Larderello now produces 10% of the world's entire supply of geothermal electricity, amounting to 4,800 GWh per year and powering about a million Italian households.

[3] In 1827, François Jacques de Larderel, a Frenchman, invented a way of extracting boric acid from the mud by using steam to heat cauldrons to separate the two.

Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany was an enthusiastic supporter of Larderel's scheme and awarded him the title of Count of Montecerboli a decade later.

Prince Piero Ginori Conti tested the first geothermal power generator on 4 July 1904, at the Larderello dry steam field in Italy.

[6] In 1911, the world's first geothermal power plant was built in the Valle del Diavolo ("Devil's Valley"), named for the boiling water that rises there.