|
|
|
History and Tradition: from Roman Molosso to present days
translation by Federico
Contents: ● The dog: Back to its origins ● The Molossian in the ancient Rome ● The Molossian Dog from the Middle age to the Modern age (from 476 to 1789) ● The Cane Corso, or ……..
The dog: back to its origin
“The earliest fossil evidence of an animal that is unquestionably a dog dates from about 14,000 years ago. Skeletons from this period found at several sites in the Near East exhibit a shortened jaw and crowded teeth that definitely set them apart from the local wolves. This was before the rise of agriculture and permanent settlements, before any other plant or animal had entered into a domestic relationship with man, though not much before: by about 11,500 years ago the agricultural revolution had begun in earnest in the Near East, with the cultivation of wheat and barley, and by 9,500 years ago goats and sheep were being herded in great flocks. The subsequent establishment of permanent villages and farms coincided with an explosion of the dog population and a spread of the species throughout the world at an astonishing pace. By 7,000 years ago, a blink of an eye in the history of life on this planet, dog skeletons appear in great numbers amid the archaeological detritus of peoples in places as far-flung as China, South America, and Britain, A remarkable burial site found at Ein Mallaha in northern Israel, dating from about 12,000 years ago, contained the skeleton of an elderly man in semifetal position, his left hand resting on the skull of a four or five month old puppy. The Standard Myth of the origin of the dog is that man through a wolf puppy might make a useful guardian or hunter (or, in some versions, that woman found him cute), and took him in.” (The truth about dogs; S. Budiansky. Penguin Books, 2001- a very interesting book).
It was during the Palaeolithic period that men started the taming of the wolf, changing it from a predator to a precious aid in hunting. The encounters between prehistoric men – who lived of harvest and hunting – and hordes of wolves happened easily, sharing the same territories, eating the same game and using similar hunting techniques. During the centuries, men selected those dogs that were more apt for hunting or for the defence of their properties and cattles and as a valid help in war, using all the genetic material that nature offered them.
Superior Paleolithic graffiti. Monte Pellegrino (Palermo) - Addaura’s cave
The Wolf
The Molossian Dog in The Ancient Rome
The Roman army held the dog in high regard; in particular, the “procurator cingeti” (or zooarch) selected the dogs according to the qualities shown during the battles and during the games in the arenas, obtaining that molossian used for different tasks, as: - ● A fighter in war; - ● A fighter in the arenas against gladiators and wild animals; - ● A guardian of patricians’ houses and villas; - ● An auxiliary in the big-game hunting.
The Roman Molossian was a functionally complete dog and in the lands conquered by the Roman’s army it originated dogs used for similar tasks: for example, the Spanish “Perro da presa” and the French “Dogue de Bordeaux”.
Anyway, the molossian dog was used principally as a very aggressive death instrument, protected by an iron collar and trained to kill enemies by biting their necks.
In order to obtain a sort of “war machine”, Romans used the local available genetic “material”, the one of the “tamed wolf” whose behaviour is similar to the one of the Molossian in fact, it also fought for the conquest of the territories, killed and raid. History underlines the symbolic relationship between wolves and some warlike populations: for example, in the Italic peninsula, the “Lucani” tribe got their name from the word “Aukol”, that is from wolf. The Legend of the birth of Rome assumed the actual form only in the late period, when the Romans ruled the whole peninsula; not leaving the original behaviour’s similitude, they choose a wild dog, “la lupa”, as a totemic animal. As a symbol of courage and as a symbol of the “Urbe”, Romans put its image on the Legionaries vexillums.
(Cesare e Ariovisto; F. Schutzenberg)
The courage, the power and the temper of these “bellator” or “pugnator” or “pugnaces” dogs (as the Greek historical Stradone called the dogs that fought) that fought with the soldiers, that watch at their beds during the night, duly trained, were used even in communications, amazed the Legionaries who gave them the name taking it from the military structure in which they were employed:
- ● Cohors Made by six companies (consisting in 100 and more soldiers), it was the tenth part of the Legion;
- ● Praetoria Cohors General’s bodyguards;
- ● Cohortes Allied auxiliary troops.
(“Corso” name comes from that!)
