Top 12 Fully Funded Scholarships in Italy 2027

Italy funds international students through three systems that work at the same time — and understanding that is the key to studying there for close to free. First, the national government runs merit schemes: Invest Your Talent in Italy and the Italian Government (MAECI) scholarships. Second, Italy’s regions run the Diritto allo Studio (DSU) system, a need-based “right to study” package that can combine a tuition exemption, a cash grant of several thousand euros a year, a subsidised or free room, and free canteen meals — and it is open to international students on the same income rules as Italians. Third, individual universities run merit awards, some of which — Politecnico di Milano’s Platinum scholarships, Padua’s International Excellence Scholarship, Bologna’s study grants — bundle a full tuition waiver with a cash allowance large enough to live on in a mid-cost Italian city.

No other major destination lets you stack a national system, a regional system and a university system in quite this way. It also means Italian funding takes paperwork: the DSU route runs on family income documents (the ISEE Parificato for students whose families live abroad), deadlines fall region by region in late summer, and amounts vary by region and by whether you live at home, commute, or move away (“fuori sede”). This guide labels every route honestly — Fully funded, Tuition + stipend, Need-based full package, or Tuition waiver only — with figures checked against official programme and university sources in October 2026. Where an amount varies by region or call, we give the published range and tell you to confirm the current call rather than inventing a single national number.

Audience note: Invest Your Talent in Italy is built specifically for citizens of a partner-country list that includes Bangladesh, India and Indonesia — three of StudyGraduate’s core audiences — and the DSU system is nationality-blind. Start with our scholarship directory for the wider list, shortlist institutions in the university directory, and check where Italian universities sit in our global rankings as you plan.

Italy Scholarships 2027 at a Glance

Notice what is not on this list: a single national “Italy full scholarship” you apply to once. The students who study in Italy for free usually combine routes — an IYT or university merit award for year one, a DSU package running underneath, or a DSU package alone at a public university in an affordable city. The sections below explain each route, then walk through eligibility, documents, the ISEE Parificato, and the regional deadline calendar you must not miss.

The 12 Italy Scholarships in Detail

1. Regional DSU grants — the need-based full package most students actually use

Coverage: Need-based full package. Under Italy’s right-to-study law, each region’s agency — ER.GO in Emilia-Romagna, LazioDiSCo in Lazio, DSU Toscana in Tuscany, EDISU in Piedmont, and their peers — awards eligible students a package that typically combines full exemption from university tuition, a cash grant, accommodation services and free or subsidised canteen meals. Cash amounts depend on region, income band and student status; for students living away from home, published regional figures commonly reach around €7,000 or more per year, with the monetary value higher once free housing and meals are counted. Eligibility: Enrolment (or planned enrolment) at a university in the region, family income and assets below the call’s thresholds — assessed for international students through the ISEE Parificato — and, from the second year, minimum credit (CFU) requirements. Nationality does not matter; income and correct documents do. Deadline: Regional calls typically open in July and close between August and September for the autumn intake. Miss your region’s date and there is no national second chance — this is the single most consequential deadline in Italian student funding.

2. Invest Your Talent in Italy — tuition + stipend, built for partner countries

Coverage: Tuition + stipend. Scholars receive €1,000 net per month for nine months, exemption from tuition fees (small regional/stamp charges remain), a free Italian language course, and a mandatory internship of at least three months with an Italian company. The grant is renewable for the second year if you earn at least 30 credits (CFU) by the July checkpoint in the published rules. Eligibility: Citizens of the partner list — which in recent calls includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mexico, South Korea, Tunisia, Türkiye and Vietnam — holding a bachelor’s degree, with English at B2 level or above, born on or after the age cut-off in the current call (1 January 1999 in a recent cycle), and not already resident or enrolled in Italy. Programmes are English-taught master’s in engineering and high tech, economics and management, and design and architecture at participating universities. Deadline: Applications run through the official IYT application portal in late winter/spring; the University of Padua’s official summary is a good model of the terms — see University of Padua — Invest Your Talent in Italy — and the live call on the programme’s official site governs.

