The Accademia di Belle Arti Pietro Vannucci, originally the Accademia del Disegno, is one of the oldest Higher Institutes of Artistic Education in Europe.
Its historical importance is underlined by the history and personalities that have given life to this institution over the centuries.
Indeed, its origins go back a long way: it was founded in the spring of 1573, eleven years after the birth of the first Academy in Italy, that of Florence.
Today, the Pietro Vannucci Academy is based in the former convent of San Francesco al Prato, where it preserves a historical-artistic heritage of inestimable value, in which the library, the plaster cast gallery, the drawings’ cabinet and the painting gallery stand out.
The Academy, as a Higher Artistic Education Institution, is placed under the aegis of the Ministry of University and Research of the Italian State.
Its educational offer is divided into different fields of study, according to two departments: the visual arts department (painting, sculpture, art graphics) and the design and applied arts department (product design, graphic design, fashion design, set design, cinema).