Department Presentation

Presentation

The Department of Legal Sciences (DSG) was established in 2013 as part of the pre-existing Faculty of Law.

The Faculty, created in 1924, the year the University was founded, was built on a solid tradition of legal studies that has made a decisive contribution not only to the development of legal science, but also to the life and institutions of the country.

Among these, the following are particularly noteworthy: Federico Cammeo, Giorgio La Pira, Enrico Finzi, Piero Calamandrei, Giuseppe Maranini, Paolo Barile, Giovanni Miele, Enzo Capaccioli, Salvatore Romano, Alberto Predieri, Mauro Cappelletti, Andrea Orsi Battaglini, Antonio Cassese, Stefano Merlini, Paolo Grossi, Maurizio Fioravanti, Enzo Cheli, Ugo De Siervo, Pietro Costa and Silvana Sciarra.

Since their establishment, the Faculty and, subsequently, the Department have interpreted legal thinking in its dual dimension of theoretical knowledge and vehicle for active and informed citizenship.

This dual dimension runs through the pillars on which the Department's activities are based: teaching, research and third mission.

 

Teaching, as a space for discussion between teachers and students, pays particular attention to innovative teaching experiences which, through a “clinical” approach to the study of legal subjects, allow future lawyers to engage with living law and its practical applications.

Research is carried out through participation in numerous European, national and local projects aimed at critically studying issues relevant to current social, political and economic issues, as well as the historical and theoretical dimensions of legal knowledge. Research is also promoted, supported and coordinated by centres and laboratories operating in various fields of law.

Through its third mission, the Department aims to transfer the results of its research outside the academic context, highlighting its practical implications and, at the same time, to take on board the ideas and needs of citizens, public and private institutions and the economic system.

 

The Department of Legal Sciences is therefore an open place that lives with and feeds on the surrounding reality and aims to become a point of reference, development and synthesis for the study and research of law, in its dual theoretical and practical dimensions.

 

This vocation of the Department is also reflected in the two Projects of Excellence (2018-22 and 2023-27) to which it has been awarded. 

 

For more information

• “Florence and the University. Past, present and future”, a book published to mark the 100th anniversary of the University.
• P. Grossi,  Stile fiorentino. Gli studi giuridici nella Firenze italiana, 1859-1950 (Florentine style. Legal studies in Italian Florence, 1859-1950), Giuffrè, Milan, 1986.