3. Italian Government Scholarships (MAECI) — the national merit grant

Coverage: Tuition + stipend. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) funds foreign students and Italians resident abroad for master’s degrees, AFAM (arts/music/dance) programmes, PhDs, supervised research and Italian language courses. Recent calls have combined exemption from enrolment and tuition fees (regional tax and stamp duty still payable), MAECI-contracted health and accident insurance, and a grant paid in instalments into an Italian bank account — around €900 to €1,000 per month equivalent in recent cycles, with totals depending on the 3-to-9-month duration of the award. Because published summaries of different cycles quote different totals, treat the current call text on the Study in Italy portal as the only authority. Eligibility: Age limits in recent calls: under 28 for master’s/AFAM/language entry, under 30 for PhD, under 40 for research projects; language requirements (Italian B2 for Italian-taught programmes; programme-set requirements for English-taught ones). Deadline: Spring — the 2026/2027 cycle closed on 26 March 2026, so plan for a similar window for 2027 entry and prepare documents in winter. MAECI also funds niche calls, such as scholarships tied to specific academies published through Italian embassies (for example the Teatro alla Scala Academy call published by the Italian Embassy in Hanoi) — a reminder to watch your own embassy’s page too.

4. Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters — fully funded, Italian universities throughout

Coverage: Fully funded: participation costs covered plus €1,400 per month for up to 24 months. Italian universities coordinate and partner in many consortia (Bologna’s own programme pages, for example, spell out the €1,400 monthly allowance and full participation-cost coverage for their joint masters). Eligibility: Bachelor’s degree, all nationalities, programme-specific requirements; apply to each consortium directly (up to three). Deadline: October to January for the following year. See the official Erasmus Mundus page, our Erasmus Mundus guide, and the Europe-wide round-up of the top 30 fully funded scholarships in Europe for international students 2027.

5. PhD scholarships at Italian universities — the standard funded doctorate

Coverage: Fully funded. Most Italian PhD places are advertised with a doctoral scholarship attached: a monthly grant paid over three to four years — the national ministerial base has been in the region of €16,000 gross per year in recent years, with many universities and funded projects paying more — plus a research budget and an increase for research periods abroad. University tuition for scholarship-holding doctoral students is essentially the small regional/stamp charges. Eligibility: A master’s degree (laurea magistrale or foreign equivalent), selection by competitive call (qualifications, research proposal and often an interview), programme by programme. Deadline: Calls cluster in spring and summer for autumn starts; Sapienza, Bologna, Politecnico di Milano and other large universities each publish their own bando. For research-strong readers, this is Italy’s largest fully funded pool by number of places.

6. Politecnico di Milano Merit Scholarships — Platinum, Gold, Silver

Coverage: Tuition + stipend at the top tiers. In recent calls, Platinum scholarships combined a full tuition waiver with €10,000 gross per year; Gold combined a waiver with €5,000–€8,000 depending on campus and programme; Silver was the waiver alone. All admitted international MSc applicants in the relevant rounds are considered — there is no separate scholarship form, so your admission file is your scholarship file. Eligibility: International students admitted to a first-year English-taught MSc at Politecnico di Milano; selection is purely on admission merit and programme fit. Deadline: Tied to the MSc admission rounds between autumn and spring — apply in the earliest round you can, because scholarship budgets are allocated as rounds proceed. Politecnico’s own overview of its scholarship ecosystem is at Politecnico di Milano — Scholarships; note that Polimi students can also apply for the Lombardy DSU package on top of, or instead of, a merit award, subject to each scheme’s rules.

