With 36, Italy has two more universities than previously in the 17th and latest QS World University Rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds, the world's most consulted global uni standings.
At 137th, the Politecnico di Milano gains 12 spots and confirms its place as top Italian uni for the seventh year in a row, getting its best result and the second best result ever by an Italian uni.
The MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology dominates the rankings for the ninth straight year.
The University of Bologna, the world's oldest, rises 17 positions to 160th while Rome's La Sapienza gains 32 spots to return to the top 200 at 171st.
The Politecnico di Torino climbs no fewer than 40 places to 308th.
Sixteen Italian universities placed the same as last year while 13 Italian unis rose, three fell and four were new entries.
At the top of the rankings, the MIT was followed by Stanford in second and Harvard in third.
Oxford was fourth, Cambridge seventh, Caltech fifth and ETH Zurich sixth.
Singapore's National University was 11th and Nanyang Technological University, also in Singapore, 13th.
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