Cervantes Institute

The Cervantes Institute is located in via di Villa Albani, not far from Villa Borghese, and is a cultural institution whose purpose is the promotion and teaching of Spanish and the diffusion of the culture of the countries where this language is spoken.

Founded in Spain in 1991, it has its headquarters in Alcalà de Henares (Madrid), the birthplace of the writer Miguel de Cervantes, and is managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Culture in Madrid.

The Institute is an international leader in language teaching, as well as in the assessment and certification of knowledge of the Spanish language and culture. It is in charge of managing the official exams to obtain the DELE Spanish diplomas, the SIELE Spanish Language Assessment International Service certificate and the Spanish CCSE Constitutional and Sociocultural Knowledge Test.

It also deals with the training of teaching staff and the organization of exhibitions, conferences and concerts; to this end, it works in collaboration with a wide network of Italian, Spanish and Latin American institutions. Inside the Institute is the María Zambrano Library which includes a constantly updated collection of about 34,000 works in all media and offers a wide range of services. It also has a collection on the Spanish writer and philosopher to whom it is named, in order to stimulate and encourage the study and diffusion of her work. Access to the library is public and free for anyone who wants to consult and read the collections in the room.

Photo credits: courtesy of Cervantes Institute Facebook Page