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🎓 Top Research Universities in Italy

Universities and colleges in Italy ranked by the total citations their research has received (OpenAlex).

📅 2026📏 citations50 entries🇮🇹 See all of this country’s rankings →
Every dot is one entry, placed by its value (citations); the vertical bar marks each row’s median.
1
Sapienza University of Rome281,445 papers
24,674,261
2
University of Padua220,956 papers
21,972,463
3
University of Milan406,219 papers
21,811,833
4
University of Bologna229,999 papers
21,043,161
5
University of Naples Federico II179,588 papers
16,008,671
6
University of Turin166,310 papers
15,146,489
7
University of Pisa141,651 papers
13,714,503
8
University of Florence154,276 papers
12,197,151
9
University of Genoa110,906 papers
9,197,716
10
University of Pavia96,603 papers
8,867,688
11
University of Rome Tor Vergata100,029 papers
8,779,264
12
University of Perugia70,231 papers
7,631,054
13
University of Bari Aldo Moro85,863 papers
7,482,131
14
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore84,384 papers
6,928,930
15
University of Milano-Bicocca77,087 papers
6,449,495
16
University of Verona63,073 papers
6,258,554
17
Politecnico di Milano258,073 papers
6,129,603
18
University of Catania80,207 papers
5,660,621
19
University of Siena60,640 papers
5,645,277
20
University of Ferrara57,019 papers
5,370,702
21
University of Parma66,648 papers
5,286,264
22
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia65,583 papers
5,246,286
23
University of Palermo84,948 papers
5,244,673
24
University of Trieste59,749 papers
5,047,370
25
University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli"56,818 papers
4,680,171
26
University of Trento61,139 papers
4,226,246
27
University of Brescia48,769 papers
4,185,936
28
University of Salerno56,561 papers
4,182,372
29
University of Messina56,858 papers
4,049,253
30
University of Cagliari54,649 papers
4,010,599
31
Politecnico di Torino83,177 papers
3,779,904
32
University of Calabria42,776 papers
3,452,421
33
University of Udine41,721 papers
3,360,748
34
Vita-Salute San Raffaele University32,574 papers
3,321,431
35
Scuola Normale Superiore20,947 papers
3,235,176
36
University of Chieti-Pescara37,159 papers
2,984,435
37
Marche Polytechnic University40,971 papers
2,877,702
38
University of L'Aquila44,176 papers
2,543,097
39
Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati21,583 papers
2,380,849
40
Roma Tre University41,240 papers
2,358,076
41
Polytechnic University of Bari21,221 papers
2,223,112
42
University of Salento32,290 papers
2,177,860
43
University of Sassari29,814 papers
2,118,664
44
Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale “Amedeo Avogadro”25,282 papers
2,098,633
45
University of Insubria27,988 papers
1,991,601
46
University of Urbino17,344 papers
1,919,583
47
National Interuniversity Consortium of Materials Science and Technology15,190 papers
1,784,052
48
Magna Graecia University20,237 papers
1,700,581
49
Università Campus Bio-Medico19,893 papers
1,448,342
50
Università di Camerino20,237 papers
1,393,535

Highlights

Within Italy, Sapienza University of Rome ranks first in 2026 with 24,674,261, followed by University of Padua (21,972,463) and University of Milan (21,811,833).

Across 50 entries, values run from 24,674,261 (Sapienza University of Rome) to 1,393,535 (Università di Camerino), with a median of 4,453,209.

Source: OpenAlex, citations received by each institution's papers, 2026. Unit: citations.

Source: OpenAlex, citations received by each institution's papers · CC0 1.0 (OpenAlex) · fetched Oct 13, 2026 — Counts every citation to papers by authors affiliated with the institution, so large and old universities score high. It measures research impact, not teaching quality.