These dogs shown particular morphological and attitudinal characteristics and they were generally called “molossians” due their analogies with the “Molosso dell’Epiro”, famous for its ability in fights. According to old writings, the dog, at least 30 centuries ago, was commonly and massively used in war (we’ll see how this use has been kept until the Contemporary Age and how they are still employed today for auxiliary military actions). Organized in small military groups, these dogs were massively employed in battles; they were used as brave “squires” and bodyguards or supporting the action of a single knight. They have been always employed in wars; besides, molossians were made exclusively for this use.
Romans used big groups of Molossian dogs to watch, communicate and fight as Plinio remembered it: “They were the most faithful and cheapest auxiliaries”. In 231 B.C., M. Pomponio Matone’s legionaries used these dogs to solve the Peliti’s problem in Sardinia (the “Mastino Fonnese” descends directly from these dogs). Three centuries before Christ, Alexander the Great used molossians in field battles to spread panic within the enemy’s ranks. So it was that his favourite Molossian, “Periples”, died fighting.
Another task of the Molossian within different ancient populations was to execute the enemies or men condemned to dead, who were thrown in pits where the dogs, kept hungry, tore them to pieces. The Italian expression “torn in peaces by the dogs” (“gettato in pasto ai cani”) – metaphor used to indicate somebody who has been “harassed” by different people – get its origin from this old custom. Gruesome, but effective custom was to give this “food” to the dogs to let them get over the fear of humans and to increase their predatory instincts.
We cannot hide our emotional disturbance describing customs that a 21st century man can’t judge other than terrible, cruent and ferocious. Anyway, that’s what happened then; we have just reported it drawing on historical sources. Interpretation and valuation of past occurrences, anyway, cannot be left without an analysis of the cultural and political context of the age to which we are referring (that is a principle universally recognized by all scholars).
Many Roman Emperors are famous for their cruelty that was displayed at the circensian shows. In the roman amphitheatres, during the “ludi gladiatori”, wild animals, molossians and gladiators fought each other in cruent bloody matches. During the 1st century AD, Emperor Caligula organized a fight in which 400 bears were involved against a group of gladiators with their dogs. Strabone wrote that to face a lion 4 Molossian dogs were needed.
Tauromachy was another popular show of ancient Rome, during which gladiators and Molossians showed their abilities in combats against bulls. This circensian show later spread in the whole Mediterranean area.
Circo Massimo (M. Verdone: Feste e spettacoli a Roma; Newton Compton Ed.)
They started again in ages subsequent to the Empire’s fall as testified by the Italian poet Belli in a 19th century’s sonnet (La Giostra a Gorèa), the Italian engraver Pinelli in his works and in a 1819’s Italian flyer
Back to the roman circensean shows, another historical proof can be taken from Daniela Maccioli’s “Vita e costumi dei Romani Antichi” (promoted by the Museum of Roman Civilization) in which is possible to read: “There were then, fights between humans and animals, during which, generally, animals died; “venatores” or “bestiari”, who were trained in schools similar to those of the gladiators, but not considered as much as the gladiators by the spectators, dressed a short tunic with sleeves and bands on their legs, were armed with a large pointed lance and a leather whip and they were often escorted by a pack of dogs” . The author mentions a particular episode about the greediness of some spectacles organizer (Domini Factionum) who administrated the organization of these shows practising a real monopoly to which the games promoters could address to: “To have an idea of their greediness, can be mentioned a curious episode having as its protagonist Aulo Fabrizio, praetor under Nero’s Empire, who tried to oppose the many requests made by these societies by presenting trained dogs leaded carts; in this way, he obliged Domini Fationums to ask a little less money”. The author does not talks about the type of the dogs; we can suppose that, due to the weight of the carts and the relative strength needed to lead them, they could be molossians.
Lastra Campana; Rome, Roman National Museum Romans used the Molossian dogs to guard public and private buildings. They were kept tethered during the day in a niche at the entry and set free during the night, to make them more attentive and aggressive. Laws were issued to avoid the frequent incidents due to the dogs. Hence, the habit to substitute the real dog with a simulacrum, which bore the inscription “cave canem” (Beware of the dog!). The Molossian dog moved together with the Roman legions and it thus contributed to the making of European dog breeds such as the Komondor, the Old English Mastiff, the San Bernardo, the dog of the Pyrenees, the Swiss cattle-dog, etc.
