With the R.D. of April 4, 1869 the City of Pesaro was authorised to accept the inheritance left to it by Gioachino Rossini in his Last Will and Testament dated July 5, 1868. The City used this inheritance to institute the Music Lyceum which was erected in June of 1869 as legal institution (R.D.). With the 1940 convention, the Music Lyceum was made a state institution and was transformed into the "G. Rossini" Music Conservatory becoming directly dependent on the State; however the legal institution, to which the City had conferred the property and management of the Maestro’s patrimony, became the "Gioachino Rossini Foundation", and retained its legal offices in Palazzo Olivieri, property of the foundation.

During the 1950s and 1960s the Foundation published nineteen music notebooks, mainly comprised of the Maestro’s chamber music.

The Opera Omnia (Unabridged Complete Works), the criteria of which are published in Bulletin, No. I, 1974, constitute the principal editorial endeavour which the Foundation pursues in collaboration with Casa Ricordi, entrusted with the distribution of the Editions and the printing of the scores and the orchestral parts.

The purpose of the Unabridged Edition is not only that of philological restoration (a valid reason in itself) of the works through publication and transmission of all of the authentic material (already known or specifically determined through specific research), but also that of bringing back into normal musical life the works of Rossini, which in the past have been limited to a few Repertoire titles.

The research and evaluation of the authentic material presents a series of difficult questions: the solutions to these questions lie in an in depth cultural study of Rossini’s work methodology and of the period of great interest in the musical theatre in which he worked.

The ties to the Rossini Opera Festival, which stages the unabridged versions of the Maestro’s operas, provides the immediate, live validation of the what has been carried out in the context of an experimental workshops that have strongly characterised the work of recent years.

The Unabridged Edition involves national and international cultural circles. On a national level, it enlivens critical studies, contributes to increasing the number of researchers and their experience, and widens the relationship between music and the University context. On an international level, it promotes scientific collaboration and diffuses information relative to the work of an Italian cultural institute.

The Unabridged Edition constitutes the fundamental activity, but not the sole activity, of the Foundation. In fact, the Foundation publishes a periodical, the "Bulletin of the Centre for Rossini Studies", which is host to scientific contributions of a musical nature; it is also integrating the Opera Omnia with the publication of Rossini’s Letters, edited by Bruno Cagli and Sergio Ragni, in five volumes, three of which have already been edited. In addition, it will publish two more series, "Essays and Sources" and "Rossini’s Librettos".

Since 1997, the city of Pesaro has entrusted the Rossini Foundation with the scientific management of the Maestro’s home.