Founded in 1923, it was the first scientific secondary school in Florence. In the following year it was named for Leonardo da Vinci. From its first location in Via della Colonna, after various moves, the secondary school was definitively transferred to its current premises in 1956.

It possesses an important historical collection of educational material for physics (instruments for electricity, acoustics, measurement, mechanics and electromechanics ) from the 19th and 20th centuries, a well as a naturalist collection (zoological, botanical and mineralogical specimens, wooden models of botanical species and minerals) from the 20th century.