Today, the mere mention of Maremma, a region along the Tyrrhenian Sea in southwest Tuscany that dips into northern Lazio, evokes the idea of a paradise. Maremma is farmyard, stables, dairy, apiary, vineyard, olive grove, a store where you can buy high-quality natural products, from meat to wine, to oil to honey to pasta to cheese to even rice and natural cosmetics.

Yet 200 years ago, it was an insidious trap. According to a famous folk song, it was "the bird that goes there loses its feather," a reference  to the swamp water – there were mosquitoes, brigands, and hardships.