Even for the hunting, the sons of Romulus handed down their way of selection. Among the Cane Corso’s lover is known the statuary group of the Diana and Atteone’s Fountain: according to the myth, Atteone saw goddess Diana while she was having a bath that made her angry; as a consequence, she changed him in a deer and had him eaten by her dogs.
Reggia di Caserta: Diana and Atteone’s Fountain The javelin (javelin with the bifurcated ending were also common) was the most important gun for a hunter together with a knife and a sling but the most precious companion was the dog. Romans firstly classified dogs according to their practical usage:
- ● Seguges: (blood-hound) which first-rate olfaction led them to the prey; - ● Celeres: (Greyhound) able to pursue it at a first sight; - ● Pugnaces: (Molossian) capable to attack and kill it.
Love for dogs is well described in an epigram by Marziale: “Bred among trainers in the amphitheatres, hunter, ferocious in the woods and sweet at home, my name was Lidia. I was faithful to my master Destro […], I wasn’t killed by long days, neither by the useless old age, as happened to Argo, Ulysse’s dog, but it was a tusk of a slobbery wild boar as big as the one of Calidono or Erimanto. I reached the shadows of the hell very young, but I bear no grudge. I couldn’t wish for a better death”.
Roman’s favourite hunt was the big game, possibly by the horses when the ground was good: the preys, found by the Seguges and reached by the Celeres, were blockaded by the Molossians until the arrival of the hunters who, called back the dogs, attacked the preys with the javels to show their courage.
The spreading of hunting is amply documented in the sarcophaguses with mythological scenes carved on (see historical iconography in “From Ancient Rome to the Middle Ages”) that, from Adriano’s age on, became valuable funeral monument for the well-to-do Romans. The decorations’ symbolism means the analogy of the success in hunting with victory in war and the triumph among death.
Meleagro fights against the wild boar – B. Pinelli
The dog was very important for Roman’s endeavour, sheep farming. In fact, they bred the “Canis Pastoricus” (sheep dog); Virgil suggested feed them milk and whey and cut their ears and tails especially to protect them from the wolves’ and foxes’ bites. Varrone said: “[…] the sheep dog’s body is between the “Canis Venaticus” (hound dog), lean and agile, and the “Canis Villaticus” (Molossian) imposing and strong”. Lucio Giunio Columella wrote many centuries ago: “In order to watch your house you should choose a big and strong dog with a powerful bark…it must be white if that’s for sheep, black for a watch dog and multicoloured or tigerstriped for both uses…” The sheep dog, or wolf dog, resulted from the inbreeding between the fierce legionaries’ dogs and the local sheepdogs that belonged to the lupoid species. Nowadays, these crossbreeds are the Mastino Abruzzese, Mastino Siciliano or Cane di Mannera, Mastino Silano and Mastino Fonnese. The two main characteristics of these dogs (lets remember: we are always talking about molossians so we are still keeping the subject) are the strong aggressiveness against predators and the absence of predacious instinct for the herd, that is: when the dogs had to fight against the wolves and defend the sheeps, the Romans opposed the “domestic wolf”, when it was needed a different sort of aggressivity they used the “Pugnaces”.
What has been illustrated above is the background that originated the Roman Molossian.
Before talking about the “Middle Ages”, we would like to conclude this chapter reporting that some recent researches, made by a group of scholars, revalue what we supposed about the Mastino Tibetano (so far considered by somebody as the “father” of all the modern molossians). In accordance to the hypothesis of these studies, the dogs represented on the famous tablets of Ninive (2.500-2000 B.C.) are the ancestors of the actual Karabash that lived many years before those dogs used by the Babylonians and the Assyrians during the wars in Anatolia and Mesopotamia, which function was to watch sheep, besides the hunt for the wolf, the bear and the onager.
