Sapienza University of Rome

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Sapienza University of Rome (Italian Sapienza Università di Roma) is the largest European university and the most ancient of Rome's three state-funded universities. In Italian, Sapienza means "wisdom" or "knowledge".

History

La Sapienza was founded in 1303 by Pope Boniface VIII, as a Studium for ecclesiastical studies more under his control than the universities of Bologna and Padua.

In 1431, Pope Eugene IV introduced a new tax on wine, in order to raise funds for the university; the money was used to buy a palace that later hosted the Sant'Ivo church, "La Sapienza."

According to the Catholic Encyclopaedia, the university "remained closed during the entire pontificate of Clement VII". In 1870, La Sapienza stopped being the papal university and became the university of the capital of Italy. In 1935, the new university campus, planned by Marcello Piacentini, was completed.

As of the academic year 2006/7, La Sapienza consisted of twenty-one faculties and138,000 students. It has many locations in Rome, but is mainly situated in the Città Universitaria, near Termini Station.

Controversies

In January 15 2008 the Vatican cancelled a planned visit to La Sapienza University by Pope Benedict XVI who was to speak at the university ceremony launching the 2008 academic year due to protests by some students and professors.

Organization

Faculties

The university is divided into 21 faculties:

1st Faculty of Architecture Ludovico Quaroni
2nd Faculty of Architecture Valle Giulia
Faculty of Communication Sciences
Faculty of Economics
Faculty of Engineering
Faculty of Humanities
Faculty of Law
Faculty of Literature and Philosophy
Faculty of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Studies
1st Faculty of Medicine and Surgery
2nd Faculty of Medicine and Surgery
Faculty of Oriental Studies
Faculty of Pharmacy
Faculty of Philosophy
Faculty of Political Sciences
1st Faculty of Psychology
2nd Faculty of Psychology
Faculty of Sociology
Faculty of Statistics
School for Aerospace Engineering
School for Library and Archive Studies

Research centers & major research groups

Centro Ricerche Aerospaziali, responsible for the Italian rocket program, based on San Marco platform
SPES - Development Studies, research centre on Development studies at La Sapienza