The collections of minerals were transferred to their present day location in 1880 from the Royal Museum of Physics and Natural History, known as "La Specola" (it was created in 1775 by Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo). The museum displays over 45.000 examples, including the lavish collection of samples from all over the world, an extraordinary collection of stones that have been worked and belong to the Medici and the collection of minerals from the island of Elba, which is the most unique because of the number of samples it includes, which comprises over 6.000 stones.

One of the finest pieces is the topaz weighing 151 kg (the second largest stone in the world) that comes from Minas Gerais in Brazil, but there also huge samples of Brazilian pegmatites, such as the smoked quartz that weighs 180 kg, the orthoclase of 60 kg and the aquamarine of 98 kg.

The museum displays some of the most beautiful samples of coveline and azurite from Sardinia, in addition to large samples of Sicilian sulphur. The collection of minerals from the Island of Elba comprise splendid samples of tormelines, a proof of the extraordinary quantity of minerals that conld be found on this island in the past.

The worked stones of the Medici collection prevalently have an historical and aesthetic value. The main pieces comprise cups, goblets and very fine snuffboxes, but there are also goblets in jasper and jade with the engraving LAURMED (Lorenzo the Magnificent), the quartz boat and the goblet in lapis lazuli, a creation by G. Miseroni. This rich collection also comprises cut stones, like citrine quartzes, smoked quartzes, zircons, grenades and emeralds.

The collection of meteorites (less than 100 pieces) is more modest but equally important. The finest samples are the meteorite fallen in the area around Siena on June 16, 1794 and those fallen on Monte Milone (near Macerata) on May 8, 1846.

The museum has also finished arranging the series of didactic stands that define the origins of rocks and the evolution and properties of minerals.

Thanks to the very important scientific and historical value of the collection and their consistency, the Mineralogy Museum of the University of Florence can be considered the most important museum in Italy and one of the most famous ones abroad.