Campagna Romana

Lowland stretch of the Italian peninsula, including and surrounding the city of Rome. Lying between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Sabine Hills to the northeast, and the Alban Hills to the southeast, it is drained by the lower course of the River Tiber and a number of small streams, most of which dry up in the summer. Prosperous in Roman times, it later became virtually derelict through overgrazing, lack of water, and the arrival in the area of the malaria-carrying Anopheles mosquito. Extensive land reclamation and drainage in the 19th and 20th centuries restored its usefulness.