The school was founded in 1923, at the time when a Royal Decree had made changes in the school system, instituting the scientific secondary schools, designed to prepare new generations of students who planned to pursue mathematical and scientific studies. The school was first housed in the building in Piazza della Badia occupied by the Technical Institute, after which it moved several times over the years. The Scientific Secondary School possesses some instruments dating from the 1920s, such as a microtome of Austrian make and a radiotelegraphy transceiver designed and produced by the Officine Galileo.