Colleges

The Historical Archives of the Province hold documents or archive excerpts from numerous colleges of the Society, listed on the residences page. Only for six colleges we have the entire archival fond.

Massimiliano Massimo Institute, Rome

In 1879 Fr. Massimiliano Massimo used the family inheritance to found a school in Villa Peretti, in the area corresponding today to Piazza dei Cinquecento. In 1885 the new building known as “Palazzo Massimo alle Terme” was inaugurated, which today houses the Roman Archaeological Museum. In 1960 the school was moved permanently to its present location in the EUR district.

The collection extends for about 30 metres. It contains the registers of the primary school, middle school, technical school, gymnasium and high school from the opening of the school until the end of the 1960s. Also part of the fund are the photographic series, yearbooks, tuition registers and home diaries.

Visit the website of the Massimo Institute

San Francesco Saverio College, Livorno

Thanks to the munificence of the Counts Pate, in 1924 the Jesuits of the Roman Province opened the Collegio San Francesco Saverio in Livorno. The school was closed in 1968, while the building is still owned by the Society.

The collection is currently being reordered; it includes more than 3,000 personal files of the enrolled students, biographical cards, the photographic series and the house diaries.

Collegio degli Abruzzi, L’Aquila

The Collegio degli Abruzzi in L’Aquila was founded in 1928 inside Palazzo Camponeschi, adjacent to the Gesù Church. At the end of the 1960s, the school closed and a student residence was opened nearby.

The archival collection of the college was recovered after the 2009 earthquake, and is awaiting reorganisation. It measures 17 linear metres, and contains approximately 3300 personal files of the enrolled students, files, house diaries and the photographic series. Further documentation on the boarding school can be found in the Neapolitan Province fond.

Pontano Institute, Naples

Inaugurated in 1876, the College was initially located in Piazza S. Gaetano. Over the years it changed several locations until it settled in Palazzo Cariati, from which it took the name ‘Pontano alle Cariati’. The Pontano Institute was run by the Society of Jesus until 2011, is still in operation and is part of the Jesuit Education network.

Our archives hold house diaries, correspondence and photographs, while the school registers of primary, secondary and high school up to 1960 will be transferred in the coming months.

Part of the documentation relating to the first decades of the institute’s life can be found in the Neapolitan Province Fund.

Vist the website of the Pontano Institute

Conocchia Institute, Naples

The institute was located in the Conocchia complex in Naples and was active from 1886 to the 1960s. After the closure of the school, the documentation was transferred to the Curia of the Neapolitan Province, and was recently transferred to our Archive.

The Conocchia Institute fond is included in the holding of the Neapolitan Province, but it has been kept separate and most of the series are preserved according to their original structure.

The documentation, awaiting reorganisation, includes enrolment registers, house diaries, entry and exit registers and photographs. Further pictures and testimonies can be found among the papers of some Jesuits who lived at Conocchia, including Brother Corradino.

San Tomaso College, Cuneo

The college, inaugurated in 1880, was run by the Society of Jesus from 1888 to 1937. The same building housed the Novitiate of the Turin Province until the 1960s, the Apostolic School of the Province from the 1950s to the early 1970s, and the Jesuit residence in Cuneo until 2021.

Part of the archives of the San Tomaso College are kept in the Turin Province Fund, the rest was transferred to our Historical Archive in 2021. It includes school registers, house diaries, photographs, enrolment lists.