Vada is the only hamlet of the Municipality that can boast an uninterrupted life from ancient times to the present day. It was the Etruscan and Roman port of Volterra – frequently mentioned in Latin documents - and its name (from the Latin term vadum) refers to the characteristics of the front sea area, where shallows protected ships at anchor from south-west winds, representing at the same time a dangerous pitfall in case of storm.
It was the heart of extensive commercial trade with the whole Mediterranean area until the beginning of the Middle Ages, and followed the destiny of Pisa, on which it depended, sharing its thirteenth-century serious decline. The proof of those times is the Torre del Faro, which is a tower built by Pisan people and subsequently restored by the House of Medici. It probably was one of the few monuments sailors could see along the desolate maremma coast.
The current structure derives from the work by Pietro Leopoldo and, above all, Leopold II of Tuscany, who wanted to redeem the surrounding fertile plains from marshes and the neglect of landlords. An agricultural and social policy allowed them to be cultivated. The new hamlet, which was thoroughly designed, had the church square in its center, from which the main roads of the area radiated out, including the Via Regia Maremma, that is today's Via Aurelia. This town and the surrounding countryside still bear the traces of the land reclamation works carried out between the late eighteenth century and the half of the nineteenth century.
Two centuries later, high-quality agriculture is still one of the main resources of the coastal hamlet together with tourism, which is mostly characterized by many campsites in the coastal pine wood.
