The academy motto is "Il più bel fior ne coglie" ('She gathers the fairest flower'), a famous line by the Italian poet Petrarch.

In 1612, the Accademia published the first edition of its dictionary, the Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca,[4] which has served as the model for similar works in French, Spanish, German and English.

The Crusconi used humour, satire, and irony to distance itself from the pedantry of the Accademia Fiorentina, protected by Grand Duke Cosimo I de' Medici, and to contrast itself with the severe and classic style of that body.

From this is derived the symbolism of the Crusca: its logo shows a frullone or sifter[10][11] with the Petrarchan motto Il più bel fior ne coglie (She gathers the fairest flower).

In 1808, however, the third Accademia Fiorentina was founded and, by a decree of 19 January 1811, signed by Napoleon, the Crusca was re-established with its own status of autonomy, statutes and previous aims.

[18] In 2007, the website E-leo compiling 3,000 drawings and writings of Leonardo da Vinci was launched, with the linguistic help of the Accademia della Crusca to decipher some of the inventor's scribblings.