THE MAREMMA
Silk Purse from a Seaside Swamp
Historically Maremma has a checkered reputation, and just 60 years ago was regarded as a zone almost unfit to live in.
An old saying goes, "Chi va a Maremma lascia l'acqua fresca e non sa quello che trova." The translation, "He who goes to Maremma leaves fresh water behind and has no idea what he'll find there."
At the turn of the last century, Maremma was awash with swampy terrain and clouded with malaria-carrying mosquitoes. In fact, during an outbreak of malaria in the 1940s, all the public offices on the coastal plain closed and moved their records to higher ground in Scansano.
Today, the mosquitoes, sans malaria, are still buzzing...