7. University of Padua International Excellence Scholarship

Coverage: Tuition + stipend: a fee waiver plus €8,000 gross per year, renewable for the normal duration of the programme (up to two years for a master’s, three for a bachelor’s) subject to progress. Only the regional tax and stamp duty remain payable. Eligibility: Highly talented non-Italian citizens holding a foreign qualification, not resident in Italy, applying to an English-taught bachelor’s or master’s at Padua; there is no separate application — eligible programme applicants are considered automatically, and you cannot hold it with another Padua grant. Deadline: Follows the programme application rounds, which open in autumn; apply in the first round for the best chance, as awards are allocated per programme.

8. University of Bologna — Unibo Action 2 grants and Action 1 waivers

Coverage: Tuition + grant options. Bologna — the world’s oldest university — has run two flagship instruments for international students in recent calls: study grants worth €11,000 gross (Unibo Action 2) and full tuition fee waivers (Unibo Action 1), awarded on the basis of SAT/GRE test results and, in newer calls, restructured under international-talent calls. Read the current call carefully: structures evolve, but the value level (€11,000 grant or full waiver) is the planning figure. Eligibility: A qualification obtained outside Italy, under 30 at the call deadline, and registration for the first year of a bachelor’s, single-cycle or master’s programme; master’s applicants are assessed on GRE in recent calls. Deadline: Per call, in spring. Bologna’s funding overview (including ER.GO regional grants and MAECI links) is published on its course pages, e.g. University of Bologna — Funding opportunities.

9. Bocconi Merit Awards — a full tuition waiver at a private university

Coverage: Tuition waiver only — but at Bocconi, Milan’s private business and social-sciences university, tuition is the big cost, so a 100% merit waiver transforms the budget (living costs in Milan, Italy’s most expensive student city, remain yours). Bocconi also runs need-based ISU Bocconi support through the regional right-to-study framework for eligible students. Eligibility: Outstanding international applicants admitted to a Bocconi bachelor’s or master’s; merit awards are assigned by the admissions committees across application rounds, with no separate application. Deadline: With Bocconi’s admission rounds from autumn onward — earlier rounds historically see more awards available.

10. University of Milan Excellence Scholarships

Coverage: Tuition + stipend. The University of Milan’s excellence programme for international master’s students has, in recent calls, offered 155 awards combining tuition exemption with a €6,000 grant. Eligibility: International students enrolling in the first year of a Milan master’s, selected on the academic record in the admission application. Deadline: Spring, per the annual call — and Milan students are also squarely in DSU (Lombardy) territory, so run both applications.

11. Politecnico di Torino International Scholarships

Coverage: Partial stipend. Politecnico di Torino’s international scholarships for MSc students have paid around €8,000 gross per year in recent calls — real money toward Turin’s comparatively affordable living costs — but they do not automatically waive tuition, which is why this entry is labelled partial rather than fully funded. Project-specific and country-specific calls (including engineering partnerships) appear alongside the general one. Eligibility: International students admitted to an eligible English-taught MSc. Deadline: With the admission rounds; check the current call for the amount and whether your programme is included.

12. Scuola Normale Superiore and Sant’Anna, Pisa — fully funded by admission

Coverage: Fully funded. Italy’s two Pisa elite schools admit a small number of students each year by competitive examination and fund them comprehensively: no tuition, free accommodation and meals, and an additional grant under each school’s rules — at undergraduate level (Normale, alongside a University of Pisa degree) and at PhD level (both schools). Eligibility: Exceptional students who pass some of Europe’s most demanding entrance examinations; PhD calls are international and field-specific. Deadline: Examinations and PhD calls run through spring and summer. If you are a genuine top-of-cohort candidate, these are the most complete packages in Italian higher education — and the hardest to win.

Who Is Eligible?

Different routes gate on different things, and most funded students in Italy qualify for at least two. Merit routes (IYT, MAECI, university excellence awards, PhD calls) gate on grades and test scores: Bologna has used GRE/SAT results, Padua and Politecnico di Milano decide on the admission file, and IYT requires a bachelor’s with English at B2 or above plus citizenship of a listed partner country. The DSU route gates on income, not nationality: if your family’s documented income and assets fall under your region’s thresholds and you are enrolled, you are eligible on the same terms as an Italian student — which is why Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani, Nepali, Nigerian and Indonesian students form such a large share of DSU holders. Age gates apply to MAECI (under 28 for master’s entry in recent calls) and IYT (born on or after the call’s cut-off, 1 January 1999 in a recent cycle) and to Bologna’s grants (under 30). Doctoral and Normale/Sant’Anna routes gate on competitive selection. Check each gate before you spend money on tests or translations.

