[4] It was founded in 1810 with a decree by Napoleon as a branch of the École normale supérieure in Paris,[5] with the aim of training the teachers of the Empire to educate its citizens.

Twenty-five places were made available for students of the Faculties of Arts and Sciences, to create a branch of the Parisian École normale supérieure in countries where the use of the Italian language was authorized.

Following the model of the École normale supérieure, the Scuola was entrusted to a "Director", assisted by the "Sub-director" and by the "Economo", in charge of administration, supervision of studies and the safeguarding of order.

The Normale was reserved at that time to the best high school students, aged between 17 and 24, who during their two years of studies also obtained degrees at the faculties of Arts and Sciences of the Imperial University.

On 6 April 1814, Napoleon signed the act of abdication: the return of Grand Duke Ferdinand III to the throne of Tuscany coincided with the closure of the Scuola despite the various attempts to save it in the name of its function.

To study the feasibility of the new project, Grand Duke Leopold II of Lorraine nominated a commission, which re-established the original function of the Scuola Normale Superiore, that of preparing secondary school teachers.

The Italian school system was therefore regulated for over sixty years by the Casati law of 1859, originally issued for the Piedmontese and Lombard institutions: based on a centralized model, it gave private bodies the possibility to provide education, at the same time establishing the "diritto dello Stato all’insegnamento universitario"(the right of the State regarding university education) as well as the right to 'supervise' all the levels of the school system.

After a long debate, in the Senate and in the press, on the opportuneness of maintaining this unique and anomalous institution, in 1862 it was officially named "Scuola Normale del Regno d'Italia".

Various draft laws were submitted to the Camera to establish the Pisan model[10] by extending it to other universities or to reorganize and expand the Scuola Normale of Pisa.

The "new" Normale was introduced into the national legal system by the Matteucci Regulations of 1862, which eliminated any religious and confessional aspects, in line with the secular orientation of Italian politics.

Finally, at an organizational level, there was the increasingly important role of the Provveditore-Economo, who managed the services as well as the human and financial resources, and had disciplinary jurisdiction over the students.

To deal with the disturbances caused by the political events and the decline of the Scuola, which had increasingly fewer students, the philosopher Giovanni Gentile, a normalista, as well as a prominent figure of Italian Fascism, ideologue of the Regime and minister of education, was nominated as commissioner; he later became Director of the Normale, in 1928.

Gentile carried out a structural revision of the institution so that it would acquire national importance; to this end he oversaw the expansion of the headquarters and a considerable increase in the number of students and internal activities.

Meanwhile, the relationship between the State and the Church inaugurated by the Lateran Treaty facilitated negotiations with the Archbishopric to obtain the availability of the Puteano College building which, together with that of the Timpano, would later be used to house the young normalisti while the expansion of the Palazzo della Carovana took place.

The Normale at that time still had many free-spirited souls in its midst: it was also the Scuola of Carlo Azeglio Ciampi – who, a few years from then, would join the Resistance – and formerly of Aldo Capitini, theorist of non-violence and firm opponent of the Fascist Regime.

After the tragic air raid on Pisa on 31 August 1943, the new Director, Luigi Russo, threatened with arrest for political reasons, had to leave the city and was replaced by the mathematician Leonida Tonelli, who protected the library and the furnishings of the Palazzo della Carovana, transformed into German barracks, and transferred the most important collections to the nearby Certosa di Calci.

[12] On 2 September 1944 the city was liberated, but Palazzo della Carovana was requisitioned by the Anglo-American army: students and teaching staff were relegated to the Puteano College.

[13] Luigi Russo and Leonida Tonelli initiated a long awareness campaign that allowed them to find financial resources, including contributions not coming from the state, and to create a heritage through donations and purchases, in accordance with a policy that would continue in the following years.

The Palazzone di Cortona (in the province of Arezzo) must also be added to this real estate; it is a branch of the Scuola used for conferences and summer schools organized also in collaboration with other authorities and academic and research institutions.

The Scuola Normale is located in its original historical building, called Palazzo della Carovana, in Piazza dei Cavalieri, in the medieval centre of Pisa.

In addition to the regular acquisitions, it has also been enriched by donations by various scholars connected to the Scuola; among these we can mention Eugenio Garin, Michele Barbi, Francesco Flamini, Cesare Luporini, Vittore Branca, Giorgio Pasquali, Arnaldo Momigliano, Paul Oskar Kristeller, Delio Cantimori, Sebastiano Timpanaro, Clifford Truesdell and Ettore Passerin d'Entrèves.

After the first initiative by the philosopher Giovanni Gentile in 1933, later revitalized in the 1950s, in 1997, at the proposal of Alessandro Faedo, the current Association was founded, simply called Associazione Normalisti.

The Association publishes the Normale bulletin every six months or every year; the bulletin is the official organ of the association, registered at the Tribunal of Pisa; its current graphic design is the work of Paolo Peluffo, former Consigliere per la Stampa e l'Informazione del Presidente della Repubblica (Press and Information Councillor of the President of the Republic) and sottosegretario di Stato alla Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri (Undersecretary of State at the President's Office of the Cabinet) of the Monti Government.