The Molossian Dog from the Middle age to the Modern age Even after the fall of Roman’s Empire, humans kept using dogs as a military auxilum during all the Middle Ages and Renaissance (even if in the Renaissance the Molossians were mostly used as “cani da presa” for the Bears, wolves and wild boars hunting –see: “La Caccia” in “Piccolo Mondo Antico” section-). In the Middle Ages, dog and horse formed the identity of a knight. Considering the medieval aristocratic and religious cultural attitude of prevalent disregard towards commerce and manual labours, the only two activities that brought a little of prestige, power and riches in those times, were war and hunting. Consequently, it was indispensable the permanent possession of big stables and dog packs that could demonstrate particular efficacy in hunting (greyhounds, bloodhounds and Molossians) in the defence and in the watch of the properties and, first of all, in the frequent battles for the rule of the lands between feudal overlords. The feudal overlords, owned lots of dogs but they were kept by his subjects, as a vassal due. Barnabò Visconti, for example, owned nearly 5000 dogs kept by his subjects and, in sad occasions, they were used to execute the condemned to death.
On the knights side there were always fighting Molossians, which were always used during the battles by every army. Covered by leather’s protections reinforced by metal laminas, they were used as assailants: excited by the battle screams, they assaulted the enemies biting their horses and spreading the enemy cavalry. A treatise of military art reports that dogs were trained for that task.
In the Middle Ages, the bounds with the war, but also watch and defence, dogs became so strong that Clergy took, more than once, drastic measures to avoid the admittance of these dogs, from whom the knights didn’t want to separate themselves, in the churches.
Heraldry is another help to understand the origins of our dogs. I the Middle Ages, nobles and knights used to paint symbols on their shields in order to be identified during the battle despite their heavy Armour. So the coats of arms were born, which, in few years, became the emblems of some families representing the virtues or a peculiar characteristic of the owner. The most favourite emblems were lions, eagles and wolves, because they were rapacious and proud, powerful and regal; dogs and cats were also used. Four breeds of dogs were represented: bloodhound, greyhound, Corso and mastiff. They became sometimes “talking” coats of arms to remember the name of a family: Bracconieri, Veltri, Corsi and Mastini (from the Italian names of the dogs: bracco, veltro, Corso e Mastino). The meaning of Cane Corso was force and warlike power. The coat of arms could show diverse postures of the dog, to which different meanings corresponded: walking, curled up (angry with hispid coat) and furious (rampant). The last two symbols stood for force and bravery and were often used with the symbol of a Corso.
In this period the term Mastino was frequently used alternatively with Corso to identify qualities such as fidelity and aggressiveness rather than a specific breed, as you can see reading the following historical testify. The resistance of the city of Cagli, opposing Frederic II, is described in the history of the MASTINI family (living in Cagli since 1150 A.D):
“…while Frederic was near Cagli with his army, a captain left the camp and was assailed by many countrymen, coming down the mountain. After a brave battle, he was seriously injured and left alone by his soldiers. He finally survived the countrymen’s assault but his wound was gravely bleeding and fell down on the ground more dead than alive. His Mastino was his only help; covered by blood, the dog run back to Frederic’s camp and, barking, drew everyone’s attention. Even though the army was far ahead, the Emperor decided to follow the dog and sent someone with the Mastino. Leading the army to the soldier, it saved him who, still alive, was transported to the camp where the doctors took care of him. Frederic decided that the Captain assumed the domination over those countries and castles, imposing him to be named after the animal that had saved him. His family and house were called Mastini…”
The two Mastini’s family coats of arms
Cagli’s theatre curtains painted in the late 800’s by professor Venanzi from Assisi
Regarding the specific meaning of the word “Corso” (that, as said before, was alternate - in the common use - the name “Mastino”), a 1238 reference says [ (*)=from Dr. Paolo Breber studies ]: Monaldeschi in his 1238’s diary, talks about many deeds of valour in favour of the Colonnesi made by Berardo of Evangelista Corso, where demonstrates that sometimes this family was named “de’ Berardi“ sometimes “de’ Evangelisti“ and sometimes “de’ Corsi“, name given by the Roman people in regard of the Corso dog which was valorous as Evangelista.
