , Vincenzo Brunacci , Cesare Burali-Forti , Bonaventura Cavalieri , Guglielmo Libri Carucci dalla Sommaja , Giovanni Ceva , Luigi Fantappiè , Alessio Figalli , Guido Fubini , Christopher Hacon , Giuseppe Lauricella , Salvatore Pincherle , Ferdinando Pio Rosellini , Giovanni Salvemini , Carlo Somigliana , Vito Volterra , Guido Zappa , Francois Boller , Emilio Bizzi , Vincenzo Chiarugi, Paolo Macchiarini , Francesco Redi , François Carlo Antommarchi , Adolfo Bartoli , Temistocle Calzecchi-Onesti , Ennio Candotti , Nello Carrara , Enrico Fermi , Galileo Galilei , Luca Gammaitoni , Antonio Pacinotti , Eligio Perucca , Luigi Puccianti , Franco Rasetti , Vasco Ronchi , Carlo Rubbia , Sergio Donadoni , Edda Bresciani , Gianluca Miniaci , Ippolito Rosellini , Tania Bambaci , Mario Monicelli , Paolo Virzì , Simone Rapisarda Casanova , Carlo Ginzburg , Camillo Porzio , Mario Rosa , Giacinto Andrea Cicognini , Gian Biagio Conte , Francesco Cattani da Diacceto , Aldo Gargani , Giovanni Gentile , Anna Camaiti Hostert , Eufrosin Poteca , Jiyuan Yu, Hugo Kronecker , Andrea Bocelli , Francesco Rasi , Nazareno Strampelli , Atto Tigri , Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev , Henry Willey Reveley , Bruno Ferrante , Elisa Bertino , Luca Cardelli , Roberto Di Cosmo , Carlo Andrea Pozzo di Borgo , Luigi Bodio , Paolo Malanima , Giacinto Morera , Francesco Cappè , Lando Ferretti , Tiziano Terzani , Jurists Giuseppe Averani , Piero Calamandrei , Francesco Carrara , Antonio Cassese , Giovanni Lami , Remus Opreanu , Sabino Cassese , Stefano Arduini , Luigi Rizzi, Giosuè Carducci , Pier Francesco Guarguaglini , Luca Desiata , Gaetano Savi , Vincenzo da Filicaja , Giovanni Battista Guarini , Mauro Nervi , Silvano Arieti , Carlo Chiti , Andrea Vaccá Berlinghieri , Pietro Citati , Francesco Domenico Guerrazzi , Margaret King , Antonio Tabucchi , Enrico Hillyer Giglioli
Awards	Erasmus+ Charter for Higher Education for first time in 2017 A.D.

Officially founded in 1343 A.D., the Pisa University has deep roots in Italian and European history. Its origins probably date back to the XI century, while in next century Pisa already boasted a Universitas in the own sense of the word as community of students and lecturers, when Leonardo Fibonacci, the famous mathematician who introduced Greek geometry and Arabic mathematics to Europe, worked in the ancient maritime republic. But only with the Pope Clement VI’s bull 'In Supremae Dignitatis' was officially recognised Pisa University as a Studium Generale, granting it unique privileges and autonomy that were only afforded to other European cities such as Prague and Heidelberg.

In 1473 A.D. under rule of Lorenzo de’ Medici 'said the magnificent' Lord of Florence, Pisa was University strengthened and the Palazzo della Sapienza was founded, which remains the historic seat of the atheneum. It was a time of innovation and discovery, with notable figures such as Andrea Cesalpino and Galileo Galilei beginning important scientific studies at the atheneum, so that decades after Cosimo I de’ Medici founded a botanical garden, now known as the Botanical Garden of Pisa, one of the oldest in the world.

In XVIII century, under the Lorraine dynasty, Pisa University experienced a new phase of growth with the creation of new professorships and the adoption of innovative methods and during the Napoleon epoch, it was founded the Imperial Academy called 'Normale': connected to the École normale supérieure in Paris, for the first time courses and degrees were established laying the foundation for the modern university structure. Along the Restoration and Risorgimento age, the University of Pisa established itself as a centre of cultural studies and reform and in 1826 A.D. became the first in Europe to establish a chair of Egyptology. At the unification of the Kingdom of Italy, Pisa University was recognized as one of the primary universities of the country.