How to Apply: Step by Step

1. Choose the university and region together. Your region decides your DSU agency, call dates and grant levels. Compare institutions in our study-abroad guides and shortlist two or three public universities in regions whose DSU calls you can meet.
2. Apply for admission early through the university and, where required, the Universitaly portal for pre-enrolment — merit scholarships (Padua, Polimi, Bocconi) are decided from admission files in successive rounds, and earlier rounds are richer.
3. Start your ISEE Parificato documents in spring. This is the step everyone underestimates: family income certificates, property and bank documentation from your home country, translated and legalised through the Italian consulate or as your CAF/consulate instructs, then processed by a CAF office in Italy to produce the ISEE Parificato. Allow two to three months.
4. Apply to the DSU agency in your region the week its call opens (July–September): ER.GO, LazioDiSCo, DSU Toscana, EDISU Piemonte or your region’s equivalent — one application covers grant, housing and canteen services.
5. Submit national applications in their windows: IYT through its official application portal in late winter/spring, MAECI through the Study in Italy portal in spring.
6. Use StudyGraduate’s planning tools to track the overlapping calendars — admission, DSU, national schemes and visa each run on different clocks.
7. Complete the visa file with scholarship evidence and, after arrival, register with the university, open the Italian bank account your grants will be paid into, and confirm your DSU ranking position and any appeals window.

Required Documents

• Passport; degree certificates and transcripts with certified translations where required (admission and Universitaly pre-enrolment).
• English (or Italian, B2 for Italian-taught programmes) language certificate per programme rules.
• CV and motivation letter; GRE/SAT scores where the specific call uses them (notably Bologna’s grants).
• For DSU: the full ISEE Parificato evidence set — family composition, income certificates for the reference year, property and movable-asset (bank) certificates for every family member, legalised and translated as your consulate prescribes.
• For IYT: bachelor’s certificate, transcript, B2 English certificate, passport, CV and the short motivation video the portal requests in recent calls.
• For MAECI: the Study in Italy portal application, qualifications, language proof and any programme-specific pre-admission letter.
• For PhD calls: research proposal and qualifications dossier per the bando.

Deadlines and Timeline for 2027 Entry

Where the 2027 date for a scheme has not yet been published, this table gives the most recent cycle’s timing and identifies it as such. The official call for your cycle always prevails.

How to Improve Your Chances

Run the stack, not a single bet. Apply for admission early enough to be in merit rounds, file the DSU application in your region without exception, and add IYT or MAECI if you are eligible — the routes are decided by different bodies on different criteria. Perfect the ISEE Parificato file: most DSU rejections of international students are document failures (missing family member, unlegalised certificate, wrong reference year), not income failures. Start in spring and keep a checklist. Choose your city like a funder: the same €7,000–€8,000 package is comfortable in Turin, Padua or Bologna and tight in Milan — Politecnico di Torino or Padua plus DSU is a genuinely low-cost combination. Feed the merit file: for test-based calls, a strong GRE is a direct ranking input, not a formality; for file-based calls, first-round applications and a clean academic narrative win. Protect renewal: DSU and IYT both renew on credits earned (IYT’s checkpoint is 30 CFU by July; DSU sets CFU thresholds per year) — a funded first year is only a funded degree if you pass exams on schedule.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Missing the regional DSU deadline because you were watching national schemes. July–September, region by region, no exceptions.
• Starting ISEE Parificato documents in August. Consulate legalisation and CAF processing cannot be rushed into a September deadline.
• Assuming MAECI or IYT amounts from a blog’s old cycle. Totals and monthly figures are set in each annual call — read the call, not a summary.
• Applying to a private university on an allowance budget. Bocconi without a merit waiver, or any private tuition, breaks a DSU-sized budget.
• Holding incompatible awards: several university excellence scholarships cannot be combined with other grants from the same university, and DSU rules interact with other funding — check each bando.
• Ignoring the CFU renewal conditions and losing year-two funding you were counting on.
• Paying an agent for “guaranteed DSU” or IYT placement. Both are public application systems; no agent can sell you a ranking position.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can international students really study in Italy for free?

