The “Collegio Rotondi”, a school located in Gorla Minore, a small village close to Varese, was founded in 1599 by Giovanni Andrea Terzaghi, a marquis whose last will was to leave his estate, some plots of land and the little church of San Maurizio to the Christian Church. The premises were soon converted into a boarding school for the boys of Gorla Minore.
The name of the school comes from its first principal Giorgio Rotondi, who was appointed in 1816.
Elementary classes were the first to be established with the introduction of subjects, such as grammar, philosophy and rhetoric.
Nowadays the “Collegio Rotondi” is no longer a boarding school for boys only. It is a mixed school, instead. There is a nursery school, a primary school, a middle school and a high school with 400 students coming from the surrounding areas.
Nursery school classes start at 7:30am and parents have the chance to leave their little ones until 6:30pm. Primary school classes start at 8:30am. Philosophy and rhetoric are no more part of the programme; however, many new subjects are available: Italian, Mathematics, Science, History, Geography, English, Art, Religion, Music and PE.
As for middle school: lessons start earlier: the bell rings every morning at 8:00am! We attend every single day from Monday to Friday. We do get Friday afternoon off so that we can recharge a bit!
Last but not least, the Liceo Scientifico and Liceo Linguistico are the High Schools of Science and Foreign Languages of the Collegio. Mathematics, Latin, Philosophy, Physics or English language and literature, and modern foreign languages such as Spanish and German are some of the subjects studied by our schoolmates.
Education beyond the classroom is one of the strong features of our school. Every year there are a range of visits and field trips for students throughout the school and learning outside the classroom is promoted in many ways. In addition to our Christmas concert and show, there are evenings each year that showcase students’ work in dance or music.
Our school provides musical instrument tuition; there are a large number of extra-curricular activities, which enhance and extend the curriculum. Sport is an important subject in the school: our cross-country running competition is very popular and we all enjoy it!
We do like our school and we would never change it! We would be delighted for you to join us. So… what are you waiting for? Come and visit!
