Liceo Sportivo Internazionale · Bergamo · Ages 14–19
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Liceo Scientifico Sportivo Internazionale · Paritario
Sports High School in Bergamo
Sport is a timetabled, examined subject here, inside a full science curriculum. Students finish ready for university in Italy or abroad.
30+
Sporting disciplines
6→8
Hours of sport / week
45%
Of subjects taught in English
5
Years · 2 diplomas to choose
Where it leads
Whatever your child wants to become in sport, the road begins at BBS, in Bergamo.
Picture one match day at the stadium. Everything your child could become is already there, before the game, during it, and after the final whistle.
Before the match
During the match
After the match
And every one of them was once a fourteen-year-old who loved sport.
The five-year programme
More than thirty disciplines across five years, planned year by year.
This is the five-year framework. The disciplines each class works through are confirmed every year with the class groups and the partner venues, and rotate through the year in blocks: pilates in September, orienteering and athletics in October, climbing in November, fencing in January.
Individual
Team
Combined
Combat
Integrated
1
Year One
Individual
Athletics · Orienteering · Badminton · Swimming
Team
Unihockey · Volleyball
2
Year Two
Individual
Athletics · Orienteering · Paddle · Fin swimming
Team
Basketball · Baseball
3
Year Three
Individual
Athletics · Artistic gymnastics · Tennis
Team
Handball · Rugby
CombinedNew
Duathlon
CombatNew
Judo
IntegratedNew
Sitting volleyball
4
Year Four
Individual
Swimming · Lifesaving · Golf · Fitness
Team
Flag football · Ultimate frisbee
Combined
Triathlon
Combat
Self-defence
Integrated
Baskin
5
Year Five
Individual
Archery · Yoga · Pilates
Team
Beach volleyball · Football
Combined
Biathlon
Combat
Martial arts · Tai chi
Integrated
Sport & disability
New kinds of sport arrive as students grow
The first two years build a broad base. From year three the programme adds combined sports, combat sports and inclusive sport, one step each year: duathlon in year three, triathlon in year four, biathlon in year five.
Every student learns inclusive sport
From year three, all students train in disciplines designed for athletes with and without disabilities, such as sitting volleyball and baskin, an inclusive form of basketball born in Italy. It is taught and assessed like everything else here.
How those futures are taught
Sports medicine, sports law and sports journalism are subjects on this timetable.
Taught and examined across all five years, alongside the full science curriculum:
01
Sports medicine & athlete health
Injury, recovery and long-term health across a career.
02
Sports law, economics & management
How clubs, federations and events are run and financed.
03
Sports psychology, leadership & coaching
Motivation, pressure and how performance is coached.
04
Sports journalism
How sport is reported, analysed and communicated.
05
Food & nutrition science
Nutrition for performance and health, inside the science curriculum.
06
Biomechanics & training strategy
How the body produces movement, and how training is designed.
07
Maths & physics applied to sport
The scientific core, worked through sporting problems.
08
Biology & physiology
How the body works under load.
6 h/week of sport-related teaching in years 1–2
8 h/week from year three
If the professional dream changes, nothing is lost
These subjects lead to real careers in health, law, management, psychology, nutrition and media. And the diploma opens the same university doors as any science high school, in Italy and abroad.
"Over the years — for competitive athletes and for those who live sport at amateur level alike — passions take shape that can find continuity at university and in the profession they go on to choose."
Patrizia Canzoneri · Founder of BBS
The full picture
A complete science curriculum, with sport built in: here is the entire week.
Fourteen is the age at which school and sport start asking for the same hours, and most families end up choosing.
- Here they share a timetable instead
- Sport is in the school day, with its own teachers, theory and assessments
- The scientific curriculum stays the full one
The scientific core is the whole scientific core:
5 h maths, years 1–2
Physics rising to 3 h
Philosophy from year 3
Italian 4 h, all five years
| Weekly hours | I | II | III | IV | V |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mathematics with computer science in years 1–2 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| Physics | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Science Biology, Chemistry, Food & Nutrition | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Italian | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| English | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| History & Geography | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Philosophy | — | — | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Religion | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Sport Sciences theory | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Physical Education practical | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Sports Law & Economics | — | — | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Total / week | 28 | 28 | 31 | 31 | 31 |
Swipe to see all five years →
45%
45% of the subjects are taught in English, inside the ministerial programme
That is the internazionale in our name, and it is why our students sit the IELTS exam in year four.
