The first public combined intermediate and secondary school, it was established in Florence in 1853, in Piazza Santa Croce. In 1921, after occupying various premises, it moved to the building where it is still located today. In its early years it utilised the laboratory of the Istituto Tecnico per Geometri "G. Salvemini [Technical Institute for Surveyors] for its physics classes. Starting from 1869 it was endowed with a notable physics cabinet. The laboratory instrumentation soon reached a high level, as regards both quality and quantity. One of the first teachers of Experimental Physics was Gilberto Govi, succeeded by Tommaso del Beccaro, who started the scientific collection by buying instruments from various companies, included the new-born Officine Galileo. Starting in 1869, the Chair of Physics was held for 41 years by Carlo Marangoni, who bought and designed numerous instruments for the intermediate school.

The physics collection (around 400 specimens from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries) includes instruments constructed by major manufacturers such as Allemano of Turin, Officine Galileo of Florence, Ruhmkorff of Paris, Tecnomasio Italiano of Milan, Santarelli and Dall'Eco of Florence, and by smaller firms such as Angelo Poggiali of Florence.

The naturalist collection (523 specimens) is composed of minerals and fossils, stuffed animals, reptiles and amphibians preserved under glass, and other items, including educational models of the human body, of fish and of plants.