Three years after his arrival at La Sapienza, Scialoja inaugurated the university's Institute of Roman Law, himself taking on the role of "institute secretary in perpetuity". Those invited to join included not just the Roman Law specialists, but also interested archaeologists and classical historians. Quite soon the Institute absorbed "la Società italiana per l’incremento degli studi romanistici" a parallel but less dynamic organisation - some might have characterised it as a rival institution, which had been set up by Lando Landucci (1855-1937) at Padua. Lando Landucci was a leading representative of the "Serafini school" of Roman Law, and had himself been a contender for the Rome professorship at the time of Scialoja's appointment. The incorporation of Landucci's organisation into the new institute could therefore be characterised as another blow against Serafini's followers. Directly after establishing the institute, in 1888, Scialoja launched the "Bullettino dell’Istituto di diritto romano", a specialist periodical dedicated to Roman Law, which has acquired a life of its own, and is still published annually.