Since the XX century, Pisa University has maintained a prominent role on both the Italian and international scenes, and after the Second World War it distinguished itself in many areas of research, introducing cutting-edge courses such as Information Science and History and Film Criticism: in the Sixties, the Calcolatrice Elettronica Pisana (CEP) was developed at the University of Pisa, where the first Italian Internet connection was also inaugurated.

Today the University of Pisa is a centre of excellence in the world with 20 departments, over 150 degree courses and 50 specialty schools, while thanks to its long tradition, successful research, and innovation, the 'Normale' Academy is recognised as one of the best in Italy and Europe, along with its illustrious alumni including Nobel laureates such as Enrico Fermi and Carlo Rubbia and prominent figures in the cultural and scientific world such as Andrea Bocelli and Alessio Figalli. Pisa University continues to be a symbol of excellence and international openness, with a constant commitment to building bridges between cultures, disciplines and people to meet the challenges of the future.

Pisa University takes part in international networks and cooperation initiatives that enhance its role as active member of the global academic community, committed to promoting sustainability, peace, and inclusion. These partnerships bring together universities, research centres, and public and private institutions to foster the exchange of knowledge, best practices, and joint projects. They also support the mobility of students and researchers, enhancing the internationalisation of study programmes and the development of academic and professional skills. Pisa University is active member of: European University Alliance, RUniPace - University for peace network, UNHCR– Inclusive University Manifesto, CUCS - University Coordination for Development Cooperation, RUS - Network of Universities for Sustainable Development, SAR - Scholars at Risk, Tour4EU - Tuscan Organisation of Universities and Research for Europe, Uni-Italia - Study in Italy, UNIMED - Mediterranean Universities Union. The atheneum is also a partner in the following foundations: Foundation for the management of bequests and acts of liberality for student support and research activities at the University of Pisa; Kristina Bronislava Przyiemska Sbranti Foundation; Giovanni and Iva Cantini Scholarship Foundation; Galileo Galilei Foundation at University of Pisa;​ Collegio Puteano Foundation.

As of now, Pisa University has collaborations with over 50 different countries across all 6 continents, such as the Cineca Interuniversity Cooperation Agreements Database, promoted by MAECI, MUR, and CRUI, developed by CINECA. The University of Pisa promotes the culture and practice of music within its community: the 'Maria Antonella Galanti' Music Center, part of the Center for Innovation and the Dissemination of Culture (CIDIC), coordinates the activities of the Choir and the Orchestra formed in a.a. 1999/2000 on initiative of Prof. Carolyn Gianturco, who coordinated the group of students of the Pisa University, with participation of teachers and administrative personnel and some foreing students involved in the Erasmus project. In its nearly 700 years of existence, the University of Pisa has gathered a vast and diverse historical, scientific, and artistic heritage in its 10 museums, for educational and research purposes (Museo di Storia Naturale dell’Università di Pisa, Collezioni Egittologiche, Gipsoteca di Arte Antica, Museo Anatomico Veterinario, Museo degli Strumenti per il Calcolo, Museo della Grafica, Museo di Anatomia Patologica, Museo di Anatomia Umana, Orto e Museo Botanico, Museo degli Strumenti di Fisica). Moreover, The CUS Pisa is the heart of the universitarian sports activities and manages plants, courses and tournements, promoting its participation to the National Universitarian Championates.

In 2011 A.D., the University of Pisa came in first place among the Italian universities, according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities and within the best 30 universities in Europe. It is in the top 100 universities of all the world rankings.

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Not far from Pisa are sited other 2 ancient and prestigious univesitas, the Siena University and the Florence University.

The Università degli Studi di Siena had been founded in 1240 A.D. as Universitas Senarum and inherited the tradition of the more ancient Studium Aretino open since 1215 A.D. in Arezzo (same Tuscan region of Italy) but destined to be closed at the end of Middle Age, when declined in importance after being overtaken by newer Italian universities: in that city the the University of Siena has operated a branch campus since 1969 A.D.. Ildebrandino Cacciaconti, then podestà of Siena, signed a decree imposing a tax on citizens who rented rooms to students of the local Studium Senese for paying salaries of the teachers of the new city studium. It was further supported when Pope Innocent IV declared both its teachers and students completely immune from taxes and forced labour levied on their person or property by the city of Siena. Moreover, the Commune of Siena exempted teachers of law and Latin from the military service and teachers of Latin were also excused from their duties as night watchmen. The first issues teached had been Latin, logic, law and medicine.

