In 1951, under the guidance of its first principal, Madame Meyer, the lycée moved to a small apartment in Milan's Via Rugabella, allowing the number of students to reach 45.

To commemorate his visit, the city council decided to officialize the French school and offered it a plot of land to build its first campus.

The change was met with mixed feelings: Families rejoiced to the idea because it would avoid the weeks-long, complicated and expensive travel of pupils to Rome; however alumni mostly cherished this thirty year-long tradition and enjoyed ending their school year with this sort of 'holiday' to the capital, which also helped alleviate the stress of the exam.

In 1982, Madame Meyer left her place as the lycée's head master after 31 consecutive years due to her having reached the age of retirement.

The large glass structure which makes up the main hall and entrance to the campus was made to represent the openness of French culture towards Milan and the Italian people[2].

The increase in the number of students attending the lycée in past years is likely linked to the economic expansion of the Milan metropolitan area, which in terms of annual GDP (€400 billion in 2014) has already surpassed the city of Berlin as well as the Philippines.

According to non-French parents of students attending the school, its main assets seem to be its international environment, the importance given to humanist values, relative degrees of strictness (i.e. Cellphones cannot be used inside the campus) and the rule of discipline (i.e.: Dress code) which testify of the quality education alumni receive.

L'Association des Anciens élèves du Lycée Stendhal de Milan (AALSMI) is the official alumni association of the school.

The Association now has over 1400 members and organises yearly galas as well as basketball, tennis and golf tournaments in the Lycée or in different locations in France to incentivize communication amongst former pupils.

Tuition and payment procedures should be directly discussed with the school threw the official website as fees vary from one alumni to the other depending on age, merit, nationality and income.