In the 13th century was drafted in Massa Marittima one of the first mining codes in Europe . The “Ordinamenta super arte rameriae et argenteriae civitatis Massae,” better known as the “Mining Code,” is an invaluable source for understanding the medieval mining system in all its phases. The Code set the rules for managing mining activities, covering aspects such as prospecting, the safety of wells, the health of miners, and the commercialization of extracted products. The Massa Marittima Code became a model for other Tuscan cities, such as Siena, which, in the 14th century, enacted mining laws very similar to those of Massa, and Pisa, which, for the exploitation of iron in Sardinia, founded the city of Iglesias, whose mining documents have survived in an edition from 1302.
A distinctive feature of the Massetano Code is that it represents “the first European mining constitution that provides a comprehensive overview of the regulation of an entire mining district, both in terms of the management of extraction activities and the processing of metals.”
