The Suor Orsola Benincasa University of Studies is the oldest free university in Italy. The university, secular and non-profit as it only pursues public purposes, has its headquarters in the monumental complex of the Cittadella Monastica founded in 1582 by Orsola Benincasa, the mystic whose name it bears. The structure of the monastic citadel, surrounded by ancient walls dating back to the 16th century, covers an area of 33,000 square metres, comprises seven buildings and allows students to enjoy the incomparable panorama of the entire city and its gulf from the historical terraces and gardens that are always accessible to students. The ancient access to the complex was through the historic gateway leading to the 17th-century ramp that accompanied the faithful to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, and also led to the hermitage wing of the Oblate Convent.
Suor Orsola was a particularly significant figure in the religious panorama of Counter-Reformation Naples, as the expression of a militant and tendentially autonomous religiosity that the institutional Church succeeded in time in bringing back within the limits of strict obedience to ecclesiastical authority, transforming the free retreat of Benincasa and her relatives into a congregation of a lay nature subject to the control of a male religious order.
This initial settlement is clearly recognisable from an architectural point of view because it did not originate from a preordained plan, but has the chaotic nature of successive superimpositions. The highlight of this area of the citadel is the Church of the Immaculate Conception, founded by Orsola in 1580 and renovated in the 18th century by Rocco Doyno.
When control of the congregation was handed over to the Theatines, they succeeded in convincing Orsola to place a strictly cloistered order alongside the oblates that would become the female arm of that of St Gaetano. This project, manifested by the mystic in her will, meant that after her death in 1620, the construction of a grandiose hermitage was begun for the hermits. This new wing is characterised by a coherent and far-reaching architectural project, respectful of the rules imposed by the Council of Trent. In fact, the central nucleus, composed of three buildings arranged in a U-shape around a delightful cloister, is hidden from outside view by a mighty tufa wall that rises about twenty metres.
The destiny of the monastic citadel changed after the unification of Italy, when the Ritiro di Suor Orsola managed to escape the law on state confiscation of the property of religious orders because it was considered a 'Opera pia a carattere laicale'. Also to strengthen this recognition - which had been put in doubt by a court case with the Ecclesiastical Fund - a free school was founded there. It was inaugurated on 10 July 1864, thanks above all to the efforts of Emilio Beneventani, who ruled the lay government of Sister Orsola (which had taken over from the Oblate government) for over twenty years, until his death in 1887. Opened with 32 girls, the school housed around 500 pupils in the seventies, and consisted of a nursery class, the five elementary classes and a three-class master class. There was also a room for domestic work entrusted to a special teacher and consisting of tailoring, embroidery and cresting work, to which the production of artificial flowers was later added.
From 1871, French language and computery, declamation and choral singing were taught, and in 1878 a telegraphy course was established. In 1891, Adelaide del Balzo Pignatelli, Princess of Strongoli, came to the school as honorary inspector and became its sole administrator in 1901. The princess's pedagogical commitment was shared, until her death, by Antonietta Pagliara, who bequeathed the Institute her private collection of valuable antique furniture, paintings and furnishings, later arranged in an interesting museum that is now housed in the ancient hermitage. This educational project was completed, in 1885, with the establishment of the Faculty of Education, by Royal Decree and equalised in 1901 with those of Rome and Florence.
About a century later, with a Reform Decree published in the Official Gazette no. 264 of November 1995, the Faculty of Magisterium was reformed through the establishment of the Suor Orsola Benincasa University Institute and the activation of the Faculty of Education. Alongside the institution of this Faculty, the Institute, on the basis of the skills inherited and developed over time, established the Faculty of Arts and, more recently (academic year 1998/1999), the Faculty of Law. In 2004, by Rector's Decree published in the Official Gazette no. 157 of July 2004, the University Institute was transformed into the Suor Orsola Benincasa University of Studies. With its three-year and master's degree courses, its Schools of Journalism and Cinema and Television, its research centres and its numerous Master's and postgraduate courses, UNISOB is a training centre characterised by a multidisciplinary and highly professionalised educational offer, projected towards experimentation and the business world.
In all its activities, UNISOB places the student, his or her interests and expectations for the future at the centre of its training activities, starting with orientation in the choice of the course of study, passing through individual tutoring during the years of attendance, and ending with placement in the world of work, thanks to the numerous opportunities for curricular and extracurricular internships, promoted by the Student Internship Office, Job Placement and the LifeLong Learning Centre.
Within the three Departments - Educational, Psychological and Communication Sciences, Legal Sciences and Humanities - the traditional fields of education, training of trainers, restoration and valorisation of the artistic and cultural heritage have been joined, over time, by study and research paths in the fields of law, modern languages, psychology, communication and economics.
In particular, the following are active at UNISOB.
Each course of study has its own particularities within the regional educational offer, specificities due either to the uniqueness of the educational pathway or to its marked specialisation and professionalisation.
The range of courses on offer is completed by post-graduate higher education, the three Schools of Specialisation (in Archaeological Heritage, in Historical and Artistic Heritage and for the Legal Professions), Master's Degrees, Postgraduate Courses, PhDs, as well as a full programme of cultural initiatives and events, which historically characterise the identity of the University. State-of-the-art facilities operate at the University, such as the 'Scienza Nuova' Design and Research Centre, whose aim is to bring the world of the humanities closer to the most advanced experiences of scientific and technological development, and which enable students, PhD students and research fellows to work on innovative projects, with partners of national and international importance.
UNISOB's constant commitment to enhancing and interpreting its scientific and cultural heritage in the light of contemporary challenges, thus re-interpreting its role and competences in terms of openness and support for innovation, also includes the efforts related to the reorganisation and modernisation policies of the five campuses, which have been carried out in full respect of tradition and attention to the individual and the teaching and scientific community.
Fabrizio Manuel Sirignano is Full Professor of General and Social Pedagogy M-PED/01 at the department of educational, psychological and communication sciences at the Suor Orsola Benincasa University of Naples, where he is the Rector's delegate for Life Long Learning, President of the Degree Course in Primary Education Sciences .He is Scientific Director of the Francesco Saverio Nitti International Research Centre for the Mediterranean and of the Clinical Education and Narrative Medicine Research Group at Temple University in Philadelphia. He teaches at the Democritus University of Thrace was Visiting Professor at the Universities of Alicante and Seville and he is scientific coordinator of the International Elisa Frauenfelder Prize. His research interests concern the relation between political pedagogy, intercultural pedagogy , autobiographical pedagogy and narrative methods.
Maria Federica Paolozzi is PhD in Humanities and Technologies, is a research fellow and contract lecturer in History of Pedagogy at the University Suor Orsola Benincasa. Her research interests concern epistemology of complexity and intercultural pedagogy.
Stefania Maddalena is Contract Professor in General and Social Pedagogy M-PED/01 at the Suor Orsola Benincasa University of Naples and researcher at the department of philosophical, pedagogical and economic-quantitative sciences at the University of Chieti. Her research interests concern autobiographical pedagogy and narrative methods.
Fernando Sarracino is Associate Professor of ‘Education and Pedagogy of Special Needs Education' (M-Ped/03). His research interests concern, on the one hand, teaching, teaching design and SEN teaching (involving the use of digital devices), on the other, digital citizenship education.