The Vatican Observatory is pleased to announce the 2012 Summer School in Observational Astronomy and Astrophysics, on The Formation and Evolution of Stellar Clusters: From Star Cluster Ecology to Tracers of Galaxy Evolution. Two lectures will be given each morning, with evening seminars by the Vatican staff and visiting astronomers. During the course of the school, students will also present a short paper on their research or the research of their home institution. Other activities will include laboratory exercises, use of the Observatory computers for data reduction, image processing, and running/analyzing relevant simulations, and the use of astronomical databases. Field trips to visit sites of historical interest to astronomy will be included. In addition to the principal topics presented by the invited faculty, students will have the opportunity to discuss their own research with members of the faculty and with the observatory staff. No formal course credits will be given, but certification of satisfactory completion of the course will be supplied.