My Florentine Diploma obtained in 1989

Newly defined

Law n228 ( 24/12/2012) integrated successively ( art. 1 comma bis D.L n210 of 30/12/2015) and converted on 25/02/2016 in Law 21

Which states the following

The diploma in Painting is equivalent to Diploma granted by ( Italian) University with specialisation

To those who does not quite understand the Fine Arts system in Italy, the possible explanation is the following:

In the old days ( I mean when I entered the Fine Arts Academy Of Florence), one was supposed to have completed a five -year art studies at the Italian Institute of Art ( later transformed to Liceo artistico which has a duration of four years)  before enrolling in the final program designed for Fine Artists  at the Accademia di Belle ArtI. ( four years)

There were exemptions, though. 

For my case, I did a 2 - year Audio Visual technical program in Canada and had just completed a 4-year Bachelor Of Fine Arts degree granted by the University of Alberta ( with one year spending at Edinburgh College of Art as a visiting student) and a 1 year Post graduate Diploma in Drawing and Painting granted by Edinburgh College of Art.

In my days, having completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Fine Arts, one had reached the maximum Postgraduate education that the UK had to offer, though some other Colleges had already begun offering a MFA degree. The Royal College began offering such program quite a while earlier. 

So it sounded pretty odd to enter the Florence Fine Arts Academy to begin as a first year student.

I , however, stayed there for five more years as a full time student, with the first year being a visiting student.

The second year of my stay in Florence I was mainly teaching at Fortman Studios in Florence- but decided to go back and complete another four years.

Years later, the diploma of Fine Arts of the old days is newly defined.

It is equivalent to a diploma of the Italian University- which is- Laurea.

In my days, a Laurea at the time meant Bachelor plus master or even a PhD as no other degree was higher than a Laurea.

For the artists, it was not an issue because artists, according to the system and the tradition were considered to be components of the Art Academy, which is a different story from the University which is not studio based. When asked about the intrinsic quality of such a diploma, the Director simply told me, this is the highest Fine Arts Diploma one can obtain in Italy.

Some years passed and it is said the different University systems finally arrive at a compromise with each other in Europe -The Italian University decided to split the Laurea into two cycles- Laurea breve which means a 3-year program and a normal Laurea of four years. ( second cycle）

So the certificate of equivalence given to me by the Florentine Fine Arts Academy refers to the second cycle of a Laurea completed at an Italian University.

The present Fine Arts system in Italy is now composed of three plus two years- which is like a bachelor degree plus two years of specialization- a master degree of the Anglo Saxon system.

 The Judgement Of such equivalence, I suppose, depends on each case.

Have you heard Of Michelangelo ever cared about getting a Laurea?

In any case, such equivalence allows the poor artists to be able to equate themselves with  other artists in the rest of Europe, Diploma wise.

I was happy and was sad to witness the transformation:

Sad because most people do not understand what makes an artist artist, and therefore, have to qualify the artists with a piece of paper

Happy because that would make my Italian friends/artists fully qualified abroad

I was happy to be able to have lived in Florence for over eighteen years and have gone through the training offered by the Florence Academy

Florence is Florence 

And Florence makes a lot of difference

When one has studied in a place once dreamed by Michelangelo: the founding of an Art Academy for artists

Thank you Florence

Thank you Accademia di Belle ArtI di Firenze

Bernadette