Although the College from which it takes its name was nearer today’s piazza Dante, this building is known as Palazzo Ricci. Like other buildings of the same period, it is the result of joining several medieval towers. These are still visible in the inner courtyard. Its present appearance is modeled on plans of 18th-century Florentine engineers, for example Francesco Bombici, who was in charge of re-designing piazza S. Nicola (now piazza Carrara).
After several changes made by the engineer Severini in the 1960s, the University of Pisa took it over for use as lecture rooms.