Set up in 1861 under the
Cavour cabinet, it was suppressed on 12 September 1929 by
Benito Mussolini's cabinet, and replaced by the ''Ministero dell'Educazione Nazionale
(Ministry of National Education
). This name persisted until 29 May 1944 (i.e. until under the second cabinet of Pietro Badoglio), and the second Ivanoe Bonomi cabinet had it revert to its original name (della Pubblica Istruzione''). It remained unchanged until 14 December 1974, when
Giovanni Spadolini (then head of government) created the
Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, which took over responsibilities and functions from this and other ministries. In 1988, the
Ministero dell'Università e della Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica also subsumed some of the education ministry's responsibilities. In the first
Romano Prodi cabinet the two were merged into the
Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione, Università, Ricerca Scientifica e Tecnologica, then the
Ministero dell'istruzione, dell'università e della ricerca (MIUR) in the second and third
Silvio Berlusconi cabinets. The two were re-separated in the second Prodi cabinet of 17 May 2006, but then re-merged in the fourth Berlusconi cabinet of 7 May 2008. == Organization ==