The Arboretums originated with the transfer of the Royal Superior Institute of Forestry to the Abbey of Vallombrosa, after the sale of the Paterno farm (the Institute’s original headquarters). At that time, some two hundred trees were also transferred and formed the first nucleus of today’s arboretums, planted following further acquisitions of land. In 1890, a small portion of the arboretum became a botanical garden, and in 1934, the Dendrological Museum was set up. Today, the Arboretums are managed by the Experimental Institute of Forestry of Arezzo.

The collection of medicinal plants, mainly consisting of Tuscan and Italian specimens, is utilised for educational purposes. The plants are in the former Botanical Garden of the Institute of Forestry; the original nucleus dates to 2000 when the Garden was rehabilitated after years of abandon, following the Institute’s transfer to its headquarters at the Cascine Park in 1914.

The arboretums are made up of trees and shrubs characteristic of the flora of the northern hemisphere (North America, Europe and Asia). The plants are divided into six arboretums which occupy a surface area of approximately 100,000 square metres inside the Vallombrosa Nature Reserve. Among these, the Masso del Diavolo Arboretum with plants from the Mediterranean region is of particular interest.

The Dendrological Museum exhibits wood types, seeds, portions of plants and a collection of specimens of the wood species present in the Arboretum. The exhibits are mainly preserved dry, at times in a liquid.

The Superior Forest Institute, the first national school of forestry, was founded in 1869 and headquartered in the Abbey of Vallombrosa. Following the Institute’s transfer to Florence in 1913, the School for Non-Commissioned Foresters was instituted; its didactic outfitting is the source of the materials conserved in the office of the Administration of Vallombrosa.

The didactic collection mainly consists of two nuclei: the first made up of topographical instruments used to train students of the Forestry Service School for Officers from 1910 to 1950 circa; the second made up of forest equipment for working in the woods, formerly property of the Superior Forest Institute, and later transferred to the School for Officers. The exhibits are from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Born in 1999, the "San Giovanni Gualberto" Botanical Garden contains most of the specimens of herbaceous plants and several shrubs from the Biogenetic Nature Reserve of Vallombrosa. The various species are grouped by their environment of origin. The forest of Vallombrosa has an environmental learning-trail for schools.

The Museum was instituted in 1978 at the initiative of the townspeople of Raggioli, for the purpose of conserving the memory of rural life and crafts in the past. The exhibition is set up in the Raggioli ARCI Centre, which manages it. In 2002, after having been closed for some time due to damage caused by a flood, the Museum was reopened.

The Museum's ethnographic collection displays a wealth of objects of everyday use, typically employed in the mountains, implements used by shoemakers, carpenters, and blacksmiths, tools for work in the fields and the forests. These objects (19th and 20th centuries) have been donated by the townspeople of Raggioli.

The Museum, which forms part of the Mugello – Upper Mugello - Val di Sieve Decentralised Museum, has occupied premises in the historic Villa of Poggio Reale since 1978, after having first been opened in the Villa of Pomino. Created through the grant of collections owned by the Chianti Rufina Consortium, it was rearranged in the summer of 2000, utilising the enormous underground wine-cellars built in the first half of the 19th century. The exhibition displays instruments and machinery for grape-growing and the production and preservation of wine in use from 1930 to 1960, as well as a fine collection of eighteenth-century blown glass. Completing the museum's facilities are a wine-shop and a notable historical library containing books, documents, photographs and films on various aspects of wine-growing and winemaking.