🇮🇹 The cattle breeds of Italy

Italy counts fifty-seven cattle breeds as wholly or partly its own. Their names reach from the Alpine valleys to the far south and the two large islands, mixing place names, colour words and older local terms. Colour words point to white, grey, brown and red-pied cattle, beside many place-named local types.

• The list records 57 cattle breeds as wholly or partly Italian.
• Breeds are named after towns, valleys, regions and islands.
• Three Valdostana forms are listed: Castana, Pezzata Nera and Pezzata Rossa.
• German-language names such as Mölltal and Pustertaler Sprinzen appear in the north-east.
• Bruna Italiana Vecchio Ceppo is listed as an old strain of the Italian brown.

Cattle in Italy

Italy's cattle breeds are gathered in one long list, fifty-seven names in all. A breed need not be purely Italian to appear: some are counted as partly of Italian origin, and several have histories that are hard to trace. The names themselves speak of place. Breeds take the name of towns, valleys, regions and islands, and a few carry German forms from the German-speaking Alps. Others describe the animal by colour or coat pattern. A handful join two words together, hinting at a cross or a regional type, and one marks an old strain of a brown breed. Imported dairy blood shows up as well.

The breeds

The names fall into kinds. Some describe the animal: Bianca Val Padana (white), Grigia alpina and the two Grigia di Val d'Adige and di Val di Fiemme (grey), Bruna Italiana and Sardo Bruna (brown), Pezzata Rossa Italiana and Valdostana Pezzata Rossa (red pied), Valdostana Castana (chestnut) and Valdostana Pezzata Nera (black pied). Others are taken from places. A few are compounds, among them Chianino-Maremmana, Sardo-modicana and Pugliese del basso Veneto. Bruna Italiana Vecchio Ceppo marks an older strain.

Regions and communities

The names spread over the whole country. The Alps and their foothills hold Valdostana in three forms, Piemontese, Ossolana, Varzese-Ottonese-Tortonese, Rendena, Burlina, Bardigiana and the German-language Mölltal, Pustertaler Sprinzen and Pinzgauer. The Po plain has Bianca Val Padana, Reggiana, Modenese, Romagnola and Pontremolese. Tuscany and the central Apennines hold Chianina, Val di Chiana, Calvana, Garfagnina, Grossetana, Pisana, Valdarno, Perugina and Marchigiana. The south and the islands bring Podolica, Maremmana, Modicana, Cinisara, Sicilian, Sarda, Calabrese, Lucana and Agerolese.