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.
Nowadays, it's the opposite. The sulfurous waters channeled into thermal pools while the marshes became fields, granaries, and pastures. And so a journey through the area is marked by stops at the many agriturismi and hotels (including luxury ones) that dot the vast and spacious landscapes.
The driveway to L'Andana, a five-star resort in the Castiglione della Pescaia countryside (ph Alessandro Moggi)
Kitchen Stars
The undisputed queen of Maremma's flavor is a beautiful lady with a genuine smile and a frank and honest character. Valeria Piccini is a self-taught chef who has held two Michelin stars since 1999. She works at her family's restaurant Caino, a Relais & Châteaux in Montemerano with nine tables plus two rooms and an enchanted village on a hillock. As she refers to herself in her bio on the restaurant's website, the shef is one of the top ten female chefs in Italy, "and it's a recognition of the balance between passion and feminine intuition that distinguishes her cuisine, a work of research and creative reworking."
Valeria Piccini (ph Alessandro Moggi)
Because she's an Aquarius, Piccini combines subterranean fire with idealistic rationality, innovative intelligence with a strong humanitarian spirit. Because she's also an excellent teacher, many have passed through her kitchens. Who has given her the most joy? "Many, all of them. But Niko Romito has three stars today." Piccini and Romito, or rather the love for the territory.
And as for ingredients? "A great raw material is the secret of a great dish." Yes, it's a love affair. Of course. Valeria is the daughter of farmers and doesn't deny it – her dishes speak of her land: pigeon with hazelnuts and endive, tortelli di cinta senese with chicken broth and chestnuts; sweetbread with chickpeas but updated with lime, cuttlefish veil, and squid broth; and wild boar with wild fennel scent and grilled vegetables.
Caino's: Spaghettone with parmesan extraction, sour apple, and grated dried heart (ph Alessandro Moggi)
We begin our tour, wandering around artists, products, themes, and ideas, without an itinerary marked out on a precise route. In this land of Michelin stars, Francesco Bracali also holds two. He's the chef of a restaurant that he runs with his brother Luca in Ghirlanda, on the outskirts of Massa Marittima. Territorial cuisine, "that with time and experience," says Francesco, "you transform into a path of knowledge, technique, and creativity."
For him, they talk about his famous onion cappuccino, the piglet in three versions, and the "Autumn" lasagnetta. Luca pampers the room and proposes wines with the novelty of his Il Ponte cabernet.
Between land and sea
Massa Marittima happens to play host to the smallest tavern in Italy, La Tana dei Brilli, which showcases the passion and creativity of Raffaella Cecchelli. Tradition and innovation intersect in the cuisine of Barbara Cannarsa at La Filanda di Manciano. Dishes comprising the land the sea fuse ancient and modern flavors can be found at Canapone in Grosetto. Just outside the city, near Rispescia, Gli Attortellati presents rustic dishes that change daily prepared with produce from the onsite garden.
At Tombolo della Giannella in Argentario, the sea stands front in center in Stefano Sorci's dishes at Oste Dispensa, and in San Pietro, near Porto Santo Stefano, where Umberto Amato has set up an orchard, olive grove, and herbarium for his creations at Fontanina. Finally, another star for Tuscany, this one at La Trattoria Enrico Bartolini at L'Andana, the Moretti family's magnificent resort in the countryside of Castiglione della Pescaia, you can eat great dishes with inventions on the grill and classics like risotto with red turnips and gorgonzola.
Tortelli with chard and sheep ricotta cheese at the restaurant Gli Attortellanti (ph Alessandro Moggi)
Breed production
Maremma was a land of pastoralism and migratation for low winter grazing, and it's no coincidence that the first bank linked to the Paschi family was founded in Siena in 1400. Afterward, the land acquired its aspect of breeding and cheese production, especially sheep. This explains the birth of social dairies, such as those in Manciano and Sorano, and of family-run businesses with their own points of sale: Il Fiorino, in Roccalbegna, with its 38 products and the maturing process in caves, and Angela Saba's farm in Massa Marittima, which feeds its sheep a ration of flax seeds, rich in anti-cholesterol omega-3.
