L'Istituto Statale della Ss. Annunziata
Encyclopedia
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, founded for the daughters of Marquis Gino Capponi
Gino Capponi
Marquis Gino Capponi was an Italian statesman and historian.The Capponi family is one of the most illustrious Florentine houses, and is mentioned as early as 1250; it acquired great wealth as a mercantile and banking firm, and many of its members distinguished themselves in the service of the...
. The Institute was created in 1823, to educate aristocratic
Aristocracy (class)
The aristocracy are people considered to be in the highest social class in a society which has or once had a political system of Aristocracy. Aristocrats possess hereditary titles granted by a monarch, which once granted them feudal or legal privileges, or deriving, as in Ancient Greece and India,...
and noble
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
girls, under the patronage of Maria Anna of Saxony and Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany
Leopold II of Tuscany was the last reigning grand duke of Tuscany ....
. The original building was in the via della Scala, Florence. In 1865 it moved to the Villa del Poggio Imperiale overlooking Florence where it remains in situ today. The school has a Brother establishment in Prato
Prato
Prato is a city and comune in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city is situated at the foot of Monte Retaia , the last peak in the Calvana chain. The lowest altitude in the comune is 32 m, near the Cascine di Tavola, and the highest is the peak of Monte Cantagrillo...
, Collegio Cicognini where such luminaries as Curzio Malaparte
Curzio Malaparte
Curzio Malaparte , born Kurt Erich Suckert, was an Italian journalist, dramatist, short-story writer, novelist and diplomat...
and D'Annunzio
Gabriele D'Annunzio
Gabriele D'Annunzio or d'Annunzio was an Italian poet, journalist, novelist, and dramatist...
attended.
The school is subdivided into a mixed Elementary, Middle, and Upper School.
The Elementary school is an Italian-German school, teaching children in Italian, German and English. The Middle school teaches children predominantly in Italian and English, with the introduction of Latin and the option of Ancient Greek.
The Upper School, which is five years, is subdivided into Scientific, Linguistic, and European Classic schools. Students start at 14 years old.
The Linguists, focusses on German, Italian and English as well as the core subjects. Whilst the Scientific, promotes the sciences; Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Philosophy, History. Whereas the European Classic, orientated towards Law, Economics, Italian, German, Ancient Greek and Latin. The boarding is still private but follows the more demanding state curriculum.
As rooms are limited within the Medici
Medici
The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...
house boarding is reserved for only for approximately 80 girls. Girls come predominantly from all over Italy but nevertheless, there are few international students. Girls are called "Poggioline".
Notable alumni
- Dacia MarainiDacia MarainiDacia Maraini is an Italian writer. She is the daughter of Sicilian Princess Topazia Alliata di Salaparuta, an artist and art dealer, and of Fosco Maraini, a Florentine ethnologist and mountaineer of mixed Ticinese, English and Polish background who wrote in particular on Tibet and Japan...
: Italian writer - Princess Marie-José of BelgiumMarie-José of BelgiumMarie José of Belgium was the last Queen of Italy...
- last Queen of Italy - Edda MussoliniEdda MussoliniEdda Mussolini was the eldest child of Benito Mussolini, Italy's fascist dictator from 1922 to 1943. Upon her marriage to fascist propagandist and foreign minister Galeazzo Ciano she became Edda Ciano, Countess of Cortellazzo and Buccari.She strongly denied her involvement in the National Fascist...
- eldest child of Benito MussoliniBenito MussoliniBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism....