Record number of students graduate with honors in Italy's "Maturità" exam

Italy's "Maturità" (high school exit exam) has seen a significant surge in students achieving honors, with 14,123 graduates earning top marks this year. This figure represents a slight increase from the previous year and constitutes 2.9% of all students who took the exam.

Conversely, the number of students scoring a perfect 100 saw a noticeable decline, dropping from 7.1% in 2025 to 5.3% this year. Liceo schools, particularly the Classical and Scientific tracks, continue to be the leading institutions for academic excellence, with 8% and 6.1% of their students, respectively, receiving honors.

Regional data highlights a concentration of honors graduates in southern Italy. Campania leads with 3,018 students awarded honors, followed closely by Puglia with 2,104. Other regions with substantial numbers include Sicily (1,928) and Lazio (1,165). In contrast, Lombardy reported a comparatively lower figure of 760 honors graduates.

Overall, 99.8% of students successfully passed the Maturità exam this year, a figure consistent with the previous academic year. The admission rate for candidates also remained stable at 96.7%. The distribution of scores shows that 4.1% received a passing grade of 60, while 26% scored between 61 and 70. A significant portion, 30.1%, achieved scores between 71 and 80, with 19.7% in the 81-90 range. Finally, 11.9% scored between 91 and 99.