The University of Naples was established in 1224 by Federico II, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and king of Sicily. In 2024, the University of Naples Federico II celebrated its 800th birthday.

Under Federico II’s leadership the South of Italy was the place of decisions, politics, science and education. With Federico II it was possible to think of a reality in which the man of power is fascinated by diversity, the discovery of the beautiful and the unknown. At a time affected by religious wars, Federico II, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and king of Sicily, was born on December 26, 1194, in Jesi (Ancona), and died in Castelfiorentino (Foggia), in a palace of which only the ruins remain, in 1250, at the age of 56, and was buried in the Palermo cathedral.

Federico created the first “state” University in history in June 1224. The few that already existed had been formed in the century before as spontaneous aggregations or guilds of students or masters in close connection with cathedrals and depended on bishop’s protection. In Naples, however, it was created out of nothing by a king, that is, by the holder and representative of a “public” and “secular” power, by one of the greatest men on earth. It was conceived as the hub of an articulated system, to provide educated and loyal technical personnel for a structurally complex administration, with well-integrated central and peripheral offices. At the same time, it constituted a disruptive act of ideological and cultural direction. 

Nowadays the University is made up of four schools, twenty-six departments, an academic staff of more than 3,000 individuals and an administrative staff of more than 4,500.