The Piacenza Campus is one of the sites of the Politecnico di Milano. It is a scientific community, founded in 1863, which trains thousands of engineers, architects and designers every year and which today employs some 50 thousand people including teachers, researchers, students and technical and administrative staff. The Politecnico is a symbol of excellence on the Italian and international university scene and is synonymous throughout the world with quality and innovation. This is also due to the relationships it fosters with social and economic entities in the local area. The progressive geographical spread of the University has contributed to this: since the end of the 1980s, the University has expanded out from the centre of Milan, establishing campuses in various cities in northern Italy.
Piacenza has been one of these sites since 1997, where a positive and fruitful synergy between research, teaching and technology transfer has made it possible to develop close relationships, partnerships and collaborations with organisations, institutions and companies, becoming a professional outlet for young graduates as well as a field of research application.
The mechanical engineering and energy sectors are the most involved (through the Mechanical Engineering and Energy Engineering programmes), as well as architectural design, landscape design and environmental sustainability (in the Architecture programmes).
This connection is further demonstrated by the numerous local institutions that support the Politecnico through the PoliPiacenza Association: the Fondazione di Piacenza e Vigevano, the Chamber of Commerce, Confindustria Piacenza, the Municipality of Piacenza, the Province of Piacenza, the Emilia Romagna Region and the Banca di Piacenza.
The Politecnico's Piacenza Campus is uniquely situated due to its integration in the heart of the urban fabric of the city. Its premises (Caserma Neve Campus in Via Scalabrini 76 and Arata Campus in Via Scalabrini 113) are the result of recent restoration work on historical locations with architectural and artistic value. These have been regenerated into avant-garde sites of culture and education with teaching and study rooms, libraries, meeting spaces, as well as a series of innovative application laboratories.