During the Longobard Age all of Val di Cornia was under Dukes of Lucca domain: it belonged to the King’s Waldo or “Gualdo del Re” (the King’s reserve), that Pope Gregory VII mentions in the bull establishing Massa Marittima diocese borders. The word Gualdo, deriving from the original German name Wald, means an area of wooden territory… then… more particularly came to indicate a beautiful place reserved to the special use of its owner. “And in truth – as Falchi says –Val di Cornia’s Gualdo del Re was a wide area including the most beautiful and appealing things offered by Maremma.”