Malaria in Grosseto Maremma: A Social Disease

Abstract

Several kind of sources testify that,. since XIVth century, people living in Grosseto during summer moved to healthies towns located up neighburing hils. Starting from the XVIth cent. malaria became a true scourge for people living in Maremma ( especially day labourers and soldiers), and local "signorie" planned some attempts to improve their condition. However, only after the unification of Italy, and the discovery of the role of Anopheles in transmitting the etiological agent, the fight against malaria acquired a scientific basis. At ht ened of the last Century, the epidemiology of malaria in Maremma Grossetana was studied by outstanding scientists ( Koch, Grassi and Gosio among others). The present essay explores the archival sources concerning the history of malaria in the Maremma Grossetana from the beginning of "estatatura" to antimalarial campaigns carried out during the first three decades of the XXth Century.