There are mineral springs, mines of iron, mercury, lignite and copper, with foundries, ironworks and olive-oil mills. At Follonica, on the coast, are the furnaces in which are smelted the iron ore of Elba.

The territory around Massa Marittima was inhabited both in prehistoric and protostorical times, as evidenced by numerous finds dating from the Paleolithic to the Bronze Age, among which we remember those of Pianizzoli, Valmora, Le Tane and I go to the Orange. [8] Etruscan settlements have been found in the area of Lake Accesa and not only (Campo di Ginepro, Macchia del Monte, Poggio Corbello, Poggio Castiglione [9], Podere Nuovo and Valpiana) dating to a long period of time ranging from IX To the fifth century BC Further proof of the existence of a probable settlement in the place where Massa Marittima is now awkward is given by the Res Gestae of Ammianus Marcellinus, where a Massa Veternensis is cited as the birthplace of Constantius Gallus, nephew Of Constantine, probably attributable to the village of Massa Vecchia.

The name Massa appears for the first time in a document of the tenth century on a list of castles and courts sold to the cleric Ropprando by the Marquis of Lamberto on April 18, 973 and subsequently repaired by Ermengarda, widow of Lamberto, February 15, 986. The century that marked the beginning of the final flowering of the city was the XI century, when the gradual transfer to Massa Marittima of the episcopal seat of Populonia was looted by the Greek pirates and destroyed by the fleet of Niceta, Prefect of Constantinople: a letter from Pope Alexander II to Bishop Tegrin of 1062 testifies to the transfer of the bishop to Massa. Originally inaugurated in Pisa (1216), the city was the peak of its splendor in the years when it became free commune (1255-1337), knowing a great urban expansion and thanks to the construction of high-value buildings still visible today . From May 1, 1317, for a period of at least a year, the city also had its own currency, the Big 20 denarii and the small money, and there was news of the circulation of its coins until the end of 1319. [11] Entering into Siena's well-being, with which he has been linked in collaboration since the middle of the 13th century, joining her in the battle of Montaperti (1260), she joined it in three leagues (1276, 1307, 1319) and It was completely subjugated in 1335.

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