From the 16th to the 19th century
After the arrival of the Spaniards in the early sixteenth century, the University of Naples was no longer subject to suspensions and closures, except for brief interruptions due to riots, epidemics, and famines. However, its conditions remained precarious, without a stable headquarters and with some of the lowest salaries in Italy and Europe. Royal absolutism and the Church's fears regarding the spread of religious reform movements generated a climate of tight control over cultural institutions. A papal bull in 1564 imposed on all professors and doctors of the university the oath of fidelity to the Catholic faith.
Towards the end of the 16th century or the beginning of the 17th, a dispute arose with the University of Salerno regarding medical degrees, which attracted many students thanks to benefits such as the lack of obligation to enroll or attend classes for several years. The Princes of Avellino were among the main supporters of the University of Naples, obtaining the hereditary privilege of Grand Chancellor. However, the desertion of young doctors caused problems.
Since 1616, the university headquarters were located in the Palazzo dei Regi Studi (now home to the National Archaeological Museum of Naples), a building that was once a cavalry barracks, specially renovated by the architect Giulio Cesare Fontana on the orders of Don Pedro Fernández de Castro, count of Lemos and viceroy of Naples. In 1618, Viceroy Ossuna added the oath of allegiance to the Immaculate Conception.
Pyotr Andreyevich Tolstoy, during his visit to Naples in 1698, stated in one of his works:
The academy [the University] was built with public funds, namely royal funds, very spacious, with 120 large rooms, both lower and upper, divided into five floors. In these rooms, one studies from philosophy to theology, other higher sciences, and anatomy. In that academy, there are more than 4000 students, all studying free of charge, and any remuneration goes to the royal masters. In the same academy, a special room has been created for discussions and testimonies of students: those who complete their studies are testified by the discussions in the aforementioned room. Near that room, there is another one dedicated to anatomy; it is not large and is built according to the conventions for anatomy. In this academy in Naples, there are 400 doctors, physicians, pharmacists, and medical professionals with 2000 people. They all live free of charge, nourished by the science of the Neapolitan viceroy, and of the princes, and counts, and dukes, and marquises, and nobles, and merchants, and of every kind of Neapolitan resident.
During the 17th century the university experienced, like other European universities, a long period of decline, so that private schools and ecclesiastical colleges began to arise in Naples, which gradually joined it, taking away space from it. Only starting from the 18th century, first with the Habsburgs and then with the Bourbons, did the university receive a great boost in a positive sense from the authorities: it was in this period that the philosopher Giambattista Vico taught at the Neapolitan University. The situation of the university improved slightly thanks to the reform attempts of the Austrian Viceroys and the patronage of the Barons, but the proposed reforms encountered political obstacles. With the arrival of Charles III of Bourbon, some reforms were implemented, but the expulsion of the Jesuits caused new difficulties. The major innovations of those years were the creation in 1735 of the chair of Astronomy and in 1754 of the first chair of mechanics and commerce, or political economy, in the world, the first entrusted to Pietro di Martino and the second to Antonio Genovesi).
In 1777 the headquarters were transferred to the House of the Savior, where the Collegio Massimo of the Jesuits had previously resided, following the dissolution and expulsion of the religious order at the behest of King Ferdinand IV of Bourbon. Throughout the second half of the 18th century, the university became the fulcrum of the culture of the Bourbon kingdom, also because there were many professors (including Antonio Genovesi) who lived fully in the Enlightenment environment. From there began the movement of intellectuals that gave rise to the uprisings of 1799 and the (brief) existence of the Parthenopean Republic.
Even during the French decade (1806–1815) there were works of modernization in the cultural field. First of all, the university experienced a radical change: it was divided into five faculties ( Literature and Philosophy, Mathematics and Physics, Medicine, Law, Theology ); the first Italian chair of Zoology and the first of Comparative anatomy was established; the astronomical observatory, the botanical garden and the mineralogy and zoology museums were connected to the university and directed by university professors. Despite this, private schools made a comeback, becoming the backbone of education in southern Italy from the Conservative Order until the unification of Italy. For this reason, the University of Naples suffered serious consequences when, after the birth of the Kingdom of Italy, it had to comply with the Casati law, revealing strong disparities compared to other Italian universities, precisely due to the numerous private institutes competitors. Thanks to specific laws, aimed at standardizing Italian universities, such as the decree law of 30 May 1875 (issued by Ruggiero Bonghi) and the Regulation of 1876 (issued by Michele Coppino), the Neapolitan university managed to break down these differences, already highlighted in 1860 by the general director of Public Education Francesco De Sanctis, who contributed energetically to its modernization.
