The province of Maremma in the region of Tuscany is a natural beauty that has remained so for a less than favourable reason.
Marsh lands comprise a good portion of the land along the coast of the Maremma and until the 1950 when the province was officially declared free of illness, the land was overrun with swarms of malaria carrying mosquitoes. Before people were moved to the area during the subsequent years, the threat of this horrible disease scared developers away and, as a result, much of the land became protected by government regulated natural reserves before it could be tarnished by man. It is now considered by some to be the most beautiful area in Tuscany, known for its incredible and geographically diverse land.
In this area which encompasses most of the Province of Grosseto and rests in the 5,000 kilometres north of Rome, south of Piombino, west of Siena and on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea you will find everything from rich Mediterranean beaches to natural sulphuric hot springs; from mountains, hills and the Colline Metallifere to long flat stretches of river beds and plains. There are a number of parks including two very large national reserves (Parco Naturale Regionale della Maremma -which envelopes Parco Naturale dell’Ucellina- and Parco Naturalistico Archeologico di Vulci) that were set in place to protect the integrity of a great variety of natural wild life species as well as long expanses of untouched nature.
The name Tuscany its self is a modern day derivative of the Etruscan name ‘Tuschia’ so it is no wonder that the area has strong historical remnants and present day influences from this Bronze Age civilization. Maremma, with its ocean cost and great number of mountainous hills, was realized for its natural safety in which to settle and experienced an explosion of villages erected in antiquity. Some examples are pre-Roman (meaning Etruscan and Hellenistic) like Saturnia, Roselle and Talmone - with their famous hot springs called ‘Le Terme.’ Others include Pitigliano, Savano and Sarano which were built on the apex of tall hills in the south of Maremma and experienced great rebuilding during the time of the Romans and later in the 1500s with the aristocratic Aldobrandeschi family. Orbetello is famous for its lagoons and diverse populations of birds, while Monte Argentario is the beautiful peninsula that acts as a doorway to the Islands of Giglio and the smaller, less accessible Island of Giannuttri.
Impossible to describe Maremma as one region, it has been further broken into three different parts: the northern and coastal Maremma Livornese (also called Alta Maremmma or Settentrionale), central Maremma Grossetana, and southern coastal Maremma Laziale (which is actually part of the region Lazio and no longer in Tuscany). The province its self has held closely to its ancient roots and has a rich tradition of utilizing the products of land and sea it calls home. In fact, many of the specialties in food and drink differ greatly between the three sub-regions and may be traced back to Etruscan practices. Today, inhabitants still tend to use simple, delicious, natural ingredients to create their typical regional food. As with the rest of Tuscany, Maremma has made its self known for its production of the numerous varieties of grapes and olives (therefore wine and olive oil) that grow in its soil as well as a wide array of natural fruits of the land including mushrooms and truffles, nuts and saffron. Their food traditions remain closely in touch with the land, and utilize great array of natural resources with care.
Although Maremma has seen a giant leap in tourism over the last 50 years, it was the first natural land reserve to be protected in Tuscany and still remains the most unaltered area of the region.