The Valdelsa was a center of the
Etruscan civilization, as shown by a wide range of findings in the area, including several
necropolises. In the
Middle Ages, it was crossed by the
Via Francigena, a pilgrimage road connecting
France and
Northern Europe to
Rome, and therefore saw an economic and religious development. There were numerous churches, convents and
pleban churches, while its strategical role is testified by the presence of a series of towers and fortified boroughs, mostly from the 10th and 11th century, built by noble families such as the Alberti and the Cadolingi. The valley entered under the influence of the growing power of the
Republic of Florence in the 13th-14th centuries. Under the
Medici, the economic role of Valdelsa lost importance, since the rulers of Florence exploited it as a merely agricultural area. Things would change with the rise to power of the
Lorraines and the construction of the
Central Tuscany railway line in 1848, which, by crossing the entire Elsa valley floor, managed to give new economic and commercial momentum to the whole area, fostering the development of several industrial and manufacturing districts along the railway route. == Economy ==