Itinerary edited by UNIVERSITY OF TUSCIA 
The choice for Viterbo as the location of the University does not fall at random, but is closely linked to the history and the cultural traditions of the city, and in part to the history of the complex of Santa Maria in Gradi. It appears that by the middle of the thirteenth century, there existed itenerate studies in Viterbo, among which were taught the disciplines of the trivium (medieval liberal arts subjects) and the quadrivium (classical curriculum, medieval).
In the year 1546 there was a “Studium" (Medieval University) founded at the request of Pope Paul III Farnese. This “Studium”, which established the teaching posts of logic, philosophy, law and medicine, had the Palazzo dei Priori (now known as the City Hall) as headquarters, and operated, despite a short interruption, until 1581. Later on, in the early nineteenth century, in Viterbo, a university level medical-surgical school was established, which also included a teaching post for physics and chemistry. The university clinic, which was located near l’Ospedale Grande degli Infermi (the Great Hospital of the Sick), functioned until 1853, when it was terminated, following of the papal law "Quod Divina Sapientia" of Leo XIII, who rearranged the State Pontifical Studies.
The repeated attempts of the citizenry to make Viterbo home to a university (Athenaeum) achieved success with the creation of l’Universitą Statale degli Studi della Tuscia (the State University of Tuscia), established by law no. 122 on the 3rd of April in 1979.
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