Real Collegio Carlo Alberto
Municipality of Moncalieri
The temple of aristocratic education
Founded in 1838 by Carlo Alberto to educate the Piedmontese aristocratic elite, the Royal College combines architectural grandeur, educational rigour and scientific heritage. Today, it is an active cultural centre and a living memory of a time when education was seen as a vocation.
SCOPRI DI PIù
Inaugurated in 1838 by King Carlo Alberto, the Royal College was conceived as a centre of excellence for the education of the young aristocratic elite of Piedmont.
Entrusted to the Barnabite Fathers, the institute occupies the premises of a former 18th-century Franciscan convent and is built around a monumental layout with atriums, staircases, galleries and halls that express the cult of education and science.
The College hosted lessons in philosophy, rhetoric, ancient and modern languages, mathematics and natural sciences.
Of particular value is the Gallery of Portraits of the “Principles of Studies”, which displays the faces of illustrious students, and the rich museum collection, which includes examples of ornithology, mineralogy and antique scientific instruments.
On the side of the neoclassical façade is the Meteorological Observatory founded by Father Francesco Denza, an internationally renowned scientist and priest.
The street on which it stands, now Via del Real Collegio, was the ancient “Via dei Signori”, along which important noble buildings still stand. Opposite is the Oratory of Jesus, an integral part of the original educational-religious system.
The building is now an active cultural centre and a testament to a time when education was conceived as an art and a moral discipline.
Explore the place where knowledge became a noble destiny
Visit the Royal College and be charmed by the elegance of the interiors, the scientific collections and old-fashioned educational rigour.
