Università degli Studi Roma Tre

History

Universita degli Studi Roma Tre was established in 1992 as the third public university in the Rome metropolitan area, a genuinely separate institution from Sapienza, not a sub-unit. It enrols roughly 34,700 students, the second-largest university in Rome after Sapienza.

Academic reputation

QS World University Rankings places Roma Tre in the 901-950 global band. A claim that its architecture programme is "constantly ranked in the top three of the country" appears on secondary sources but could not be independently verified against a primary ranking source.

Position in Italian architecture education

A structurally younger, smaller institution than Sapienza (Faculty founded 1992, Department reconstituted 2013) with its own distinct Department of Architecture and campus identity -- a genuine, independent alternative for prospective Rome architecture students, not a lesser Sapienza offshoot.

International reputation

The department maintains roughly 60 European Erasmus+ partner institutions plus extra-European partnerships across all continents.

The architecture school

Dipartimento di Architettura — Ex Mattatoio (former slaughterhouse) complex, Testaccio, Rome -- a 19th-century industrial complex renovated for cultural/educational reuse, also hosting MACRO museum and an Accademia di Belle Arti campus nearby. Entrances at Ponte Testaccio/Largo Giovanni Battista Marzi 10 and Piazza Orazio Giustiniani 4; six fully-restored pavilions house classrooms, labs, library and offices.

The Department descends from the former Faculty of Architecture (founded with the university in 1992) and was formally constituted on 1 January 2013, unifying faculty from the former Departments of Progettazione e Studio dell'Architettura, Studi Urbani, and some staff from Structures and Mathematics departments. It has occupied the ex Mattatoio complex since 2000.

Official focus on "territories, cities and buildings" across humanistic, technical and scientific dimensions and at multiple design scales -- an integrated approach combining technical training with humanities/soft skills, with strong emphasis on history, cultural heritage and construction practice alongside contemporary/scientific research.

Three official research priorities -- Architecture and Heritage, Urban and Territorial Studies, and Sciences of Architecture and Innovation -- map onto the department's three follow-on Master's degrees: Progettazione architettonica, Progettazione urbana, and Restauro (the last offered with parallel Italian and English curricula).

Curriculum by programme

What makes it different

Roma Tre occupies a single, purpose-repurposed heritage-industrial complex (ex Mattatoio, Testaccio) shared with cultural institutions (MACRO, Accademia di Belle Arti) -- a coherent, self-contained cultural campus, geographically and architecturally distinct from Sapienza's Citta Universitaria campus in San Lorenzo. Studios are explicitly capped at 60 students per section. The department runs three named LM-4 follow-on tracks in-house (Progettazione architettonica, Progettazione urbana, Restauro), giving a clearly branded three-way specialisation structure. Any explicit 'better than Sapienza' comparison should be treated as unverified -- no official ranking source confirms a direct comparison.

Is this university right for you?

A good fit if you: want a newer, smaller alternative to Sapienza in Rome, value capped 60-student studio sections and a self-contained heritage-industrial campus (ex Mattatoio, Testaccio), and want a clear in-house path to three specialised LM-4 master's tracks.

Less suitable if you: specifically want Sapienza's larger scale and older institutional history, or want to live in central/historic Rome rather than the Testaccio/Ostiense district.

Student life

Living cost level: Medium

No official cost-of-living page specific to the Testaccio/Ostiense student area was located. General orientation only: Testaccio/Ostiense is a traditionally working-class-turned-trendy Rome district with nightlife and markets, and somewhat lower rents than the historic centre or Trastevere, though rents have risen with gentrification.

The department sits directly on Metro B (Piramide station); other Roma Tre faculties cluster around Garbatella, Marconi, Basilica San Paolo and Magliana metro stops -- an area distinct from Sapienza's Citta Universitaria near Termini/Policlinico.

Admission at a glance

For exact seats, dates and fees, see the admissions section above — this is a qualitative summary only.