The Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa is a centre for teaching and research founded by Napoleon in 1810 as a branch of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. Professors, researchers and students all work together as one, in classrooms and laboratories, developing cultural activities and experimental initiatives. Academic activity is carried out in two divisions, the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Sciences, and at two levels, the undergraduate and the doctoral. The greatest resource of the Scuola Normale is the quality of its students. Selected on merit only through competitive exams and interviews, they live in completely free residential areas, and follow their studies with a natural fusion of experiences, research, in-depth analysis and intuition.