Orbetello was an important Etruscan port connecting trade routes between the northern and southern cities, and even more so during the Roman domination until the first century BC. In medieval times, it was donated to the Tre Fontane abbely by Pope Gregory in 1074, and founded as a town by the Papal cavalry in 1110, and became a prosperous and thriving maritime center under the feudal lordship of the Aldobrandeschi family until the 14th century.

After that, it got messy, with various Papal donations going back and forth, disputes, alliances by marriage, and occupations until 1414, when the city fortress was seized by the Republic of Siena, who coveted the access to the sea. In 1557 it was conquered by the Charles V, and the Spanish State of the Presidi was established with Orbetello as its capital. The Austrians ruled it for a few decades in the 1700’s, then the Kingdom of Naples, then the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, then Sardinia for a year, and finally to the unified Kingdom of Italy in 1861. The coat of arms is, appropriately, a lion on a red shield holding a golden spear.