Crystal has been produced in this tuscan town since the XIV century, a reason why Colle Val D'Elsa was named the "Bohemia of Italy". In the 1600s, while trying to make glass softer to work with, English alchemists discovered another type of glass, as pure, clear and bright as a diamond: crystal. Towards the early 1800s, the Mathis family, originally from Alsace-Lorraine, purchased a part of the old Augustinian monastery in Colle Val D'Elsa and set-up a small glassworks. The choice of location fell on the city of "Arnolfo di Cambio" thanks to the possibility of obtaining the nearby quartz, manganese and barium that are required for the production of glass.