Established in 1980 as a Local Health Department, it possesses a collection of surgical instruments, medical machinery and apparatus, furnishings and medical equipment coming from the hospitals in the Province of Arezzo. The medical instruments found in the collection, consisting of around 200 pieces, date from the 19th and 20th centuries.

The Arezzo medical tradition has, however, a much longer history behind it, as exemplified by the very ancient Hospital of Santa Maria sopra i Ponti, of medieval origin, dedicated to assisting the needy and managed, like other hospitals of the time, by the powerful Laymen’s Brotherhood, who provided for its maintenance. Renovated under Lorraine rule at the order of Grand Duke Peter Leopold, it became the most important and well-equipped hospital in the Arezzo area consequent to the incorporation of smaller hospitals.