One of the most notable teacher of the School of Medicine was Pietro Ispano (future Pope John XXI), a philosopher and personal doctor to the emperor Frederick II. In 1321 A.D. the Studium was able to attract a larger number of pupils due to a mass exodus from the prestigious University of Bologna, when one of its students was sentenced to death by city's magistrates for supposedly kidnapping a young woman. The Studium of Siena was eventually promoted to the status of Studium Generale by emperor Charles IV, shortly after his coronation: this both placed teachers and students under the safeguard of the imperial authority (protecting them from the local magistracy) and also meant that the licences granted by the university were ubique docendi.

By the mid-14th century, Siena declined as an independent power in Tuscany, eclipsed by the rise of Florence that defeated the Republic of Siena in 1555 A.D.: the city authorities, however, successfully asked the Medici (the hereditary dukes of Florence at the time) to preserve their city academy, so that dukes Francesco and later Ferdinando I reformed the Siena University with new statutes and prerogatives and the post of Rettore (Rector) was insitituted as elected by students and city magistrates. When the Medici line became extinct and the Tuscany passed under ruole of the House of Lorraine, the economist Sallustio Bandini, seemingly determined to "improve the intellectual stimulation of his native Siena", solicited scholarships from rich patrons for the university and also set up a large library, which he eventually bequeathed to the university.

In 1808 A.D., when Napoleon occupied Tuscany eliminated the Studium Senese and the doors of the atheneum were closed until the restoration of Ferdinand III as Grand Duke of Tuscany. During the Risorgimento, the movement towards the unification of Italy, Sienese students organised groups which were openly patriotic and expressed their dissent and participated in the independent battles of Curtatone and of Montanara: as a consequence, the Grand Duke closed down the School of Medicine permitting only Law and Theology to continue.

After the Second Italian War of Independence in 1859 A.D. and its aftermath, Tuscany and with it Siena were joined to the Kingdom of Italy and the Siena University eventually recovered from the unrest, thanks to initiatives by city's private enterprises and a series of legislative acknowledgements that boosted the reputation of the School of Pharmacy and that of Obstetrics (and consequently the School of Medicine itself) while the old hospital Santa Maria della Scala was transformed into General University Hospital. Some time later, the Law Faculty established the Circolo Giuridico (or Legal Circle), where issues pertaining to law studies were examined in depth through seminars and lectures. When in 1892 A.D. the Minister of Public Education launched a proposal aimed at suppressing the Sienese academy’s activities, a general tradesmen’s strike and the intervention of all of the town’s institutions and by a genuine uprising of the population induced the minister to withdraw the project. Having escaped this danger, the town went back to investing its resources in the university setting up new degrees and new faculties and the ancient bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena financed the construction of the biology department.

The 20th century witnessed the growth of the University of Siena, with its student population escalating to more than 15,000 in the last few years. Notable alumni and teachers of its history are: Pope John XXI, Cino da Pistoia, Antonio de Venafro, Pandolfo Petrucci, Pope Julius III, Francesco Accarigi, Pope Alexander VII, Domenico Barduzzi, Arrigo Solmi, Virginia Angiola Borrino, Piero Calamandrei, Carlo Rosselli, Richard M. Goodwin, Norberto Bobbio, Frank Hahn, Mauro Barni, Luigi Berlinguer, Samuel Bowles, Steven Lukes, Antonio Tabucchi, Paul Ginsborg, Riccardo Francovich, Desiderio Passali, Rino Rappuoli, Carlo Cottarelli, Gianna Nannini, Emanuele Papi, Antonio Giordano.

The University of Siena awards first cycle, second cycle and single long cycle degrees in the following faculties: Economics, Pharmacy, Law, Engineering, Arts and Humanities, Arts and Humanities in Arezzo, Medicine and Surgery, Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences and Political Science, as well as several interfaculty degrees. The University of Siena is ranked 607th in the world and is now included in the list of HR Acknowledged Institution. The creation of a European Higher Education and Research Areas represents a source of opportunities and challenges for universities so that Siena heights university​ and Siena university campus are on line. The University of Siena is member of various important international networks, whose aim is to promote and implement international cooperation: Coimbra Group, EUA, IRUN, TUNE, EURAXESS. The Orto Botanico dell'Università di Siena is the historical university's botanical garden.

