Maccarese

The first evidence of a permanent settlement dates back to the Copper Age (3400-2200 BC). In this period a village of huts was established in the area that is currently called Cerquete-Fianello, located in the southern part of the territory of Maccarese (Manfredini et alii, 2002).
Before the reclamation, the territory was rather marshy, with two little lakes (now dried up), one located in the farthest area from the city center and the other near the castle called Villa San Giorgio.

A property of the Roman family of the Normanni in the 13th century, around 1300 there was built the castle of Villa San Giorgio, which hosted the Alessandrini, the Anguillara and later the Mattei; the latter, during the 16th century, unified Vaccarese with the estates of Cortecchia and Castello San Giorgio, thus reaching the total extension of about 1,700 rubbi (equal to over 3,000 hectares),[1] together with other families of the Roman nobility and religious bodies.

In 1569 the restoration of the castle took place, while in 1574 Torre Primavera was built. In the 17th century it passed from the Mattei into the hands of the Rospigliosi, who were the last owners of the estate before its complete reclamation.

In 1925 the great reclamation began, promoted by a company made up by financial investors who, aroused by the fees made available by the State, tried to reclaim the area with the aim of making the land fertile, dividing the estate into farms and then sell them.
But the project could not go through because, thanks to the substantial increase in the availability of new farmlands due to the reclamation itself, the prices of landed properties and agricultural products had in the meantime collapsed so that, at the beginning of the 1930s, the land no longer had the characteristic of a safe haven. Investors thus found themselves managing a company which, given its large size, had too high operating costs and therefore were forced to rely on a public holding company, IRI.

In the meantime, numerous settlers arrived from the Province of Mantua and above all from Veneto to cultivate fields, plant vineyards and guard the numerous dairy cattle. Over the years Maccarese became the showcase of Italian agriculture and was visited by the most important Italian and foreign delegations.

In the 1950s there were great economic problems, as the workforce was redundant due to controversial management choices, which led to a long crisis that lasted until 1998, when the company - comprising more than 45 km² (17 sq mi) of agricultural land as well as the castle and other important buildings - was privatised and purchased by Edizione Holding of the Benetton brothers for 94 billion lire.

In 1997 the European Union recognized the Maccarese area as suitable for the construction of a science and technology park, which would take advantage of both good infrastructural connections and the proximity of universities to create an environment favorable to the development of scientific innovation, especially in the agricultural sector (location on Google Maps). The possibility of creating the park was given to the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), the most important world reference for the conservation and use of plant genetic resources. Since July 2001, the official headquarters of IPGRI have been located in Maccarese, in an area of great agricultural tradition, inside a former mill that has been completely renovated. The President of the Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi was present at the inauguration of the new headquarters. The building is a former mill designed to store cereals and to process agricultural products before distribution.

Vasche del Maccarese WWF oasis.

Vasche del Maccarese is a natural oasis managed by WWF Italia, part of the Litorale Romano State Nature Reserve.

In summertime it becomes one of the favorite destinations of the inhabitants of the district (especially young people), due to its proximity to the Fregene / Maccarese coast, where bathing facilities have sprung up since the late 1970s (the official beach of the Polizia di Stato is also located there); furthermore, several personalities of entertainment and journalism reside there (an example is the house of Alberto Moravia near the coast).

The Maccarese-Fregene railway station is located along the Tyrrhenian Railway; Maccarese is also served by some bus lines of the Municipality of Fiumicino. It can be reached via the Autostrada A12 (Fregene-Maccarese exit), which connects it to Rome, about 35 km (21.7 mi) away.

• Fregenae
• Litorale Romano State Nature Reserve

• A. Manfredini (2002). Le dune, il lago, il mare. Una comunità di villaggio dell'età del rame a Maccarese. Florence: Istituto Italiano di Preistoria. ISBN 978-88-6045-009-8.

• "Maccarese". Enciclopedie on line - Treccani.it.
• Maria Gabriella Villani; Giovanni Zorzi. "Il paesaggio agrario". CEA - Riserva Naturale Statale "LITORALE ROMANO". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
• "Oasi Vasche di Maccarese". WWF Roma. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
• "Castello Rospigliosi o San Giorgio". Tesori del Lazio.
• "Fiumicino (RM) – loc. Fregene – Torre di Maccarese o Torre di Primavera". Tesori del Lazio.