Leonardo da Vinci Art Institute

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Leonardo da Vinci Art Institute was an Italian art school in Cairo, Egypt, during World War II. It started in the 1930s to offer evening classes in painting, drawing and sculpture, run by the Italian consulate in Cairo and the Italian cultural center. The exact nature and history of the institute were not clearly explained at the time. It grew from an Italian technical high school into a higher-education institute offering graduate certificates in Architecture and in Painting/Decoration. It mainly served Cairo’s elite—upper and upper-middle-class students who wanted a different educational path than the Egyptian high school system could provide. Some teachers came from the old Italian fascist era, while others were brought to Cairo to protect Italian cultural treasures during turbulent times. There are unconfirmed rumors that the institute was connected with the Dante Alighieri Society, which promotes Italian language and culture. In Egypt, the Dante Alighieri Society had early committees in Alexandria and Cairo starting in 1896. After World War II, the Dante Alighieri Institute resumed activities and opened the Claudio Monteverdi Conservatoire.