Corsi Family’s Coat of Arms (*)
Until the end of the Modern Age, Roman Molossian history is plaited together with the historical facts of the Italian peninsula and its employment keeps on being the one of a great help in war tasks and in the hunt. In the southern Italy, the Norman kings, which governed with great ability helping the development of commerce, of farming and breeding, were great dogs’, horse’s and hunting’s lovers. The choice of Federico II about placing the heart of his power in the southern Adriatic coast region, was influenced by political and military reasons but, on the other hand, allowed him to satisfy his great passion for hunting, thanks to the various fauna that found its ideal habitat in an harmonious alternation of mountains and hills, woods and wide lands.After him, the same passion animated, especially in Sicily, the king “Carlo d’Angiò”.
Francesco Liani : Carlo D’Angio’ In the lands conquered by the ancient Roman Legions that it followed, the Roman Molossian gave origin to a dog that, in the same way, was used as a war dog and for the hunt and, subsequently, gave origin to other dogs like, for example, the Dogue de Bordeaux in France and the Perro da Presa in Spain. Probably, the descents of Roman Molossian imported from the Castile Kingdom were the Mastiffs that in 1949 helped Cristoforo Colombo to massacre the Indios of the “New World”: “Is the 15th of May 1494: the second expedition of Cristòbal Colòn (Cristoforo Colombo)……. Some days before, he committed a massacre against the hostile Indios, almost defenceless, using at first iron arrows thrown with the crossbows, then using ferocious Mastiff dogs” “… The world knew that you caught Indian slaves as fishes in trap, that you fed your Mastiffs with their fleshes just as a Spanish joke” (“Cristòbal Colòn: The dream of sailor”, prose by Duane Niatum and Salish Klallam). Pizarro, wasn’t second best and reported that his dogs were, as in the past, fed with human meat. The Spanish Dominican Bartolomé De Las Casas, which defended the Indios against the “Conquistadores“, wrote that these dogs were used to eat human meat.
The “ Cane Corso “ , or ..... Back to our Land, the diffusion of Roman Molossian along the whole peninsula is documented, besides by a very rich historical iconography (see: http://www.ilcontadodelmolise.com/iconografia_storica.htm), even by numerous bibliographic quotations. Among them, we would like to report the following: • ‘Opus Maccaronicum’ by Teofilo Folengo (1552) • ‘Historia Animalum’ by the Swiss naturalist Konrad von Gesner (1516 – 1565); • ‘Della Caccia’ (1591) by Erasmo di Valvason • ‘L’economia del Cittadino in Villa’ by V. Tanara (Bologna, 1644) : “With three kind of dogs it must be hunted: ten blood-hound, ten greyhounds and big dogs (molossian) especially mastiffs and corsos” (*) • ‘La Bestia Feroce’ cured by M. Comincino (1991, Diacronia, Vigevano): “…. after an alarm in the end of the 18th century near Milan… ‘we order to the corsos - and similar - owners and to the owners of those dogs that are used to attack and bite even if not irritated, to keep them safely tied in their own houses..” (*) • ‘Catalogo della mostra Natura Viva in Casa Medici’: “in 1771 in the S. Mark seraglio it was kept: a lioness, two tigers, two she-wolves, a vulture, five foxes and a Corso” (*) • ‘Vocabolario Siciliano Etimologico italiano e Latino’ by Abate Michele Pasquino (1785): “cani corsu, butcher’s dog, canis Janionus” • ‘Beati Paoli’ (song for captives by their street mates) • ‘Proverbi siciliani’ (M. Emma Alaimo)
and, from those more recent:
• ‘Manuale di Veterinaria’ (1826), compiled by Giulio Sandri Già (Anatomy and physiology professor, responsible of Pharmacy Administration, Substitute of Botanic in the Imp. Regia Scuola di Veterinaria of Milan, etc. etc.) “ …..the shepherd dog, the hunt dog and the straw stack dog. The last one guards the yard especially during the night, protecting it from the thieves and from the animals like wolves, foxes and martens. The best one is short, with big and truncated head, huge throat, big legs, short and big tail, dull, high, short and scary bark to terrify from long distances. If black it will better catch the brigands without being seen. It must not be wandering or too much kind in order to avoid the persuasions of the people with bad deeds and, at the same time, not too much aggressive or it could assault even the family” • ‘Elementi di Storia Naturale’ by G. Ombrosi (Milan 1852): “The Corso is striped, it seems like the “bracco” and it is used as a watch dog”. (*) • ‘Dizionario’ di Niccolò Tommaseo e Bernardo Bellini (1865-1879): “Corso, by bold aspect and behavior” • ‘Catalogo dei Mammiferi di Sicilia’ di F. Minà Palumbo (1868) • ‘Nuovo vocabolario Siciliano-Italiano’ compiled by Antonio Traina (1868): “Corsu, ferocious variety: Corsican dog – Lassarisi jiri comu nu cani corsu = attack like a Corso”; • ‘I Malavoglia’ di Giovanni Verga (1881) • ‘Il Cane’, 1897; by Prof. Enrico Tecce (zootechniques professor of Regia Scuola Veterinaria of Naples): “It has a proud and bold expression: and it reveal itself in any case very attached to the master, in a way that it almost exposes its life to grant the one of its master. It is said to be “command dog” and it obeys only to the master. When he orders, the dog attacks with insuperable ferocity; assaults, knocks down, tears to pieces; all of this is matter of seconds. In Naples is the faithful companion of the Camorrist, to whom enrich the boldness in the spoliation of the innocent. Is good as a herd’s watcher, having it the ability of calming down the raging bulls; it takes advantage of the proper second to bite the bull’s mouth, and then to leave it, when the dog is sure that the furious animal will follow its will. It is an indomitable fighter that battles against the murderer, the ordinary dog, the wolf, the bear and the bull; it’s a real Hercules that, trusting in its own strength, refuses and disdains the ambushes; it always prefers the face-to-face fighting and never hesitates; it knocks down the enemy and keep it firm in the ground if the unfortunate one does not oppose any resistance. It is kind with kids and small dogs, it doesn’t like fighting with no reasons; but if it’s provoked, the imprudent has no escape, because the dog doesn’t allow anybody to dirty its dignity. In the house, store and mercies watch, it is the most jealous and proud guardian, because it prefers to die than to let anybody tamper with the things that it is guarding”. • ‘Vocabolario Numerico Siciliano-Italiano’ compiled by Giusto Pecorella (a sort of Sicilian “guessing” that gives to the Corso the lottery number 22). • ‘Vocabolario della Lingua Italiana’ by N. Zingarelli (1922): “Corso, dog of a big and ferocious kind by black hair”. • ‘Dizionario Abruzzese-Molisano’ by Ernesto Gianmaria (1968): “Còrz’: watch dog”. • ‘Dizionario Italiano Melzi (1950): “Straw stack dog: the one that is right to watch a rustic house”; “Cane da presa: the big one, tough as the Mastiff used for the wild animals hunting” • Danilo Mainardi, in the newspaper Corriere Della Sera (1° June 1989): “Leonardo Sciascia wrote it about in ‘Occhio di Capra’ (1982), the particular dictionary of Racalmuto. Reading the term “barruggieddru” meaning “chief officer”, I learnt that, with a law of 30th November 1750, Carlo III prohibited, to the guards, the use of Corsos for the guilty chase. Even in the “men hunting”, at least in Sicily and in the past centuries, a terrible, indomitable molossian… a very interesting and full of history dog. (see: http://www.ilcontadodelmolise.com/citazioni_e_detti.htm) More than in other places, particular impulse to the Corso spreading was given by the “Borboni” Royal House in the Southern Italy, where its presence developed thanks to the persistence of the appropriate environmental and cultural conditions. The Borboni’s Kingdom (Regno delle Due Sicilie) was formed by the old kingdoms of Naples and Sicily and was composed by: • Abruzzi, Contado del Molise, Terra di Lavoro (Sora, Aquino, Fondi, Napoli, Nola); • Principality of Benevento, Nocera, Amalfi, Salerno, Policastro; • Capitanata (Foggia, Lucera, Manfredonia); • Principality of Bari; • Principality of Taranto; • Basilicata; • Duchy of Calabria; • Sicily; In these lands the Corso has been maintained and kept since our days thanks to the practical task for which it was used time by time.
