The Scuola Superiore S. Anna has occupied this building since 1987; Benedictine nuns, originally from S. Paolo di Pugnano (1086), who had moved to this convent (known at the time as S. Anna al Renaio) in 1275, began building it and the church of St. Anna in 1407. The cloisters and an adjoining kitchen garden were renovated by Girolamo Ammannati in the early 16th century.
The convent was greatly enlarged in 1668, when the nuns purchased the adjacent convent and Church of S. Girolamo dei Gesuati, whose Order had been suppressed the previous year by the Pope. The church of S. Girolamo was renovated while the convent and huge kitchen garden were added to the S. Anna convent buildings and adapted to suit the nuns’ way of life.
The S. Anna convent was suppressed in 1786 and became a boarding school for young ladies. Some medieval remains have been discovered in the building (pillars and a well) and a fragment of a 13th century fresco. Of interest is the small square cloister entered through a porch (part of the S. Girolamo convent ) with the remains of early 17th century graffiti decorations attributed to Rutilio Manetti.
The lecture halls, offices and the Scuola Superiore college are housed in the ex S. Anna convent and the cloister of S. Girolamo dei Gesuati. The library is in the 17thcentury refectory of the ex monastery and the Aula Magna (Main Hall) looks on to a small cloister with an 18th century garden.