The Convitto Nazionale of Rome goes back to the Pontificio Collegio Clementino founded by Pope Clemente VIII Aldobrandini in 1595. This was an independent religious institution funded by a trust and housed in a Villa Bessarione in San Cesario, under the direction of the Padri Somaschi.
The College was not a seminary but a school designed for the education of the future intellectual, economic and social leading class.
In 1754, a second property, Villa Lucidi, situated in Monte Porzio Catone was acquired.
Later, in 1798, under Napoleon, the Republican government of the time abolished the College, selling part of the property to private buyers. In 1815 the Padri Somaschi managed to recover the major part of the property and the College was reopened in 1834.
Subsequently, in 1873, due to the abolition of the religious institutions, the Collegio Clementino was again abolished and its property passed over into the hands of the State, who later re-founded the College, under a new name, Convitto Nazionale, in 1891. The institution was granted the use of Villa Lucidi, a splendid building on a hill surrounded by olive groves and orchards, where the inmates of the Convitto could spend their summer holidays, studying and relaxing.
During World War II Villa Lucidi was requisitioned as a military hospital and is, today, the head quarters of the PA Data Processing Centre created and run by the Italian Ministry of Education and Research. The Provincial Administration of Rome granted £ 20.000 for a period of 10 years to finance deserving students in cases of social and economic need.
Until 1935, the Convitto was located in a historical building in Via del Clementino, Piazza Nicosia not far from Trinità dei Monti, after which the College moved to Piazza Monte Grappa, where a new, modern college, with spacious grounds and sports facilities had been built.
Sport played an essential part of the students’ lives and they could choose between horse riding, fencing, athletics, tennis, canoeing, skating, hockey and swimming.
In the 1960 Olympic Games the entire Italian Hockey team, which won several medals, came from the Convitto Nazionale.
The Convitto Nazionale V. Emanuele II was inaugurated by the Italian Ministry of Education in 1935.
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