The project of Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti and his wife Licia Collobi of creating a permanent workshop of research and a centre of cultural experiences for the city of Lucca, is put into practice in 1981 with to the constitution of the Centro Studi sull’Arte Licia e Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti, thanks to the donation of the library, the photo-library and the archives of the spouses Ragghianti to the Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca.
According to the donor’s wishes, the primary aim of the Foundation is still to offer an instrument for studying and spreading art in all its form. The activity of the Ragghianti Foundations focuses, besides on the library, photo-archive and archive, on the organization of art exhibitions, educational projects, lectures and conferences. 
During the years the heritage has been enriched by other donations by Aldo Geri, Silvio Coppola, Dolores Sella, Raffaele Carrieri, Mario Tobino, Aldo Salvadori, Isa Belli Barsali, Giovanni and Vera Pieraccini. It currently holds more than 70.000 volumes and about 800 magazine titles, as well as a wide number of thesis of the History of Art Department in Pisa and given by Piero Pierotti.
The Foundation possesses, in addition to the Ragghianti archive, those of Pier Carlo Santini, Silvio Coppola, Lorenzo Guerrini, Ida Cardellini and a collection of more than 36.000 brochures and pamphlets of art. The photographic collection contains about 180.000 images.
The Foundation keeps a rich collection of paintings, drawings, graphics and above all sculptures, donated by the artists. The sculptures are exposed in the cloisters of the Monumental Complex of San Micheletto.

“The gardens of sculpture Pier Carlo Santini” are a permanent exhibition of 32 works belonging to the collection of the foundation entitled to the great art historian Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti (Lucca, 1910 - Florence, 1987) and his wife Licia Collobi (Trieste, 1914 - Florence, 1989). An institution that, from 1981 has been settled – with its library, archives and exhibition premises – in the monumental complex of San Micheletto, a fifteenth-century building that until 1972 housed a Clarisse monastery, and which is now owned by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca.
The wish is to widen this collection with further sculptures, in donation or on loan, to make “the gardens of sculpture Pier Carlo Santini” more and more a place of art, an enjoyable place open to the city.
Pier Carlo Santini (Lucca, 1924 - Florence, 1993), the first unforgettable director of the Fondazione Ragghianti, was decisive in the creation of this collection. Hence the wish to pay him tribute, by naming these “gardens” after him, which intend to be a gift of beauty and meaning for the city of Lucca and for all the visitors to this place.