Types of institutions

Lower secondary education is offered by lower secondary schools (scuole secondarie di I grado), which can be both State schools or State-equivalent (paritarie). These latter are independent schools, owned either by public bodies or by private subjects, that  meet some specific requirements and release the official certifications.

Often, lower secondary schools are part of ‘comprehensive institutes’ that group together schools from the pre-primary to the lower secondary level. Comprehensive institutes are run by a single school manager.

Finally, under certain conditions, pupils can attend lower secondary education also through home education or at private institutions.  

In school year 2024/2025, lower secondary schools were 7 915, of which 7 287 public schools (State-run and public independent schools) and 628 private independent schools.  

Geographical accessibility

The Constitution of the Italian Republic (art. 33 and 34) establishes that the State must provide access to education to all young people living in the country, regardless of the geographical area they live in and of their individual social and economic situation.

The central and branch administrations of the State, as well as regional, provincial and local administrations (municipalities) are responsible for achieving this goal. The Regions are responsible for the general planning of the educational offer and of the school network, so that resources can be used more rationally, and the school system can be run more efficiently. At local level, various services and support measure are available to encourage and enable school attendance of all pupils, thus making the universal right to study effective. For example, school transport falls under the responsibility of municipalities in accordance with criteria established at regional level.

Admission requirements and choice of school

Education is compulsory for ten years and covers primary, lower secondary and the first two years of upper secondary education. Therefore, enrolment in lower secondary school is compulsory for pupils who successfully passed the last year of the primary school. 

Pupils in State or paritarie schools neither sit for final exams at the end of primary education, nor for entrance exams to enrol in lower secondary education. In fact, besides being enrolment compulsory,  examinations only take place at the end of each cycle of education, i.e. at the end of the first cycle that coincides with the end of lower secondary school.

On the contrary, pupils attending a private primary school or receiving home education access  lower secondary education only after passing a qualifying examination (esame di idoneità) held in a State or paritaria primary school. In addition, they must hold the admission certificate to the first grade of lower secondary school.

Parents are free to choose which school to send their children. Each school establishes its own criteria for the enrolment of students in case applications exceed the number of places available. However, as this level of education is compulsory, schools and local authorities must work closely together to guarantee the right to study of all. During the months of January and February each year, parents submit the enrolment request through an online platform of the Ministry (Unica). At the submission, they indicate a school as a first choice and up to two alternative options. Parents receive an official communication once the first school has received the request of admission. In case the school rejects the request, this is re-directed to the other schools indicated by parents.

At enrolment, students and their parents sign a 'Joint responsibility agreement'. This document details the rights and duties (e.g. use of mobile telephones and electronic devices at school) of all stakeholders in the school community, i.e. the school staff, the students and their parents.

Age levels and grouping of pupils

Lower secondary education lasts 3 years and is generally attended by pupils aged from 11 to 14, organised in groups (classes) according to their age. 

In the first grade, a class is made up of a minimum of 18 and a maximum of 27-28 pupils. In the second and third grades, classes must have a minimum of 20 pupils. These limits can vary by 10%. Usually, the maximum number of pupils per class is lowered to 20, if there are pupils with disabilities. In fact, pupils with special educational need are integrated in mainstream classes. In schools located in small villages, usually in rural areas and on small islands, or in areas with linguistic minorities, the minimum number of pupils per class is 10. If the population is too low for the school to form separate classes with pupils of the same age, it is possible to group a maximum of 18 pupils of different ages in the same class (DPR 81/2009).

Class teachers are specialists in one or more subjects included in the curriculum. Teachers usually teach the same class throughout the whole three-year period.

Organisation of the school year

The organisation of the school year falls under the responsibility of both the Ministry of education and merit and the Regions. 

The Ministry is responsible for defining the calendar of the national holidays and the dates for the final examinations (D.Lgs. 297/1994). The Regions are responsible for defining the school calendar (start and end of school activities, length of breaks for national holidays, other holidays) to adapt it to the local needs (D.Lgs. 112/1998). Usually, Christmas holidays last two weeks and Easter holidays one week in most of the regions. Every year, the Ministry publishes on its website a summary table with all regional school calendars. The school calendars are also available in the Data and Visuals section of the Eurydice website.

The school year starts on the 1st of September and finishes on the 31st of August. Teaching activities, which include a minimum of 200 teaching days, the periodic and final assessments and the CPD activities, are carried out between the 1st of September and the 30th of June. Teaching days are distributed over 33 weeks for a minimum of 5 days a week. Schools that operate 6 days a week, include lessons on Saturdays.

For pupils’ evaluation purposes, each school can divide the period of teaching activities into two or three terms (periods of three or four months). The current minimum annual teaching time in lower secondary schools is 990 hours, corresponding to 30 hours per week, as established by central regulations (DPR 89/2009).

Organisation of the school day and week

The compulsory minimum annual timetable at lower secondary level is 990 hours of teaching, corresponding to 30 hours per week. Schools autonomously establish to organise the school week over five or six days. Schools can organise some or all the classes according to an extended timetable of 36 hours a week or, exceptionally, 40 hours including mealtime. To do so, schools must have adequate spaces and services to guarantee the lessons also in the afternoon. In addition, the choice of offering the extended timetable depends on the number of teachers assigned to the school. In case both the options are available, parents choose the timetable at their child’s enrolment (DPR 89/2009).

It also possible for schools to offer a music path. In this case, pupils attending the music path add 3 hours/week, corresponding to 99 hours/year, to the minimum 30-hour timetable (Decreto Interministeriale 176/2022). 

Schools organise their daily timetable autonomously. Hours are of 60 minutes and schools usually organise one or more 10-minute break at mid-morning.

The out-of-hours reception of pupils before or after school timetable is a service run by the municipalities and as such is subject to demand and the financial and staff resources available to local administrations. At this level of education, this type of out-of-hours service is not common. However, schools may be open to welcome students participating in activities organised by the school or by other public and private bodies.

Table 1 - The table below presents a sample 30-hour-week timetable, Saturday excluded:

Table 2 - The table below presents a sample 36-hour-week timetable, Saturday included: