Founded in 1897 under the name of Istituto Tecnico Privato di Lucca, offering courses in Land Surveying and Accounting, it passed under the direct jurisdiction of the State in 1935, after it had been officially recognised as equivalent to the public institutes in 1904. From its original premises in Palazzo Buonvisi, situated in Via Fillungo, the school moved to its present location in 1997.

The school possesses two collections of scientific instruments used for educational purposes: one of agricultural models, the other of topographic instruments. The former consists of models made of wood and metal as well as those of rural implements constructed by Cosimo Ridolfi and dating from the late 19th century, acquired by the Institute in the academic year 1898-99. The models include fodder-cutters, ploughs, weeding machines, tedders and seeders. The collection of topographical instruments, dating from the late 18th century to the 1930s, includes pantographs, sextants, diopters, theodolites, tachymeters, compasses and levels.