National High School of Science Alvise Cornaro

Alberto Carniel
Jun 30, 2011
2 min read

Updated: Jul 27

In this chapter of my #Education, I go back to the roots—my high school years from 2005 to 2011—and the certifications and ideas that shaped my academic mindset.

🏫 About the School

Alvise Cornaro high school logo.

The National High School of Science Alvise Cornaro is located in Padua, Italy.

It’s a public STEM-oriented institution with spacious classrooms, wide hallways, and a large sports yard where students play tennis, volleyball, basketball, and soccer between one philosophy debate and the next.

While it shares similarities with an American STEM high school, the Italian twist includes Latin and other humanities that are... let’s say, impossible to escape.

🧠 A Curriculum Focused on Math and IT

For six years, I attended the “Piano Nazionale di Informatica”, a special experimental track under the Italian Ministry of Education.

It emphasized:

Advanced mathematics
Computer science
Application of math to real-world computing problems

In addition to the traditional Italian science curriculum, I had extended hours of applied math and informatics, giving me an edge in logic, programming basics, and digital literacy long before it was trendy.

📘 My Thesis

I graduated in 2011, and like every Italian senior, I had to write a tesina. Mine had two very specific literary obsessions:

Gabriele D’Annunzio and his sensual, symbolic view of women
Friedrich Nietzsche, especially his Dionysian philosophy and aesthetic take on life

These two figures influenced my intellectual development deeply. I was especially drawn to D’Annunzio’s romantic fatalism and Nietzsche’s life-embracing chaos.

In fact, “Memento Audere Semper” became my personal motto—a reminder to dare, live passionately, and love intensely.

Here’s a taste from Pamphila, by D’Annunzio:

[ENG]

I’ll love her. In her impure limbs

I’ll seize all the earthly desires,

I’ll know all the love of the world;

in her eyes, clouds of dark things

I’ll chase; I’ll hear beneath her breasts

her deep heart arid beating...