The Institute was founded in 1908 as the Regia Scuola Pratica di Agricoltura [Royal School of Agricultural Practice]. In 1924 it took the name of Regia Scuola Agraria Media [Royal Intermediate School of Agriculture], specialised in techniques of producing olive oil. In 1933, when it was transferred from the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture to that of Public Education, it became the Regio Istituto Tecnico Agrario. From that time on, the school has retained the characteristics of a secondary school with technical curriculum for the training of agronomists, with particular attention to specialised activities such as silkworm breeding, horticulture, olive-growing and floriculture.

The educational collection contains botanical, zoological, and mineralogical models as well as agricultural machines. There is also an entomological collection (around 650 insects), a xylo-carpology collection (19 boxes containing flowers, leaves, seeds, fruits and wood) and a selection of olive tree seeds, with 50 of the most important varieties found in Tuscany and elsewhere in Italy. The collection also contains zoological specimens, various botanical, phytopathological and entomological plates, and a lithological collection with around 100 samples of Italian rocks. Some of the topographical instruments were utilised as educational material from the start. The Institute also possesses a herbarium, made up of 1,700 envelopes containing specimens of the Valdinievole flora gathered over the course of the 19th century.