 SISMEL was founded by Claudio Leonardi in 1978, formally recognized in 1984 and was approved as a Superior Graduate School by the Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali in 1997.In December 2012 SISMEL inaugurated the premises of the new headquarters, in a portion of a historic building, built in 1873 and located in the center of Florence in Via Montebello n. 7, between the train station of Santa Maria Novella and the river Arno.All activities of SISMEL were transferred here in 2013 from the former Carthusian monastery of Certosa di Firenze, which was the first base of the Society.