The village of La Briglia has ancient roots. Its history begins in the proto-industrial period, exactly at the beginning of the 18th century, when in 1730 Clemente Ricci, an entrepreneur from Genoa, obtained a contract from the Grand Duke of Tuscany Gian Gastone de' Medici and purchased the land from the Sacro Cingolo of Prato to build a paper mill there. He chose the Bisenzio valley for its strategic position and the strength of its waters.

About a century later, the industrial site was transformed into a copper foundry by the Anglo-Florentine company which also included Gaetano Magnolfi, the Halls, the Kleibers, the Sloanes and Iginio Coppi, who made several changes still visible today, such as the construction of the characteristic quadrangular chimney and the transformation of a dovecote into a clock tower which dominates the place and marks the working hours.  An ecological controversy broke out over this particular industry between industrialists and farmers, the latter worried about the possible consequences of the pollution caused by the foundry.

In 1882 the entrepreneur Beniamino Forti purchased the entire complex and created a large full-cycle wool mill. Inside there were warehouses for sorting rags, an area dedicated to rags, the dyeing room, work spaces for mending, weaving, warping, finishing and the area for preparing goods. The size of the plant required a large number of workers: around 1500 employees were reached during the period of highest splendor, counting the three locations of the wool mill (L'Isola, La Briglia and Casarsa of Prato). As a result, the village around the factory was expanded, leading to a real social and urban revolution for the small village of the Bisenzio Valley.

However, the industrialist Forti was forced to leave his factory due to the racial laws, since he was of Jewish origin. At that point a trusted man of the fascist regime took over, but he was unable to manage the company properly. After the end of the Second World War, in 1954, the wool mill closed its doors following a distressing trade union dispute.

Today the industrial buildings of the former factory village are fragmented into different properties and the town is the subject of a progressive recovery and valorisation project by the Municipality of Vaiano.