The village stands on top of a hill between the Chiecina and Ricavo streams. The name seems to derive from an old church dedicated to San Martino inside the medieval castle. The first document attesting to the existence of Marti dates back to 1019, but only in the following century did it become an important fortified castle with a keep, fiercely contested between Pisa and Florence as it was on the border of the two Republics. The urban layout of today’s historic centre is influenced by the medieval layout, and has remained in excellent condition with brick structures such as the beautiful Church of Santa Maria Novella and other buildings used as furnaces, which was the prevalent activity at the time.
The church is the flagship of Marti: built in 1332, it has a façade on two levels where some ceramic basins stand out. The single-nave interior preserves a splendid pictorial cycle by Bamberini (1719-22). During an archaeological excavation campaign in the Bastion area, a section of the walls of the 14th-century keep, a brick kiln (possibly used to build the church) and even some hypogea from the Etruscan period were found.