A President’s school report Carlo Azeglio Ciampi
It was 1924 and in Livorno, in a building not far from the centre, the Jesuits opened a school. Initially it had just a few classes, then it grew to become a point of reference for the education of Livorno’s youth for decades to come. Thanks to the munificence of the Pate counts, the St Francis Xavier College of the Society of Jesus was founded that November 1924.
President Ciampi in school
Among the many pupils who have attended it, some 3,300 in the almost forty years of the Institute’s life, there is also a President of the Republic of Italy: Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, here in the photo as a child with thick, light-coloured curls, among his schoolmates.
Enrolled at the College since 1 October 1929, together with his brother Giuseppe, three years older, starting from the fourth grade, Ciampi remained there until he graduated from high school. He never collected his diplomas and some report cards, which are now kept in our Historical Archive, together with those of many other former pupils.
His file, number 248, still conserves his third grade report card, obtained at the Edmondo De Amicis school in Livorno, which he attended before being enrolled at the College, and his fifth grade report cards, his diploma for admission to the IV grammar school class, obtained at the Jesuit Institute.
In interviews, Ciampi himself recalled his years of study at the College, where he met Valentino Davanzati, the future Jesuit with whom he maintained a long friendship for the rest of his life and to whom he presented an important award as President of the Republic.
Are you an alumnus?
Are you children, grandchildren or descendants of former students of the Collegio San Francesco Saverio in Livorno? Or did you yourself attend the Institute and would you like to see your report card again, have a copy of your grandfather’s photo as a boarding school student? The Province’s Historical Archive allows relatives of former students to consult their report cards. Contact us for more information.
Maria Macchi