In Principina Terra, La Maremmana produces mozzarella and other types of cheese (and meat) from buffalo, and organzies visits, tastings, and stops at local agritourism farm. The Maremmana breed dominates, a robust white bovine with large horns, half-moon-shaped in the male and lyre-shaped in the female. Steaks and cuts of tasty "fat" are bought at the Tenuta di Paganico, 2,718 acres dedicated to breeding among meadows and woods in the surroundings of Civitella Marittima, where there is also a store and a farm holiday.
A pasture in Sorano (ph Alessandro Moggi)
Three shades of gold
With a good production thanks to the abundance of flowers of all species, honey is nicknamed yellow gold. In addition to millefiori, other varieties contain marruca flower and clover which are sold by Sotto al Poggio company, in Orbetello. Other producers of note are Elisabetta Tommasoni's Poggio La Luna along the provincial road of Ragnaie, in Scansano, and the beekeeping company Fiori di Maremma in the nearby Polveraia.
Then, there's the green gold. The extra-virgin olive oil is of high quality, both the typical Tuscan blend and the mono cultivar of the not far away Monte Amiata obtained from the Olivastra of Seggiano. At Casa Olivo, among the high hills of Campagnatico, you can taste the organic Aroldo by the pool, surrounded by purely poetic scenery. In Rispescia, there is the Frantoio Maremma, where Fabio and Mara still produce olive oil using stone mills, not only with modern electronic equipment.
And the red gold? Saffron, which is cultivated in home gardens. We stop at Filomena Starace's, which sells it pure, along with honey, vegetables, and fruit, northwest of Grosseto, and Marco Benvenuti's in Magliano, which also has a winery and oil mill.
Surprisingly, excellent rice is cultivated in Maremma: carnaroli, arborio, and the long-grained Thaibonnet. It can be bought at the farm Serrata Lunga di Principina Terra or Tenuta San Carlo on the provincial road of Trappola, between Grosseto and the sea.
The wine is worth the trip alone
Following the trend of the big companies, a real race to the row has begun, which has transformed Maremma into a vast vineyard. The DOCG Morellino di Scansano, already DOC since 1978, have been added the Monteregio di Massa Marittima and Montecucco DOCs. There are so wineries, that one could dedicate an entire trip only to wine. But if you have to limit yourself, you cannot miss a visit to Rocca di Frassinello in Scarlino Scalo, the winery designed by Renzo Piano with a barrel cellar that looks like the inside of a cathedral, barely illuminated by a "rose window" at the top.
On the subject of archistars, Piero Sartogo's Ammiraglia for Frescobaldi, at La Capitana di Magliano, is also worth a visit. The Antinori respond with the Aldobrandesca among the tuffs of Sovana and with Le Mortelle in Castiglione della Pescaia, land of excellent Vermentini, such as that of Val delle Rose di Cecchi.
In the countryside of Scansano, the must-tries are Terenzi, Castello di Montepò by Jacopo Biondi Santi, and the delicious Syrah by Casavyc. But you can make many more stops: Le Pupille by Elisabetta Geppetti, in Istia di Ombrone, MorisFarms in Massa Marittima and Fattoria Mantellassi at Banditaccia di Magliano. Not to be missed is the Nannoni Distillery, in Civitella Paganico. Among grappas and gins, vodkas and whiskies, it is the realm of Priscilla Occhipinti, the Grand Duchess of Tuscan Distillates.
Terme di Saturnia (ph Alessandro Moggi)
Or quick shopping and relaxation
But if, instead of going miles to seek goodies, you want to enjoy the air, quiet and relaxation, and find the products of Maremma at your fingertips, make a note of some shop-temples: the Bottega del Buttero in Principina a Mare with its rustic veranda, and the Ghiottornia in Pitigliano. For meats and cold cuts, Salumeria Franchi in Follonica has excellent wild boar sausages, and Silvano Mori in Roccastrada, whose known as "the queen's charcuterie man" because his products, which are sold at Harrods and Fortnum & Mason, were served at William and Kate's wedding banquet. For fish, he eats and buys from Pescatori di Orbetello and Vivo in Capalbio.
Journey over? We've discussed the flavors, but there's also sights and spirits. So, while you're wandering, look around. In Montemerano as in Pitigliano, Sorano and Sovana. In Vetulonia, visit the Etruscan remains and in Gavorrano the park-museum of the mines. In Montepescali and Giuncarico, instead, let yourself be enveloped by silence. And finally, relax at the Terme di Saturnia. The resort on the crater of the god Saturn reopened as good as new on September 3, with its steaming pools and its cutting-edge treatments.