ITCG Ferruccio Niccolini
Volterra (Italy)
SHORT PRESENTATION
Volterra is an ancient town which was already important 2.400 years ago: it was a Neolithic settlement, an important Etruscan center (Velathri), a municipium in the Roman Age and the bishop's residence from the 5th to the 12th century.
With the decline of the episcopate, Volterra became a free commune till the Florentines conquered it in 1472. When the Florentine Republic fell in 1530, Volterra came under the control of the Medici family and later followed the history of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
Volterra with its medieval appearance dominates the Era and the Cecina valleys, a vast area called the "Volterrano" with its nice historical towns, castles, undulating hills, romantic landscapes and in the past very rich mineral areas in the so called "Colline Metallifere" or "Alta Val di Cecina".
Together with its wonderful landscape this area, rich in history and unique artistic and archeological heritage, has inspired many writers, poets and painters such as Stendhal, D.H. Lawrence, Corot, Gabriele D'Annunzio and the novelist Carlo Cassola who studied in our school, as did Pope Pius IX and Eugenio Barsanti who invented the first version of the internal combustion engine in 1853.
Thanks to this important legacy our students have the opportunity to get in touch directly with our historical, literary, artistic and natural resources.
OUR SCHOOL
The main seat of our Secondary School, the "ITCG F. Niccolini", is in Volterra, in a historical building whose origins go back to 1700 when by the order of the Grand duke of Tuscany Cosimo III when Public Schols were established with an added boarding school for students living far from Volterra.
It is a Technical High School with different branches:
- Administration, Finance and Marketing
- Informative Business systems
- Construction, Environment and Territory
- Hotel management School
A technical course for surveyours inside the old prison of Volterra, which was built in 1472 after the conquest of the town by the Florentines.
Vocational Hotel management School–Food and wine services, at the beginning operational only inside the prison and starting from September 2015 also at the ITCG for a vocational formation of 14-year olds and which already boasts two active classes.
The Institute has a branch in Pomarance, a nearby town, which hosts a Technical and Industrial course and it is called Istituto Tecnico Industriale Statale "Santucci" (ITIS).
In the school three European languages are taught: English, French and German. The students are trained to take an examination for the Language and Computer certificates: PET, DELF, Goethe Fit in Deutsch 2, ICT (basic and advanced levels), image and web editing, CISCO networking.
Over the time very many students have taken their Diplomas and are currently working in private and public sectors or as professionals.
Projects, participations and awards
In both schools (Volterra and Pomarance our Institute proposes and finances, with the contribution of the Commune of Pomarance, the SEI Project, a very important formative initiative aimed at offering our students competences and abilities that can be spent in the labour market. Actually, many businesses in the area (and these are not the only ones) host our students on stages involving work and education:
Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna of Pisa (Research Institute), CND SERvice of Civitavecchia (Non destructive controls of materials), Altair Chimica (Chemical products), Auxilium Vitae (Rehabilitation), Larderello Impianti (Ancillary to EGP), Enel Green Power (Thermal power plants).
ITCG main projects:
Enterprise in action
The objective of the initiative actually is spreading the enterprise culture with the new generations by setting up a real enterprise, actually operational in the area.
Getting to know the Stock Exchange
The stock exchange simulation contest of Savings banks and Foundations associated to ACRI involving high schools is aimed at spreading the basics of economic knowledge in an amusing and practical way and stimulating in young people a critical and responsible behaviour with respect to money and investements.
Bioarchitecture
To study in depth the topics regarding the energy efficiency and the new sources of renewable energy and, therefore, face the utilisation of new materials and bulding techniques in order to improve the energetic quality of buildings.
Creative writing
A literary island in a technical school: 10 years of creative writing at the "Niccolini".
Theatre
Acquisition of the basic rules of acting; use of body and awareness of limits and possibilities; short stories and guded simulations; improvisations inspired by the experience; improvisations tied to reading and revision of a text.
ITIS "Santucci"
In the s.y. 2013-2014 ITIS was awarded a prize for the use of Apps for tablets and smartphones to enhance the culture and appropriate use of safety devices; in 2015-2016 another important award was given to the" Dragonfly" Project, which has received a Special mention in the regional ranking for the Enel "PlayEnergy" contest as a device equipped with a thermographic camera for detecting the thermal abnormalities in extremely hazardous environments.
Robotics
A course of Robotics is held for our students every year: they study the basics of applied Electronics and robotics, in particular they become familiar with Sensors, Effectors, Actuators Controllers and common effectors.
An annual Festival of Robotics (with a massive participation of people) is organised in Pomarance dealing in particular with electromedical devices, the robot arms and a special event takes place in the afternoon with the challenges of Sumo machines.
Domotics
In the afternoon once a week for abour 3 months some of our students take part in a course of Domotics dealing with the following areas: control of lighting, control of temperature, control of sound and video, control of security and control of the use of energy and its consumption.
Driving licence for piloting Drones
A course for piloting drones is organised every year by a private Agency, partly at school with academic classes and partly in the field to put in practice what the students have actually learnt.
At the end of the course they may sit for an exam in order to get the Driving licence for flying drones.
3D Printer
It is both a curricular and extra curricular activity: our students are introduced to the basics of programming tools, assembling a 3D printer and create gadgets of different sizes.
Normally, they are highly motivated as they carry out hands-on activities.
School website: http://www.itcniccolini.edu.it
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/itcgniccolini
Instagram profile: https://www.instagram.com/ferruccioniccolini/
Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/ITCGNiccolini