In 1806, with the Decree of 31 October, the government and administration of the University of Naples were reformed and entrusted to a Prefect, a Council, and an Administrator, all directly appointed by the king. The Prefect, replacing the Rector, had a primarily ceremonial role and served for no more than three years. Their responsibilities included presiding over the acts of the university and receiving the accounts from the administrator to transmit them to the Ministry of the Interior. The council, composed of six members and the Deputies of the Faculties, was tasked with regulating studies, proposing reforms to the king, and conferring academic degrees after examinations. The role of the Councilors was mainly honorary. The Administrator, chosen from the Professors, was the only one to receive a monthly salary and was responsible for managing the finances of the university, overseeing discipline, and making payments to teachers and staff. Over the years, various reforms were proposed, including direct government control over public education and the creation of a Director, a Rector, and a Public Education Council. However, in 1822 and 1848, further changes to the organization were made, including the creation of new commissions and the replacement of the General Council of Public Education. These reforms continued until 1860 when a Provisional Commission of Public Education definitively replaced the General Council, marking another phase in the administration of education in Naples.
The Faculty of Theology was abolished in 1861. In 1869, the Scuola Normale Superiore of Naples was founded with the aim of training professors for secondary schools, offering complementary courses and lectures. Students had to pass an entrance examination and were divided into two sections: Humanities and Philosophy, and Mathematical and Natural Sciences. Some students from the university were admitted automatically, later becoming professors in state high schools.
Thanks to specific laws aimed at standardizing Italian universities, such as the decree-law of 30 May 1875 (issued by Ruggero Bonghi) and the Regulation of 1876 (issued by Michele Coppino), the University of Naples managed to overcome such diversities, already highlighted in 1860 by the Director General of Public Education, Francesco de Sanctis, who energetically contributed to its modernization.
Although the student population multiplied, bringing it to third place in Europe, after Berlin and Vienna, the buildings available to the university were lacking and sometimes not adequate (in fact, most of them were converted former convents). In 1884, after a violent cholera epidemic, the structure of the House of the Savior being now inadequate, the university was moved, thanks to urban renewal initiatives, to the new location in Corso Umberto I, where it still resides.
However, as stated by the rector Luigi Miraglia in 1896, the implementation of such law failed to fully meet the needs of the Faculty of Medicine. The condition of the scientific institutes, confined in cramped premises and lacking the necessary resources for their development, had become unsustainable. Even the library and teachings, which did not require specific spaces like laboratories, were facing serious difficulties due to the limited available space.
In its first session on 19 July 1805, the Chamber of Deputies approved a resolution regarding the reorganization of the University of Naples, recognizing the urgent need for state intervention to improve its deteriorating conditions. The Government, supported by the Commission, agreed to present a bill to reform the university's building, already promising a contribution of two million lire to be distributed over six years. The University of Naples was in a degraded state, with crumbling and inadequate buildings for its student population. Various education ministers had recognized the need for renovation, but the financial and technical situation posed challenges. After unsuccessful attempts, it was decided to entrust the drafting of a new project to the engineers who had worked on the previous one. This new project, estimated at 4,420,000 lire, was approved by the Ministry of Education and subsequently by the Superior Council of Public Works. The agreement between the Government and the provinces involved, including Naples, envisaged that the work would be financed with contributions from both state and local authorities. The advance payment of state expenses, provided in ten annual installments, was to be proportional to the contributions of the other entities involved. Despite financial difficulties, the work was considered of vital importance for the scientific and cultural progress of the country. The agreement also envisaged the participation of the provinces of Chieti and Campobasso, although they were not yet officially involved. However, it was hoped that they would contribute in the future, thus reducing the financial burden on the State. To cover the total estimated cost of the agreement, amounting to 6,800,000 lire, funds from land sales, withdrawals from recovery funds, and contributions from the Municipality of Naples and the Bank of Naples were envisaged. The bill presented to Parliament reflected the long and laborious negotiation between the Government and the parties involved, seeking to balance financial interests with the cultural and scientific importance of the project.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the Faculty of Medicine, constantly complaining about the lack of adequate facilities, convinced the Government to establish a Commission whose report led to the promulgation of the law of 16 July 1882. This law authorized the expenditure of 850,000 lire for the transfer and adaptation of the clinics and facilities of the Medical Faculty of the Royal University of Naples to the former convents of Santa Patrizia and Sant'Andrea delle Dame. Thanks to this law, the buildings of Santa Patrizia and Sant'Andrea delle Dame were acquired, and the renovation works were initiated and completed. In 1887, it was possible to inaugurate in Sant'Andrea the premises intended for the Ophthalmological Clinic, the Obstetric Clinic, the General Pathology Cabinet, the Institute of Physiology, and the Institute of Pharmacology. In Santa Patrizia, the works to accommodate the first and second Medical Clinics, the Surgical Clinic, and the Medical and Surgical Special Pathologies were almost completed when the Faculty suddenly requested to interrupt them, considering the premises inadequate for the needs of the Clinics, for which it proposed the construction of a Polyclinic.