According to an utilitarian classification based upon the function, the dog as we know by the name “Corso” or “Cane da Presa”, was defined with a series of appellatives that underlined the “specializations”, among which: straw stack dog, herd’s dog, butcher’s dog, Dogo (or big hunt dog) and fight dog. (see: http://www.ilcontadodelmolise.com/piccolo_mondo_antico.htm) In a more generic sense in the various lands of the Kingdom it had the names of: • Cors’ (Contado del Molise and Abruzzo); • Cane ‘e presa (Terra di Lavoro); • Farm’s dog (Puglia); • Chain Mastiff, Corsican dog (Basilicata); • Cuòrsicu : Alta Lucania; • Can’ Huzz: Cane Guzzo (Calabria); • Corsu, Cane Guzzo, Vucciuriscu (Sicilia). The following old maps mark the limits of the Lands and underline, in the figures, the task of the dog in the more specific hunting typologies of each region
The Borboni found since the beginning of their realm that kind of dog, yet largely spread in the lands of the South; they appreciated its versatility and, thanks to their knowledge and passion for hunting, they understood its predatory abilities and employed it in spectacular big game hunts into the various Kingdom’s estates (Benevento, Molise, Lucania and Neapolitan interior). That is testified by several sculptures (for example: Reggia di Caserta, Diana and Atteone’s fountain; Castel Nuovo Naples: relieves Arco di Trionfo) and by many paintings into which the Corso, beyond in hunting actions (i.e.: J. P. Hackert: Ferdinand IV’s wild boar’s hunting), is sometimes represented into the “court” (Angelica Kauffmann: Neapolitan Royal Kingdom’s Portrait). Inheritance of Borboni hunts is Ficuzza’s wood, which wonderful Royal Palace was built in 1803 by Ferdinand IV. It is said that the King loved ling in wait near a clearing immerged into the wood, called, "marcatu di li porci" because during the dusk tens of wild boars used to root in that place. At that time fauna in Sicily was very abundant: deers, roe-bucks, fallow-deers and hedgehogs lived into the woods and the clearings, while the wolf, even if persecuted by the terrible “Lupara”’s hunt and hunted by the Corsos, dominated the scene. (see: http://www.ilcontadodelmolise.com/la_caccia.htm) As said before when we talked about its employment in the Ancient Rome, the fighting abilities of the Molossian were put in evidence even in the bullfight spectacles. In an ancient text from Abruzzo’s region, is reported that at the beginning of 1800, anyone who had visited the hills near Pescara could have assisted, and participated, to a bull hunt or to a “ralls of indomitable bulls”, as they used to say then to indicate one of the most popular spectacles of the center/southern Italy that consisted in the most waited event of the fairs. In regard see: L. Lopez “Pescara, dalla vestina Aterno al 1815” (L’Aquila 1983) and L. Marchesani “Storia di Vasto, città in Abruzzo Citeriore” (Napoli 1837) where you can read: “Bull hunting, heritage of Romans’ games, is fallen in disuse since a few years: it was played into the fountains’ squares of Palazzo and Porta Palazzo, after having fenced the near streets. Tough and courageous Corsos, hanging on the yelling bull’s ears, struggled to stop it. A prize was given to the owner of the dog that succeeded in the dangerous undertaking of stopping the bull biting its ears” And more in, “Pescara, gli abitanti e due giochi singolari”: “On the coast is the first platform of Neapolitan Kingdom. …the inhabitants of Pescara… are very passionate for bull and dog fights and there is no fair without this kind of entertainment…. This amusement of making Corso dogs’ fights against a raging bull represents a danger. I have never ever assisted to a “match” during which nothing terrible happened and, moreover, the “theatre” of this game is the public square. The animal, excited by numerous objects that provoke its fury, like stingers, fireworks and other stuff attached to its tail, stands in the middle of a “ring” made by the crowd, tied on its horns by a rope kept by a single man. At this point, five or six Corso dogs are released against the bull that is attacked on its neck and on its ears. When the bull is down, a well dressed butcher finish it with a deadly hit. These dogs were highly requested by the butchers and by anyone who had something to do with the cattle”.