Support for student athletes
Specialised tutors work with student athletes across all five years.
Ongoing tutoring, not rescue tutoring
- A tailored study plan built from an initial assessment of competencies and personal goals
- Homework support and exam preparation
- Asynchronous lessons and online materials around sporting commitments
- All five years, not only the difficult one
Their coach can talk to us
- Teachers coordinate directly with clubs and coaches
- Training loads and academic deadlines planned together
- Direct support with time management
Guidance that starts early
- University and career orientation from middle school onwards
- Led by specialists from the sports sector, with sector tools
- Seminars, workshops and mentorship sessions with former athletes and professionals
Lessons Monday to Friday · 8:00–13:15 three days · 8:00–12:25 the other two
English, built in
Your child's English does not need to be ready. It gets ready here.
English is taught as a second language, built to bring every student up, whatever level they arrive with:
- Specialist second-language teacher
- Bilingual glossaries and visual summaries
- Italian tutor in some subjects
- Co-taught lessons: an Italian teacher and a native English speaker in the same room
45% of subjects taught in English
IELTS in year 4
Two diplomas, one school
After the first three years, your child chooses: the Italian diploma or the international one.
The first three years are shared. Both routes take five years in total.
"The strong point of this liceo is flexibility: a first three-year block that is the same for everyone, then a route that follows the aptitudes and passions of each student."
Patrizia Canzoneri · Founder of BBS
Route one · Biennio Liceo Sportivo Internazionale
The Italian diploma
- Diploma di Liceo Scientifico Sportivo, valid across Italy and accepted abroad
- IELTS English certification in year 4
- Optional IGCSEs in Business Studies or Coordinated Sciences, end of year 3
Route two · Biennio IBDP
The IB Diploma
- Legally equivalent to the Italian maturità
- Read directly by universities worldwide
- BBS is an accredited IB World School: a real choice, not a theoretical one
- A semester or a full year abroad through the Abroad Integrated Programme
- Conferences and workshops with international sports management professionals
- Exchanges with foreign schools and sports institutes
Results in the national exams
In Italy’s official school exams, every BBS student cleared the English target the Ministry sets.
INVALSI is the set of standardised exams that every student in Italy sits at fixed ages, marked to one national standard. A2 is the English level the Italian system expects at that stage. These are our middle school results, the year group that moves up into this liceo, from 2021/22.
100%
of our students reached the expected English level
across Italy: 75.9%
63.6%
of our students scored in the top band in maths
across Italy: 13.5%
Source: our published results · See the full set
Where it happens · Bergamo's sports district
A campus rebuilt for sport this summer, and every other venue within fifteen minutes.
Where does all of this actually happen? In three places, and your child reaches every one of them inside the school day.
3,000 m²
of sport and recreation space on campus
outdoor area redesigned and completed in summer 2026
30 × 18 m
regulation-size indoor gym
marked out for basketball and volleyball
15 min
the furthest any venue is from the campus
by school bus, with their teachers
On campus
- Regulation-size indoor gym, 30 by 18 metres
- Multi-use pitch for football, volleyball and tennis, plus a separate volleyball court
- Outdoor training circuit and an adaptive game-floor
- Fencing, kin-ball, badminton and martial arts, taught by our own teachers and by external coaches who come to the school
Specialist venues, by school bus
- Swimming, sport climbing, athletics, archery and roller skating
- Climbing at Orobia Climbing in Curno, one of the leading indoor centres in Northern Italy
- Athletics at the municipal sports centre in via delle Valli, the former Campo CONI, where the city's main competitive clubs train
- Every venue within fifteen minutes of the campus
Outdoors, across the area
- Orienteering in the city and in the hills
- Cross-country running
- Dedicated experiences alongside the weekly programme: a sailing outing and a day at Vittoria Cicli in Brembate
15′
Students travel on the school's own buses, with their teachers
The campus sits inside Bergamo's sports district, so the furthest venue is fifteen minutes away. Every activity happens within the school day, and no family has to arrange transport.
