Historically the Casentino was a fertile valley with various industries helping make the area prosper. Timber was important during the Medici period for shipbuilding, as was the woolen fabric, produced first to clothe the monks and nuns in the area, and then the wealthy families of Tuscany. 'Panno Casentino' was originally made with yarn spun by local women at home, and later was produced in "modern cloth mills which line the Staggia" (Ella Noyes, 1905). At its height, the largest wool mill in Stia, built in 1838, employed over 500 people, and produced 700,000 metres of cloth a year.