How Italian universities calculate the degree mark: 30 e lode, thesis points and bonuses

The short answer

Your university decides less than you think. Its general rules (the Regolamento didattico di Ateneo) usually fix only the scale, from 66 to 110, and that the lode needs a unanimous committee. How a 30 e lode counts in your average, how many points the thesis is worth and which bonuses you get are set by your degree course or department, and they differ inside the same university.

Side by side, the differences are large: a 30 e lode counts as 30, 31 or 33, or adds a fraction of a point instead; the thesis is worth from 3 to 10 points; graduating on time is worth from 1 to 4. So look up your own course’s rules, for your year of enrolment, and put the numbers in the degree mark calculator.

What the university-wide rules decide

The general rules we read (Sapienza, Federico II, Torino, Firenze, Milano Statale and others) say the same few things: the mark is out of 110, you pass with 66, and at 110 the committee can add the lode, unanimously. Federico II’s puts it in one line: “La Commissione, in caso di votazione massima (110/110), può concedere la lode su decisione unanime.” Everything else is handed down to the courses.

A few go further. Pisa’s says the starting point is the average weighted by credits, and that a course may add criteria only if they never bring the mark below that average. Pavia’s says the base is the average of the exam grades in 110ths, at least 66, without saying whether it is weighted by credits. Only Milano-Bicocca and the Politecnico di Milano publish a university-wide rule for their courses that also covers the lode value and the thesis points.

Course by course: 16 examples side by side

Each row is one university’s rule, or one course’s or department’s, as its own document states it; “not stated” means the document doesn’t say. These are examples, not the rule for every course at that university.

How a 30 e lode counts: four different answers

As 30: at the Politecnico di Milano the average is taken “senza considerare … le lodi”, and the Politecnico di Torino’s course pages say “La lode non influisce nel calcolo della media”. As 31: Messina’s template for its courses (“alle votazioni di trenta e lode è assegnato valore di 31”), Trento’s DISI and Economics departments, and Milano-Bicocca for students who enrolled from 2023-24. As 33: Milano-Bicocca for earlier cohorts, and Milano Statale’s Political and Government Sciences.

The fourth answer leaves the lode out of the average and adds points for it on top: 0.25 a lode at Federico II’s Medicine, 0.5 at Verona’s Education Sciences (up to 3), 0.20 at Modena e Reggio Emilia’s Communication and Economics (up to 1), a quarter point at Sapienza’s Nanotechnology Engineering (up to 1). With six lodes, those four schemes are worth 1, 3, 1 and 1 point.

Thesis points, bonuses, and the lode at the end

The thesis is worth from 3 points (a review thesis in Law at Catania) to 10 (Sapienza’s Nanotechnology Engineering, for thesis and career together), and many courses pay more for an experimental thesis than a review: 7 against 3 in Federico II’s Medicine.

Bonuses come on top: for graduating on time (1 point at Verona, 2 at Modena e Reggio Emilia, 4 in Federico II’s and Ferrara’s Medicine), for time abroad (from 0.3 per 9 credits at Padova’s DiSSGeA to 2 for 30 credits at Federico II) and sometimes for a high average. And the lode itself has different thresholds: 110 and a unanimous committee in most rules, but 111 before rounding at the Politecnico di Milano, 111 in Trento’s Economics department, 112 in Federico II’s Medicine, 113 in Ferrara’s, 114 at Sapienza’s Nanotechnology Engineering.

Even the starting point isn’t always the same: most courses take the average weighted by credits and multiply it by 110/30, but Federico II’s and Ferrara’s Medicine take the plain average of the exams, the Politecnico di Torino leaves out a bachelor’s worst 16 credits, and Trento’s Economics department drops the lowest exam.

How to work out your own mark

Your mark follows your course’s rules for your year of enrolment, so start there.

1. On your degree course’s website, look for a page called “Laurearsi”, “Prova finale” or “Esame di laurea”, or a document named “Regolamento della prova finale” or “Criteri per il voto di laurea”.
2. Check which cohort it applies to: at Milano-Bicocca a 30 e lode counts as 33 or 31 depending on the year you enrolled.
3. Note how a 30 e lode counts, the most the thesis can get (and whether it depends on the kind of thesis), and the bonuses you qualify for.
4. Work out your average in the grade average calculator, choosing what 30 e lode counts as, then enter it with your thesis and other points in the degree mark calculator. If your course gives points per lode instead, leave the lode at 30 and add those points to the others.
5. If the rules aren’t clear, ask your course’s student office or your supervisor before you plan around a number.

How we checked

In November 2026 we read the general rules of Italy’s 30 largest public universities and the course rules we could find on their own websites. For this page we kept course rules from documents dated 2023 or later, plus the Politecnico di Milano’s regulation, last revised in February 2021 and still the version on its site, and checked every figure against the passage it comes from. Courses change these rules, so the source list says when each document dates from. If your course’s rule is different from what’s here, write to support@breef.app and we’ll correct it.