The Salerno State Conservatoire 'Giuseppe Martucci' has descended from a music school founded during the Bourbon reign (1819) and gained its autonomy in 1980. Currently, it is an Institution of Higher Musical and Artistic Education, managed nationally and internationally by the Ministry of Education, University, and Research. The new programmes, authorised by law 508/1999 and subsequent decrees, include the following areas of expertise: Early Music, Sacred Music, Conducting, Ensemble, Opera, Jazz Music, Composition, Musicianship, Musicology, Music Education, Language, Entertainment and Cultural Enterprise Management, and Electronic Music. The Conservatoire boasts almost 1000 students. In 2015 more than 860 students chose from 62 under-graduate programmes, 34 post-graduate programmes, and 2 specialising masters from the current degree system. The activity of 10 departments and more than 160 teachers is directed, aside from educating, also to the realisation of research projects and musical productions aimed at promoting music and developing talents. This is witnessed by more than 100 events in 2016 alone, some of which were carried out in cooperation with other institutions, as well as by the numerous awards won by the most talented students. The annual festivals and artistic productions offer students many possibilities for motivation and growth, often in international backgrounds, thanks to the fruitful exchanges with the 70 partner institutions of the Erasmus+ Programme spread out across 20 European countries.