153rd in the world, first in Italy. This is the result of Sapienza University of Rome in the 2026 Shanghai ARWU rankings, one of the most authoritative in the world. This isn't an isolated achievement: it's the fifth consecutive year that the Roman university has held the top spot in Italy. The Shanghai rankings leave no room for speculation. They evaluate Nobel Prize winners and Fields Medal winners among students and researchers. They count publications in Nature and Science, scientific citations, and research productivity. Of over 2.500 universities surveyed worldwide, only a thousand make the ranking. Sapienza is there, and it's rising.
Excellence that goes beyond numbers
Behind this ranking are tangible results, not just symbolic prestige. In Classics & Ancient History, Sapienza University ranks first in the world for the sixth year in a row. Three of the university's disciplines have entered the world top ten, an absolute record among Italian universities. The trend is similar in other international rankings: 111th in the QS Ranking 2027, 129th in the CWUR 2026, where it has remained first in Italy for fifteen consecutive years. Rector Antonella Polimeni described this recognition as "confirming the quality of our research and the value of our researchers." She added that the confirmation at the top "testifies to the solidity of the path undertaken" by the university in recent years.
Sapienza University was founded in 1303 by order of Pope Boniface VIII. It is one of the oldest and largest universities in Europe, with tens of thousands of students each year. Seven hundred years after its founding, it continues to compete on equal terms with the major universities of the United States, the United Kingdom, and China. It does so in a global system where Italy invests less in research than many direct competitors. This is precisely why this figure is even more significant. We are not talking about an isolated university, but rather the pinnacle of a university system that, despite limited resources, produces research capable of competing globally. It demonstrates that Italian quality, when given the right conditions, can still excel on a global scale.
A source of pride, generation after generation
Behind every ranking are thousands of researchers, faculty, and students who choose to stay, or return, to conduct research in Italy every day. Some come from outside Rome, others from outside Italy, drawn by a name that has been around for seven hundred years. Sapienza demonstrates that Italian excellence is not just a memory of the past, but a living, measurable project, capable of looking to the future with the same ambition as always. A source of genuine pride, for Rome and for all of Italy.
