Two International Schools In Rome Adopt Reggio Inspired Learning From September
Ingenium Education Group brings Reggio Inspired Learning to two International Schools in Rome From September.
The timing could not be better. In the same week that Catherine, Princess of Wales travels to Reggio Emilia for her first official overseas visit since her cancer diagnosis, one of Rome’s leading international school groups has announced it will formally integrate the educational philosophy that drew her there into its own curricula from September 2026.
Ingenium Education Group, which operates Acorn International School and St. Francis International School in Rome, has announced that all two schools will adopt the Reggio Inspired Approach as a structural element of their educational offering, from Early Years through to the International Baccalaureate.
What the Reggio Emilia Approach Actually Is
The Reggio Emilia Approach was developed in northern Italy in the years after the Second World War by educator Loris Malaguzzi, working alongside the families of the city of Reggio Emilia. Its central insight is that children are not empty vessels to be filled with knowledge but competent, curious individuals capable of constructing their own understanding through experience, relationships and exploration.
At the heart of the approach is the concept of the hundred languages: the idea that children learn and express ideas and emotions through multiple forms, including words, movement, music, art, light and digital tools, rather than through a single channel of instruction. The classroom environment itself is considered an active participant in learning, with spaces, ateliers and open-ended materials designed to invite inquiry and collaboration rather than passive reception.
The philosophy has influenced early years education systems across Europe, North America and beyond, and is now considered one of the most significant contributions to contemporary pedagogy to have emerged from Italy.
What Ingenium Is Doing
“This is not about introducing an additional method, but about building a coherent educational culture that accompanies students from Early Years through to the International Baccalaureate, fostering inquiry, autonomy and critical thinking,” says Daniele Denti of Ingenium Education Group.
The integration is structural rather than cosmetic. From September, the approach will be embedded across all three schools as a shared educational identity, with learning environments redesigned to reflect Reggio principles and teachers trained to work as facilitators of student-led inquiry rather than transmitters of fixed content.
“Families are looking for schools that can not only prepare students academically, but also develop creativity, independence and emotional intelligence,” notes Giovanni Piccolo. “This is why we have integrated the Reggio Inspired Approach into our international pathway.”
The Broader Moment
Princess Kate’s visit to Reggio Emilia on 13 and 14 May, her first solo foreign trip since announcing she was in remission from cancer, has brought the educational philosophy to international attention at precisely the moment Ingenium is formalising its own commitment to it. The Princess founded The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood in 2021 and has consistently argued that the quality of a child’s earliest experiences determines outcomes across health, wellbeing and achievement for decades to come. That argument is also, in essence, the argument Reggio Emilia has been making since the 1950s.
For Rome’s international school community, the Ingenium announcement offers families something increasingly rare: a school group that has made a clear and specific pedagogical commitment rather than offering a generic blend of international curricula. Whether a child is three or seventeen, the same underlying philosophy applies. That consistency, across age groups and across two separate schools, is the most ambitious part of what Ingenium is proposing.
Enrolment information for the 2026-27 academic year is available through each of the two schools.
