The company Maccarese S.p.A. covers an area of 3,200 hectares in the Municipality of Fiumicino, between the Leonardo da Vinci intercontinental airport to the south, the town of Fregene and the coastline to the east, and the Rome/Genova railway to the west.
Within the estate, the Castle of San Giorgio and the Torre Primavera (16th century) are located, along with the laboratories of the Italian Breeders Association and ARAL, the Roman Breeders Association of Lazio.

Since 2012, the company has made available to the Municipality of Fiumicino a room on the first floor of the Castle of San Giorgio for the celebration of civil weddings.
The municipality has given the room the designation of “civil registry office,” allowing official ceremonies to take place there.

The Maccarese Estate preserves historical structures and sites within its grounds: the Castle of San Giorgio, the 18th-century church attached to the castle’s gardens, and the Torre Primavera, dating back to 1574, which, along with other towers, was once part of a coastal defense system for spotting bandits coming from the sea. In 1748, it was instrumental in the capture of twenty-six Turks who had landed from a galley.
Close to the Castle of San Giorgio complex and its beautiful garden, there are ancient shops. Once abandoned, they have recently been renovated and now house five restaurants, bringing new life to the ancient village.

Recently, the Saxophone Museum was inaugurated, containing the largest collection of these musical instruments in the world.

Castle of San Giorgio

Coming from the east and heading toward the sea, next to the Arrone stream, stands the Castle of San Giorgio.

Camillo Rospigliosi began the transformation of Villa San Giorgio, whose origins are lost in time but for which there are certain records dating back to the 13th century, in 1756.
A will shows that the Normans were owners of a vast territory in 1254, including the areas of Ceri, Palo, Castel Campanile, Villa San Giorgio, Castel di Guido, Leprignano, and Testa di Lepre.

The Normans were brought to Rome by Pope Nicholas II in 1058 to fight against rebellious feudal lords who had caused the schism of Benedict X, including the counts of Galeria, the counts of Tuscolo, and the Crescenzi family of Sabina.

The Anguillara family, the most famous branch of the Normans, helped restore much of the territory, a fact remembered in the legend of the killing of a monster that “infested the plains, sowing terror up to the sea.”

The Pope and the Emperor promised as much land as one could walk to the person who defeated the monster.

The knights hunted the dragon from a cave, today’s Malagrotta, and the one who defeated it was one of the lords of Anguillara, who was rewarded with the land he had cleared.
From period drawings and maps, the original layout and volume of the castle are clearly visible, prior to the fortification works ordered by the previous owner, Mattei.

The ownership of the castle passed from the Anguillara family, a Roman family possibly of Lombard origin, to the Mattei family, a noble Roman family, and then to the Pallavicini family, which originated from the Estensi and Malaspina families, whose daughter married Giambattista Rospigliosi.

Stefano Pallavicini purchased the Maccarese Castle from the Mattei family in 1683.
The Rospigliosi family, originally from Pistoia, with a pope, Clement IX, in the family, acquired the castle when Maria Camilla Pallavicini, who brought the Maccarese estate as her dowry, married Gianbattista Rospigliosi.

In 1925, the property was transferred to the Bonifiche Joint-Stock Company.
Of particular note is the spacious helical staircase, which allows access to the interior, the music room, the tower, the garden, with the small church of the Sisters standing in the background, which has remained intact in its original form, as well as rooms, internal stairs, hallways, all enlivened by paintings, commemorative plaques, and marble relics.
Once the headquarters of the company with its offices, it is now used for conferences, cultural events, exhibitions, and other occasions.

The historical archive of Maccarese, named after Carlo Benetton, spans over 500 linear meters and contains almost all the company documentation covering a time period from the mid-1920s to the 1990s.

This is a highly rich and complex archive, interesting not only for the company’s history, agricultural production, and labor, but also for the social and economic history of the territory and the community that grew around the company.

The materials primarily narrate the events of the company and its subsidiaries and affiliates (such as, for example, the Società beni rustici crotonesi), production, with control over the crops, strategic choices linked to it, and the development of various production centers (e.g., livestock, wine, and horticulture); the relationship with the staff (from internal migrations resulting from land reclamation policies to labor strikes); and the business management systems that succeeded one another over the years, including the experimental co-participation model. The archive also documents the relationship with the Maccarese population and the creation of infrastructures and services for the community (the Carabinieri station, the school, the anti-malarial colony, the cinema, the church). It also contains numerous biographical details about people and families, as well as personalities who helped shape the history of Maccarese, intertwining with the history, economy, and politics of Italy during that period.
Other aspects of the company’s history emerge from the archive, such as participation in congresses, fairs, exhibitions, and conferences, as well as educational visits made and received, all of which, though seemingly less significant, contribute to a richer and more detailed profile of the company.

The archive consists of a total of 165 volumes (company books and papers), 1,750 registers, 2,500 envelopes, and 20 boxes (including spreadsheets and more).
The archive is part of the “Lazio’900 archival network” [link] and Museimpresa.
The inventory, which is computerized and periodically updated, is available for consultation on the dedicated page.

Within the Maccarese S.p.A. Livestock Center, which spans an area of 17 hectares, there is a herd of 3,600 cattle with a dual production focus: milk and meat. Milk production is the company’s core business, and with 18 million liters produced annually, it covers 15% of the milk needs of the city of Rome.

The high production levels recorded within Maccarese are the result of a focused approach on several key aspects: animal welfare, PLM (Precision Livestock Farming), and staff training. Regarding animal welfare, dairy cows are housed in modern facilities equipped with ample space (20 square meters per animal), allowing the animals to maximize their welfare conditions (as certified by CreNBA, the National Center for Animal Welfare). The dairy herd is divided according to the lactation phase (cows at calving, high production, dry cows, calves, heifers), with particular emphasis placed on the cows at calving, who are housed in a modern structure capable of managing the 1,800 births per year.

In recent years, the company has invested heavily in acquiring the most advanced technologies, which have allowed for improvements in work quality, stricter and more precise monitoring of production processes, with the aim of maximizing production/reproduction performance. Special attention is given to the cattle’s diet, which accounts for more than 50% of the cost of milk production. With the 3,200 hectares available, the company is able to meet 72% of the cattle’s nutritional needs, while the remaining portion is purchased from the external market.

In the territory of the estate, there are important and interesting areas of great natural value.
The Mediterranean Scrub, divided into two parts by the town of Fregene, extends for over 400 hectares near the sea and constitutes three oases characterized by both low and tall vegetation with a variety of species. Due to their characteristics, these areas have become stopping and resting places for many bird species. Notable species include the marsh harrier, the kestrel, ducks, cuckoos, and hoopoes. Among the resident species are the badger, the porcupine, the wild rabbit, the hedgehog, and the fox. One area is dedicated to land tortoises.

The entire Mediterranean scrub area, including the ponds, is managed by the WWF, which has turned it into 4 natural oases open to guided visits.

The ponds, covering 36 hectares, were created in 1970 for breeding purposes. The project was unsuccessful, and the ponds were abandoned, thus creating the conditions for the regeneration of a unique wetland biotope with atrophic characteristics, a lack of oxygen in the waters that favors the presence of numerous animal species.