Also known as “la Statale” or “Unimi”, the University of Milan was officially founded on December 8, 1924, through the merger of the Scientific-Literary Academy (established in 1861) and the Clinical Institutes of Improvement (dating back to 1906).

The initial four Faculties - Law, Literature and Philosophy, Medicine and Surgery and Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences - were later joined in the 1930s by the Faculties of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture, originating from the two historic Higher Schools of Veterinary Medicine (1792) and Agriculture (1871).

After World War II, the University was assigned the ancient Hospital of the Poor, known to Milanese as Ca’ Granda (“the great house”), founded in 1456 by Duke Francesco Sforza and his wife Bianca Maria to provide care for the city’s poorest patients. Following extensive reconstruction after the bombings of 1943, the University moved there in 1958, making it the heart of university life and housing the Rectorate, administrative offices, and the Faculties of Law and Humanities.

Today, the University of Milan is the largest in Lombardy and among the leading universities in Italy, with a community of over 65,000 students and 2,400 professors, offering 160 degree programmes (undergraduate and graduate), 36 PhD schools, more than 75 vocational master’s and advanced courses, and over 65 postgraduate schools.