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Maccarese is a locality in Lazio, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Rome. Its administration is divided between the Municipalities of Rome (Maccarese Nord) and Fiumicino, of which it is a frazione.
It was entirely part of the Municipality of Rome until 1993, when the former Circoscrizione XIV, which included a part of the hamlet, became the autonomous Municipality of Fiumicino.
Crossed by the Arrone river, which flows into the Tyrrhenian Sea, the locality - which extends from the Fiumicino Airport to the sea and borders Fregenae to the north-west - is best known for the homonymous farm Maccarese S.p.A., established in 1925 following the reclamation works of the Ager Romanus.
A property of the Roman family of the Normanni in the 13th century, around 1300 it saw the building of the castle of Villa San Giorgio, which hosted the Alessandrini, the Anguillara and later the Mattei family; the latter, during the 16th century, unified Vaccarese with the estates of Cortecchia and Castello San Giorgio, together with estates of other families of the Roman nobility and religious bodies. The estate ultimately reached the total extent of about 1,700 rubbi (equal to over 3,000 hectares).Nicola Maria Nicolai, Pietro Ruga, Andrea Alippi, Memorie, leggi, ed osservazioni sulle campagne e sull'annona di Roma..., Rome 1803, p. 97.
In 1569 the restoration of the castle took place, while in 1574 Torre Primavera was built. In the 17th century the estate passed from the Mattei into the hands of the Rospigliosi, who were the last owners before the estate's complete reclamation.
In 1925 the great reclamation began, promoted by a company made up by financial investors. Motivated by the fees made available by the State, they tried to reclaim the area with the aim of making the land fertile, dividing the estate into farms and then selling them.
The project was not completed. Due to a substantial increase in the availability of new farmlands spawned by the reclamation project, the prices of landed properties and agricultural products had in the meantime collapsed. Hence, by the beginning of the 1930s, the land was no longer seen as a safe haven.
Unsustainably high operating costs meant investors 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 manage dairy cattle. Over the years Maccarese became a showcase of Italian agriculture.
Starting in the 1950s, workforce redundancies and controversial management decisions led to a long downturn that lasted until 1998, when the company - which owned more than of agricultural land as well as the castle and other important buildings - was privatised and purchased by Edizione Holding of the Benetton family for 94 billion Italian lira.
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).
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