ACCADEMIA ALBERTINA

What  is Accademia Albertina?

Accademia Albertina delle Belle Arti di Torino, an Italian State institution forming part of AFAM (Higher Artistic and Musical Training) directly under the MIUR (Ministry of University and Research) is located at the highest level of public artistic education, and the diplomas it issues are equivalent to those issued by universities. The Academy of Turin was founded in 1678, an offspring of the former Accademia di San Luca and the Académie Royale de Paris. The name “Albertina” is a reference to Charles Albert of Savoy, who re-founded the academy in 1833. It is therefore one of the oldest Italian Academies and is considered one of the artistic education institutions of greater prestige at a national and international level. For several years, a high number of students have enrolled in this school, especially from abroad. There are more than 1300 students enrolled in the current academic year, including about 300 from China (as part of the cultural agreement between China and Italy, called “Turandot”) and a number of other European and non-European countries.

The schools operating within the Academy are nine: alongside the classic faculties of Painting, Sculpture, Set design, Decoration and Graphics are the new faculties of New technologies, Artistic design for the enterprise,Communication and Promotion of Contemporary Artistic Heritage and Art History. Recently the Council of State has given a favorable opinion to the new School: Photography, Cinema and Audiovisual, which will start soon.

We should also mention the Scuola Libera del Nudo(School of naked portraiture).

The growing influx of students at the Academy, in contrast to the trend at other Italian institutions, is certainly due to the quality of its faculty and its facilities. But it is also due to the growing awareness that the designing a future that can radically change the social, moral and manufacturing system in Europe and in a Western world in deep crisis, and in emerging countries, will need the courage and enthusiasm of young people who have chosen to dedicate their lives to creativity, innovation, to the arts, to new techniques of communication. The time has come to recognise that the training provided at the Academies of Fine Arts and similar schools is able to bring benefits today to all of society and not just to the limited world of industry operators and art enthusiasts.