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The Università degli Studi di Firenze was founded in 1321 A.D. as a public atheneum by the Repubblic of Florence, inmediately forced to be closed and reopened at midlle XIV century, teaching the disciplines of civil and canon law, literature and medicine. Many famous names were called upon as lecturers and Giovanni Boccaccio was commissioned to give lectures on the 'Divina Commedia' of Dante. Its importance was sanctioned by the Bull issued by Pope Clement VI, which recognised and validated the qualifications it awarded and extended the privilegia maxima already granted to the Universities of Bologna and Paris, establishing 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 dinsaty moved it to Pisa and transfers became frequent, depending on the changes of government. The french king Charles VIII brought it back to Florence from 1497 to 1515 A.D. when, with the return of the Medici, the Studium was moved again 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 'Accademia della Crusca' and the Cimento and teacher as Boccaccio, Lino Salutati and student like Poggio Bracciolini and Leonardo Bruni 'Aretino'.

It was only in 1859 A.D., 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 in the unified Italian state and gain recognised university status. During the Fascism epoch a special decree officially gave the Institute the name of University of Florence and the subsequent organisation of studies at the University was divided into the Faculties of Agriculture, Architecture, Economics, Pharmacy, Law, Humanities, Teacher Training, Medicine and Surgery, Mathematics, Physics and Natural Sciences and Political Science. 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. The Florence University is located in various parts of the city and even beyond the urban area with the scientific campus of Sesto Fiorentino and the campuses of Empoli and Calenzano, while educational activities are decentralised in Prato and Pistoia.

The University of Florence is a large university, with a very wide range of 146 courses spanning all subject areas,of which 15 are in English, organised into 10 Schools, a total population of around 51,000 enrolled, a quarter of whom come from outside the region. There are over 9,000 graduates every year in Florence and the percentage of them work one year after graduating is above the national average, according to Almalaurea data. The University of Florence represents one of the largest and most productive systems of public research in Italy, in terms of the number and scientific-disciplinary diversification of its tenured and fixed-term researchers and of the many junior scientists in training, the intense participation in research programmes of major national and international interest, the scientific results achieved and the funding that supports research and transfer activities from outside. This combination of factors, which qualifies Florence’s atheneum as a modern 'research university', is what determines its excellent positions in national and international assessments. Researchers at the University of Florence belong to 21 departments and use around 40 research facilities including inter-departmental and inter-university centres, as well as research, transfer and higher education centres. In recent years, the University of Florence strongly consolidated its transfer activities, from the filing of patents to the establishment of joint laboratories with companies to participation in spin-off companies. It has also developed a number of instruments promoting research-based innovation by strengthening the relationship between its own research facilities and external organisations. The transfer activity is coordinated by the University Service Centre for Research Enhancement and University Incubator Management (CsaVRI).

Florence University has always paid special attention to the development of collaborative relations with foreign universities and to the internationalisation process which has become a strategic and dominant aspect of the university's life in research, teaching, organisation of studies, and the mobility of lecturers, researchers and students, in line with the provisions of the Strategic Plan. Since 2020 A.D., UniFi has been part of the EUniWell Consortium, the European University of Well-being, funded by the European Union to explore new paths of internationalization and create the European University of the future. UniFi international dimension is also evidenced by the more than 500 international collaboration agreements in about 100 countries, the 700 Erasmus agreements as well as the numerous courses taught entirely in English and the courses of study that lead to double, joint or multiple degrees with other foreign universities. On the European research front, UniFi received the European HR Excellence in Research Award in December 2018 A.D.. It is also home to renowned centres such as LENS (European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy) and CERM (Centre for Magnetic Resonance Imaging).

Notable alumni of the University of Florence include: Indro Montanelli, Oriana Fallaci, Nadia Toffa, Michaëlle Jean, Pope Pius II, Giovanni Spadolini, Lamberto Dini, Giorgio La Pira, David Sassoli, Pier Carlo Bontempi, Hamid Gabbay, Margherita Hack, Paola Ricciardi-Castagnoli, Giacomo Marramao, Margherita Guidacci, Mario Luzi, Francesco Antommarchi, Giovanni Gentile, Shiva Keshavan, Francesco Milleri, Giulio Racah, Mirella Levi D'Ancona, Egisto Nino Ceccatelli. Among the famous teachers are: John Argyropoulos, Raphael Badius, Carlo Emilio Bonferroni, Giovanni Boccaccio, Piero Calamandrei, Antonio Cassese, Mario Draghi, Enrico Fermi, Giorgio Gaja, Mario Luzi, Giovanni Sartori, Giovanni Spadolini. The 'genius' Leonardo da Vinci carried out studies on anatomy at the Santa Maria Nuova Hospital in the center of Florence, which is today a teaching hospital affiliated with the University.

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