What MAECI last said it would pay
For the 2026–27 call, a nine-month scholarship totalled €10,800, paid in three instalments: €5,500, then €2,300, then €3,000. Payment went to an Italian current account. Language-course grants (Italofonia) were published at €3,600. Those numbers are the last official cash pattern. They are not a forecast, a 2027 decree, or a promise that the next PDF will be identical.
This is a grant, not an advertised “full ride” unless a future call explicitly adds tuition, housing, or other lines. The 2026–27 cash figures above are what this handbook will quote. Anything else you see on listicles — monthly “stipend” math that ignores instalments, or invented tuition waivers — is someone else’s marketing.
2026–27 published pattern · not a 2027 invention
€10,800
Three instalments to an Italian current account: €5,500 + €2,300 + €3,000.
2026–27 published pattern · not a 2027 invention
€3,600
Italofonia / language-course envelope in the last published call. Different purpose, different duration, different cash.
Optional instalment checklist · planning only
Tick as a cash-flow plan. Uneven instalments are not monthly rent. Confirm the next call before you budget.
Planning tool. Last official close: 26 March 2026 at 14:00 Italian time.
Why the Italian current account is part of the award
The last published payment method was not PayPal and not a foreign IBAN. Instalments were sent to an Italian current account. If you cannot open or access such an account after arrival (or under the host’s instructions), the grant has no legal pipe. Plan the banking step on the after selection page; do not discover it after the first instalment date.
Renewable does not mean automatic
Master’s, AFAM, PhD
Nine months, renewable in the last call. Renewal is a later application (or later administrative step) under a future call’s rules. It is not a four-year contract signed on day one.
Research projects
Nine months, not renewable. Budget the stay as a single published envelope. Do not assume a second MAECI year on the same research type.
Italofonia
Three months, language envelope €3,600 in the last published call. Different purpose, different duration, different cash.
What this handbook will not pretend
We will not convert €10,800 into a fake monthly salary and call it official. We will not claim Italian public universities are free because of MAECI — tuition policy is a university and fee-status question. We will not invent health-insurance or flight-ticket lines that the last cash table did not state here. If the 2027–28 call adds benefits, read them on esteri.it.
Living costs in Italian cities vary. A grant paid in three uneven instalments is not the same as rent that is due every month. Arrive with a cash buffer. The Ministry’s purpose is cultural and scientific cooperation, not a guarantee that the third instalment will land before your landlord’s first.