Collegio Rotondi

Collegio Rotondi is a Catholic charter school located in Gorla Minore, a small town in the province of Varese, Lombardy. It was founded by the Italian nobleman Giovanni Andrea Terzaghi in 1599 and is the oldest recorded charter school in Italy.

The college was the first school in Italy to have a vertical curriculum. It has a nursery, a primary school, a secondary school, and two high schools. It includes a Museum of Natural Sciences, a Study Library, and the "Lina Airoldi Historical Library".

In 1599 Gorla Minore was governed by the Terzaghi family, native of Milan. Giovanni Terzaghi, the major canon of the Duomo, had no heirs and bequeathed his properties to the Oblates with the commitment to perpetually sustain the vitality of the Church of Saint Maurice and to create a place dedicated to the children's education.

In 1629, the Collegio of Oblates was established for young people from Gorla Minore and neighboring areas. Operated by religious personnel, the institute originated as a boys' boarding school. Due to its innovative teaching methods, it soon became a cultural hub and gained widespread recognition. Initially, the rector also served as the Prefect of the Church of Saint Maurice, as Terzaghi specified in his testament. With the school's continuous growth and development, the rector's role evolved to encompass additional responsibilities, such as school administration, teacher coordination, and all the administrative tasks.

In the 18th century the Collegio modernized as Milan became one of the main poles of Illuminism, guided by the philosophical movement of rationalism and the growing affirmation of science. The renovation works facilitated the expansion of the structure, resulting in the construction of the main central building and the central courtyard used as a gathering place for the Collegio community.

The Collegio began to cooperate and collaborate with the institutional authorities which, at that time, were the Austrians; they recognized the work of the Collegio and its educational initiatives.

In the 19th century the Collegio was impacted by Italian unification in 1861, which altered the power of the Church of Rome and of Pope Pius IX.

The two rectors Sioli and Rotondi used a series of legal actions to successfully free the Collegio from the congregation of the Oblates. This enabled the institute to have less pressure from the institutional authorities, allowing it to survive a tense period between the Church and the House of Savoy. For this reason, it changed its name to Collegio Rotondi, named after Rector Rotondi.