The discovery of "Serratia" genus began with "Serratia marcescens" species colonised food in 1819. In the city of Padula, Italy, cornmeal dish, called polenta, of many people turned red. This phenomenon was called “bloody polenta” and was believed to have a diabolical origin. The investigation began, and Pietro Melo wrote a paper where he stated that it was spontaneous fermentation. For four years Bartolomeo Bizio, a Venetian pharmacist observed small red spots which got larger and subsequently merged into a red mass. Later, in 1823, he published a paper where he stated that the organism was a fungus and named him "Serratia marcescens" (after a Florentine physicist Serafino Serrati). 