Designed with the students
The redesign of the outdoor campus, called Thinking Outside the School, started with the students. In spring 2026 they mapped their own campus in a workshop: what worked, what got in the way, and what the space could become. The new pitch, the training circuit and the outdoor learning areas come from that map.
"A project built for you must be built with you."
The brief given to the students · Thinking Outside the School, 2026
And one race that is not about winning
Race Against Hunger is a global citizenship project: students train for a run and raise funds against child malnutrition. It is how the liceo connects sporting practice to responsibility, which is part of what we ask of an athlete in training.
Sport shares the building with the rest of the liceo:
16 indoor & outdoor classrooms
Theatre & auditorium
Arts Centre
Science lab
Science & Thinkering Lab
IT lab
Art & design lab
Music & Sound Recording Studio
Bilingual library ITA/ENG
Outdoor study rooms
Relaxation area
Bar & canteen
Via Angelo Goisis 96b, in Bergamo.
Questions families ask.
Is this a real liceo scientifico, or a lighter version?
+
The full scientific curriculum, with 45% of the subjects taught in English inside the ministerial programme. Five hours of maths in the first two years, physics rising to three, philosophy from the third year, Italian at four hours throughout, in a 31-hour week from year three. The full weekly timetable is published above.
What can my child actually do with this diploma?
+
Everything a liceo scientifico opens, on the same terms, plus five years of study in the disciplines that surround sport. The career outcomes we map this pathway onto range from athlete and coach to sports physiotherapist, mental coach, sports manager, sports agent and sports journalist, and the diploma gives access to Italian and international universities like any other scientific liceo.
Does my child have to be a competitive athlete to enrol?
+
No. The personalised plans and competition arrangements exist for students competing at a high level. The pathway itself is for any student who wants sport inside the school week.
What if my child stops competing, or gets injured?
+
Nothing in the qualification depends on it. The diploma is a full Italian scientific one, or the IB, and the sport component is taught and assessed as a subject like any other.
Does the sports programme change from year to year?
+
The five-year framework above is fixed: a broad base in the first two years, then combined, combat and inclusive sport added one step at a time. The exact disciplines are confirmed each year with the class groups and the partner venues, and rotate through the year in blocks: pilates in September, orienteering and athletics in October, climbing in November, fencing in January.
Where do the sports actually happen, and how does my child get there?
+
In three places. On campus: a regulation-size indoor gym and, since summer 2026, a redesigned outdoor area with a multi-use pitch, a volleyball court and a training circuit. In specialist venues such as Orobia Climbing in Curno and the municipal athletics centre in via delle Valli: students travel on the school's own buses with their teachers, fifteen minutes at most, inside the school day. And outdoors across the area, for orienteering and cross-country running. No family has to arrange transport.
Does my child need strong English already?
+
No. English is taught as a second language and the programme is designed to bring every student up, whatever their starting point. Support includes a specialist teacher, an Italian tutor in some subjects, and co-taught lessons.
When does my child choose between the Italian diploma and the IB?
+
At the end of the third year. The first three years are shared, and both routes then take two years.
Is the IB Diploma valid for Italian universities?
+
Yes. It is recognised by the Italian Ministry and is legally equivalent to the maturità.
How much does it cost?
+
Fees are on our Admission and Fees page.
Come and see it for yourself.
Bring your child's training schedule. We will show you where the sport sits, where the maths sits, and what happens in the weeks they are away competing.
Are you a coach, or would you like your child's coach to speak with us directly? Mention it in the form and we will contact them.
Or ask us anything
Send us your question through the enquiry form: the admissions team reads every message and replies within 48 hours.
Bilingual British School · Liceo Sportivo Internazionale
Via Angelo Goisis 96b, Bergamo · bbschool.it
Via Angelo Goisis 96b, Bergamo · bbschool.it
