MASSA MARITTIMA  , a town and episcopal see of the province of Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy, 24 M . N.N.W. of Grosseto direct and 16 m. by rail N.E. of Follonica (which is 28 M . N.W. of Grosseto on the main coast railway), 1444 ft. above sea-level . Pop . (19o1), (town) 9219; (commune) 17,519 . It has a cathedral of the 13th century containing a Romanesque font (1267 with a cover of 1447) and a Gothic reliquary (1324) of the saint Cerbone, to whom the cathedral is dedicated . The battlemented municipal palace of the 13th century is picturesque . There are mineral springs, mines of iron, mercury, lignite and copper, with foundries, ironworks and olive-oil mills . At Follonica on the coast, but in this commune, are the furnaces in which are smelted the iron ore of Elba .