Cursed in the past and blessed in the present. The history of Maremma can be resumed in this binomial. The Maremma area used to be a dangerous marsh, where perishing was easy and surviving was hard. Famous noble woman of Siena, Pia de’ Tolomei, mentioned by Dante Alighieri in his Inferno, was sent to Maremma by her husband to die, a task achieved soon after her arrival, since she got malaria. A cursed fate for a cursed land. That was in the past but that curse is also the reason why still nowadays Maremma is commonly used by Tuscans to swear, especially in case of mishaps or blunders. So if you happen to hear someone evoke this beautiful area added to a very bad word don’t get upset: it’s its past shadowing its present.
Living and visiting Maremma is today exactly the opposite of what it used to be.