This law gave control of primary education to the single towns, of secondary education to the provinces, and the universities were managed by the State.
The Casati Act made primary education compulsory, and had the goal of reducing illiteracy. Education in Italy is compulsory from 6 to 16 years of age, and is divided into five stages: kindergarten (scuola dell'infanzia), primary school (scuola primaria or scuola elementary).
Lower secondary school (scuola secondaria di primo grado or cupola media), upper secondary school (scuola secondaria di secondo grado or scuola superiore) and university (university).
Italy has both public and private education systems. HISTORY In Italy a state school system or Education System has existed since 1859, when the Legge Casati (Casati Act) mandated educational responsibilities for the forthcoming Italian state (Italian unification took place in 1861).
Even with the Casatic Act and compulsory education, in rural (and southern) areas children often were not sent to school (the rate of children enrolled in primary education would reach 90% only after 70 years) and the illiteracy rate (which was nearly 80% in 1861) took more than 50 years to halve.