Close to it, at public universities, if you qualify for the DSU package: tuition exemption plus a cash grant, housing and meals can reduce your net cost to personal expenses. It is income-tested and document-heavy, and “free” never includes your flights or the small regional tax and stamp charges that remain payable on most schemes.

What is the ISEE Parificato and why does it matter?

It is the income-and-assets assessment for students whose families live outside Italy, built from your home country’s income, property and bank certificates, legalised and translated, then processed by a CAF in Italy. It decides DSU eligibility and your grant band — and it is also used for income-based tuition reductions. Without it, submitted on time, the DSU route is closed to you.

Is Invest Your Talent in Italy fully funded?

It is tuition + stipend: €1,000 per month for nine months, tuition exemption, an Italian course and a company internship. In a mid-cost city that covers most of a student’s real budget for the academic year; in Milan you will likely need a top-up. It is also restricted to citizens of its partner-country list, which includes Bangladesh, India and Indonesia.

How much is the MAECI Italian Government scholarship?

Recent calls combine tuition and enrolment fee exemption, MAECI health/accident insurance and a grant paid in instalments over 3 to 9 months, at roughly €900–€1,000 per month equivalent. Published totals differ between cycles, so the current call on the official Study in Italy portal is the only figure to budget with.

Can I combine a university merit scholarship with DSU?

Sometimes — the rules sit in each scheme’s bando. Some university awards exclude other grants from the same institution, while DSU is a regional entitlement with its own compatibility rules. Never assume stacking is allowed; check both calls, and where stacking is prohibited, take the larger package.

Do I need Italian to study in Italy on a scholarship?

No for English-taught programmes — IYT programmes are English-taught by design — but MAECI requires Italian B2 for Italian-taught study, and daily life, the DSU bureaucracy and part-time work all reward Italian. IYT even builds in a free Italian course.

When do DSU applications open for 2027?

Regional calls typically open in July and close between August and September 2027, with exact dates set by each region’s agency. Because the ISEE Parificato takes months to prepare, your real start date is spring 2027, not July.

Which Italian city is cheapest for a funded student?

As a rule, southern and mid-sized cities (Turin is the classic northern exception) cost less than Milan and Rome. Funded students stretch grants furthest in places like Turin, Padua, Bologna, Pisa, Perugia or Palermo — check current rents before you choose, because housing is the variable that decides whether a package is truly sufficient.

Sources & Verification

Facts were checked in October 2026 against official sources, including: University of Padua — Invest Your Talent in Italy (€1,000/month for 9 months, partner-country list, 30-CFU renewal rule); the Study in Italy / MAECI call documentation and Italian embassy publications, e.g. the Italian Embassy in Hanoi — MAECI scholarships notice; Politecnico di Milano — Scholarships; University of Bologna — Funding opportunities (Unibo Action grants of €11,000 and waivers; ER.GO regional grants); University of Padua’s International Excellence Scholarship pages (€8,000 + fee waiver); regional DSU agency calls (ER.GO, LazioDiSCo, DSU Toscana, EDISU); and Erasmus+ — Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters. Amounts described as “in recent calls” or varying by region must be re-confirmed in the current official call.

Disclaimer: Scholarship details, amounts and deadlines change every cycle. Always confirm deadlines and amounts on the official website before applying. StudyGraduate is an information portal, not an agency or a university — we cannot promise selection, admission or visa approval, and no legitimate scholarship requires you to pay an agent to apply.