Loro Ciuffenna already imposed itself, starting in the late Middle Ages, as a connection and exchange centre between the mountains and the plain, between the feudal castles behind defence lines and the communities of the valley bottom. Even before the Florentine conquest, the development of commercial exchanges determined a series of economic hierarchies and close relations between villages that still belonged to different nobles' jurisdictions. The intensity of the exchanges was undoubtedly to grow with the success of the Florentine domination, as witnessed in fact by the concession in February 1347 to Loro Ciuffenna to hold a weekly market in the vicinity of the castle.
With the consolidating of the Florentine dominion, the Upper Valdarno - together with the other areas of influence - represented one resource for urban manufacturing, especially during the period following the plague of 1348, which decimated the population of the city of Florence. This was particularly evident for the activity of wool-spinning, which was diffused by the Florentine "Arte della Lana (Art of Wool)", also in the Valdarno, and especially in the area of Figline and Montevarchi, in the Valdipesa, in the Mugello, and in the lower Valdarno (Franceschi, 1993: 66-71). Another phase to which the workers of the Valdarno - and in particular those of Loro - certainly contributed was that of fulling, by means of fulling mills, i.e. special water mills. The various mills in the zone present along the Ciuffenna were probably converted from the milling of wheat into that of the working of wool cloth.

The mill of Loro

At Loro, there was also an availability of raw materials. Therefore, it cannot be excluded that part of the local production - at one time intended for the internal consumption of the peasant families (private consumption) - was now addressed to production and sale for the city of Florence. According to local traditions, another manufacturing sector in Loro that was linked to the implementation of forestry and stock-rearing activities consisted of th working of iron for the production of work tools. The most relevant manufacturing activity made a name for itself over the course of the 15th and, above all, 16th centuries. In the centuries that followed, it was to accompany the evolution in the economy of Loro and its territory: this was the working of silk. The diffusion of sericulture, the raising of silk worms, was linked above all to the economic policy developed by the city of Florence. During the 16th century - above all between 1563 and 1582 -

a marked immigration of Florentine silk makers was registered towards smaller centres, among which was the upper Valdarno. These were haberdashers or workers, who lacked a specific technical competence, but were possible vehicles of diffusion for the working of silk.

However, the economic life of the territory had not yet determined a real change in the structures of society, which continued to be the typical ones of the mountain zones and of the areas farthest away from the largest urban centres. On the other hand, it was the not particularly easy location of the community of Loro that enabled its inhabitants to escape from actions of civic control and interference. The lack of vast flat zones to be divided into farms made the lands of Loro rather unappetising to the rich Florentine land owners. In these mountainous areas, the agricultural structure was mainly characterised by small landowners. The Florentine domination did not, therefore, change the characteristics of the organisation and dividing-up of the properties in this area between the high hill and the mountain, but favoured a greater circulation of goods

the Brogi spinning mill at Loro

and the spread - thanks to the local populations - of manufacturing activities that, to some extent, were complementary with the economy of the city of Florence.