Glass has been produced in this Tuscan town since the XIVth century as documented in the registers of the local taxes, instituited with the solemn reforms of 13th January and 12th M, 1406.
The 52nd section deals with the taxes to be levied on furnaces for the production of tumblers and other glass containers.

The sections described how the products subject to taxations shuld be numbered and prescribes that for each tray of glasse or glass containers the sum of 2 oldi must be paid. The producers of glasse who owned furnaces in Colle and the Corte, licensed By the Consigli della terra, were to pay a tax af 15 lire per years for any kind of glass object.

Right from the beginning, the activity reached such a level of perection that its fame quickly spread far and wide.

In Florence, such was the aggressive industrial competition from other states towards the end of the XVIth century, that the Gran Duke issued an order on 2nd April 1577, aimed at banning foreign glass from thr Florentine State.

Given that in Florence, at the time, there werw no glassworks that produced tumblers and other containers, it appears evident that the order was made to protect the glassworks of Colle.

The modern glass-making industry, however, began at Colle much later, thanks to the initiative of a few French and german businnesman, later continued by our fellow citizens.

In order to know some more on the origins of the crystal to Colle di Val d'Elsa it consults the route of the visit to the Museum of the Crystal.