Abstract

Giosuè Carducci, in his oration for the Eighth Centenary of the University of Bologna (1888), maintained that at the origin of the University’s schools lay the private nature of teaching, which had helped establish the reputation of the city, known throughout Europe as docta and its University Alma Mater Studiorum. The birth of the public University of Bologna, funded by the Commune, allowed scholars to attend lessons free of charge. However, students continued to seek private lessons more suited to their needs. By researching a wide range of sources, we aim to trace how, throughout the early modern period, the debate between public and private teaching remained heated. This saw students and professors, with the support of the colleges of doctors, on the one side and Bologna’s Senate and the national government on the other. Any attempts at reform were made impossible due to this standoff until 1802, when the Napoleonic government of the Italian Republic set in motion its national university plan.