The Maremma, especially the northern part that includes the districts of Massa Marittima, Grosseto and Roccastrada, has always been known for its agricultural and mineral resources.

The mild climate together with a soil rich of mineral deposits such as iron, silver and copper have played a major role in the economical and political power division of this territory which has solely been exploited for its raw materials either by Vetulonia and Roselle towns in Etruscan time or Siena and Florence in medieval times.

There are not many remains of ancient settlements, leaving out the imposing medieval ones.

But we do not have to think that this area has scarcely been inhabited, since there are many factors that make this difficult to interpret: first of all this territory has never been deeply examined, in the second place the most fertile parts of this area, more suitable for settlements, have been turned into a swamp and consequentially drained several times alterating the ancient landscape.

Generally the first important evidence of human existence in the Maremma dates back to the Neolithic Age: traces have been found in Roselle, Massa Marittima, Argentario etc.. After a transaction period (Eneolithic), around the third millennium starts the Bronze Age, where, thanks to primitive mines exploitation, the first trades took place.

The first material to be exploited where copper and bronze found in the whole area (cupreous material in Roccatederighi).

After the year one thousand BC the importance of minerals rose and this area very rich of them, flourished.

The necropolis of Sticciano Scalo probably dates back to the eleventh-nineteenth centuries BC: it is an incineration necropolis and it is built with ossuaries directly placed on the ground ( the necropolis’ material can bee seen in the prehistoric section at the Archaeological Museum of Florence).

The first permanent settlements were built by people gathering from the countryside, in the hills near the cost and rivers to facilitate trade.

The Etruscan cities of Vetulonia and Roselle became politically and economically powerful as they stood above the lake Prile, a wide basin facing the Tyrrhenian Sea, a strategic point for trading

The fortunes of the Maremma revived under the feudal organisation of the Counts of Aldobrandeschi, they ruled for three centuries and built many fortified villages and castles.

The first recorded documentation mentioning a castle in Roccastrada’s territory dates back to 973 AD., the castle is Lattaia which was destroyed in 1479, in 1640 only 25 people lived there.

Under the Aldobrandeshi rule, we had the first unification of Maremma , on the other hand this land was isolated, scarcely inhabited and the plain.