Towards the beginnig of the last century, the Mathis family, originally from Alsace-Lorraine, purchased a part of the old Augugstinian monastery in Colle nad set uo a small glassworks.

The choice of location fell on the " City of Arnolfo di Cambio " thanks to the numerous woods in the surrounding area and the possibility of obtaining the nearby quartz, manganese and barium that are required for the production of glass.

Instead of potash, the ash produced from the combustion of large quantities of wood was used.
The marble from the nearby "montagnola senese" area was then added to obtain a brillant and precious product

The craftsmen were all French : food and lodgong was offered to the master glass makers as well as a high daily wage.

The Mathis family, unfortunate tradesmen, failed in their enterprise and the industry was taken over towards the middle of the last century Schmid who, thanks to his previous experience, began to manufacture crystal that, after a few years, become very famouse.

Among his many merits we must thanks this German businessman for having taught the work-force of Colle.
Local people gradually replaced the foreign craftsmen and began to earn professional recognition all over the world.

The articles produced by the "Fabbrica di Cristalli Giov. Batt. Schmid" were apprecciated for the beauty of the material that was made from a mixture of various substance, the composition of which was know only to Schmild, and was distributed on the domestic and many foreign markets.

After the death of Schmid, the industry went trough a period of decline only to pick up agin when Alfonso Nardi set up his factory. In 1921, the two existing glassworks, the "Elsana" and the "Fabbrichina", owned by Filippo Lepri & Co., were joined together in a single factory under the direction of Modesto Boschi, a local businessman, who took the company to commercial and social success.

During its most florid period the Boschi Glassworks employed more than 500 workers.

Unfortunately, the great industrial concern encountered many pitfalls that in after the failure of Boschi, many factories were set up thanks to the enterprise and the spirit of initiative of many people from Colle who had worked in that factory .