Schools in Rome: Italian state school, bilingual or international?

The real choice in Rome is between a free Italian state school your kids will struggle in for six months, and an international school that costs as much as a Sydney private school.

The short version

• Italian state school (scuola statale) is free. School is compulsory from 6 to 16, and foreign children have the right to enrol.
• Enrolment for the first year of primary, middle and high school happens online on the Ministry's Unica platform in January and February. For 2026–27 the window ran from 13 January to 14 February 2026 [1][2].
• International schools in Rome charge roughly €13,000 to €28,000 a year in 2026–27, plus one-off family fees of around €5,000 [3][4].
• We couldn't find any school in Rome teaching the Australian curriculum. The International Baccalaureate is the most portable option for a family heading home.
• For under-threes, the national bonus asilo nido pays up to €3,600 a year towards nido fees [5].

How Italian schooling is structured

Italian school stages don't line up neatly with Australian year levels, so it's worth getting the shape clear before you talk to any school.

Some differences that surprise Australian parents:

• Kids start primary at six. Children turn up to prima elementare in the September of the year they turn six, so a five-year-old who's done Foundation in Australia might go back into the Italian infanzia.
• High school is chosen at 13 or 14. At the end of the medie, families pick a track: a liceo (classical, scientific, languages, arts and others), a technical institute or a vocational one. It's a bigger decision than choosing a high school at home.
• High school runs five years. Italian students sit the maturità exam at about 19.
• The year runs September to June. In Lazio, school usually starts in mid-September and finishes in early June, with a long summer break and short holidays at Christmas and Easter. Many primary schools finish in the early afternoon unless your child is in tempo pieno (full-day) classes, so check the hours.
• Religion is optional. When you enrol, you're asked whether your child will attend Catholic religion classes. If you opt out, you fill in a separate form (Modulo C) to choose an alternative [2].

Enrolling in an Italian state school

For an Australian family arriving at the normal time, the process runs like this.

1. Get your codice fiscale and your child's. The Unica form asks for both.
2. Get a digital identity. You log into Unica with SPID, the electronic ID card (CIE), the CNS card or eIDAS [2]. SPID usually needs an Italian phone number and ID, so start early.
3. Shortlist schools near home. Many state schools are part of an istituto comprensivo that covers infanzia, primary and medie. Scuola in Chiaro, the Ministry's search tool, lists each school's details. Most schools hold open days in December or January, ahead of the enrolment window.
4. Apply on Unica in the January window. For 2026–27, schools published their forms by 10 January and families applied from 8:00 on 13 January to 14 February [1][2]. You can list a first choice and back-ups; popular schools fill up and give priority by their own criteria, usually including how close you live.
5. Enrol for infanzia on paper. State scuole dell'infanzia aren't on Unica. You hand in a paper form at the school office, and city-run (comunale) infanzia follow Roma Capitale's own rules and dates [2].
6. Hand over vaccination records. Italy has compulsory childhood vaccinations, and for nido and infanzia they're a condition of entry. Bring your child's Australian Immunisation Register history statement (you can download it through Medicare online) and have it translated if the school asks.

Arriving mid-year

Most Australian families don't land neatly in January. If you arrive during the year, you don't use Unica. You go to the school office (segreteria) of a nearby state school and ask to enrol. Under Italian law foreign children can be enrolled at any point in the year, whatever their legal status, and are normally placed by age, sometimes a year lower if their Italian is weak. Bring passports, the codice fiscale, school reports from Australia and the vaccination statement. Expect to be sent to another school if the first one is full.

Most schools offer some Italian as a second language support, but it varies a lot. Younger children usually pick up the language within a year. Teenagers going into a liceo with little Italian have a much harder time, and that's where many families switch to an international school.

International schools in Rome

Rome has a solid spread of international schools, mostly in the leafy north and west of the city. None, as far as we could find, follow the Australian curriculum. The common choices are:

• American curriculum with IB or AP: the American Overseas School of Rome (AOSR) on Via Cassia, and Marymount International School on Via di Villa Lauchli, both in the north [3][4]. Ambrit Rome in Monteverde is a smaller American-style school.
• British curriculum (GCSE and A-level or IB): St George's British International School, plus smaller British schools such as Southlands English School in Casal Palocco near the coast.
• IB-focused: St Stephen's School, a high school on the Aventine.
• National schools of other countries: the French Lycée Chateaubriand and the German Deutsche Schule Rom, for families who speak those languages.

Fees for 2026–27 from two schools that publish them:

Converted to Australian dollars, that's comparable to many Sydney or Melbourne independent schools. Some schools also charge for buses, lunches, trips and uniforms. If an employer is moving you, ask whether school fees are in the package before you sign anything.

Which way to go

Nido and childcare

Rome has city-run nurseries (nidi comunali), state-recognised private ones and private ones. Roma Capitale's nidi charge fees based on your ISEE, the Italian household means-test figure. Applications are typically made online in spring for a September start, and places are competitive in central areas. Without an ISEE, you'll be charged at the top rate, so get one done through a CAF (tax assistance centre) once you're resident.

The national bonus asilo nido, paid by INPS, helps with nursery fees for children under three [5]:

• For children born from 1 January 2024, up to €3,600 a year if your ISEE is up to €40,000, or €1,500 a year above that or without an ISEE.
• For older children, €3,000, €2,500 or €1,500 a year, depending on the ISEE.
• It's paid monthly against fees you've actually paid, up to 11 months a year, and since 2026 one application lasts until the August the child turns three [5].

Private nurseries in Rome usually cost more than the city ones, but they may have places when the comunale list is full.

The Australian angle

• No Child Care Subsidy abroad. Australia's CCS doesn't follow you overseas. Tell Services Australia when you leave so payments stop and you don't run up a debt.
• Plan the move home early. Australian states place returning students by age, and an IB or British transcript translates fairly easily. An Italian pagella (report card) will need translating and explaining. Our guide to schooling Australian kids abroad covers re-entry.
• Keep English literacy going. Kids in an Italian state school often fall behind in English spelling and writing. Many Australian families add reading at home or an English tutor.
• Citizenship matters for fees later. If your child is born in Rome or you plan for them to study in Australia later, registering their Australian citizenship by descent keeps domestic university fees open.

Want to hear from Aussie parents who've done the medie or the international-school route? Join Cooee Italy, our Facebook group for Australians in Italy, and ask. Join the community.

Sources

1. Nota MIM prot. n. 8069 del 18 dicembre 2025: iscrizioni a.s. 2026/2027 – Ministero dell'Istruzione e del Merito
2. Iscrizioni scuola 2026-2027: si parte il 13 gennaio – Panorama (January 2026)
3. Tuition fees 2026–2027 – American Overseas School of Rome
4. Tuition fees – Marymount International School Rome
5. Bonus nido 2026 – CGIL Roma e Lazio (April 2026)

Keep reading

• Learning Italian in Rome: courses that actually get you talking
• Moving to Rome from Australia: the complete guide
• Renting in Rome as an Australian
• Schooling Australian kids abroad: choosing a school and getting back in