To the Borboni’s Kingdom posed an end the Garibaldi’s expedition of 1860 that was followed by the annexation to the Italian Kingdom. From 1861 and 1870, in wide areas of a South disappointed by the Risorgimento’s myth, loaded of taxes in order to restore the Savoyard economy, put to the ground by the war’s costs, and intolerant to the violent abolition of the Borboni’s Kingdom, hundreds of partisan gangs started rose. The Piedmontese’s Army found it difficult to make give in what, with an inappropriate and propagandistic (used to give an image of common criminals to those partisans) term, was called “Southern Banditry”. Precisely, must be talk about a real war of “liberation” against the Piedmonteses (who had to employ more than 125.000 men, losing more soldiers than in all of the three Independence wars) run by insurgent “boors”.
………. “tutti i paisi d’a Basilicata si su scitate e vonno luttà; (all of the towns in Basilicata want to rise); pure a Calabria mo s’è arrevotata e stu nemicu facimm tremà; …. (Even Calabria wants to fight and now the enemy is shaking) Sta terra nosta nun s’adda tuccà …. (Nobody can touch or land….) lu veru lupu è chi magna e creature e o piemontese avimm a caccià” (the real wolf is the one who eats the children and the Piedmontese must we Hunt”) ………. The “brigands” were sided by valid and indispensable “friends”: the Corso and the Murgese Horse. In the Molise and in the near regions, for example, around 1865-1870 a little Army of brigands headed by “Cascione” (nickname of the chief big as an armchair) and by Vulpiano (because he was smart as a fox) riding their Murgese’s horses and with their backs watched by the corsos, created serious difficulties to the Savoyard cavalry.
A calabrese brigand chief ( anonymous artist of ’800)
(See in the “Historical Iconography” section of the site, the testify that Bartolomeo Pinelli passed to us about the brigands in the Sonnino’s land and on their faithful Cane Corso).
Even after the annexation to the Italian Kingdom, anyway, the notables of that time (Counts, Marquises, …., big landowners) kept on with their feudal traditions, especially in the south regions. Beyond during the hunts, the marquises (the most spread nobles in the south) used the Cane Corso as a watchdog in their houses and estates. The exemplars used as guards, attacked anyone who entered the territory given in charge to them; some subject was particularly ferocious, but even if it killed other animals or if, following its owner, attacked other animals (cattle, dogs…), nobody dared to touch it because it was the “Marquise’s Corso”. For the coupling - decided by the Marquis who was the only one to know the genetics and the functional characteristics of the dogs, passed to him by his family - the subjects were moved from one estate to another in cages made for that purpose, after having tied two chains to a leather collar, in this way the dogs could have had the possibility to naturally turn their heads avoiding to bite somebody. The puppies (only the male ones to avoid that somebody else could have breeded them) were given (never sold or gifted) to the farmers or to the workers who had the total responsibility; who, without being able to give an appropriate explanation, would have lost a Corso, would have risked to be fired but, despite the risk, some puppy… always missed! Keep going chronologically on with the history of our dog, in 1914 in the city of Milan, during a dog expo, Mr. Mario Monti from Bagnocavallo, presented to the judge Fabio Caielli an Italian Molossian subject named Drago. In that occasion the judge refused to express a judgment saying that that breed did not existed and that the Kennel Club did not published the relative standard. Mr. Monti, then, invited Mr. Caielli to buy a train ticket to Naples stopping in the cities of a Bologna, Florence, Pisa, Livorno, Grosseto, Civitavecchia and Rome, where he could have seen progressively increasing numbers of Corsos in private houses and siding night watchers. He could have seen even a higher number in Naples, Foggia, Benevento, Barletta and Bari, both in the cities and the countryside and in any social level. A high controversial exploded; Mr. Monti wrote on the magazine “Il Cacciatore Italiano” to say that, willing to be the first to present in Italy a subject of “Police Dog” without using foreigner dogs, he investigated “…. Italian breeds very able in watching things and people and, in the same time, with a good aspect and with a high environment adaptation level. My fondness turned up into passion when I was given one of these dogs thanks to the courtesy of a noble Neapolitan man who transferred in it lots of values and ardors”
Again, this demonstrates that, in that age, the Roman Molossian (Cane Corso, Cane ‘e presa, Mastino Napoletano) was spread in Italy, even if particularly in the southern regions.
…to be continued…
|
|
All rights reserved. Many contents and pictures are taken from “Our books” protected by copyright |
