Meet the Europeans – Part II Italy – Cirneco Dell’Etna …

Text and illustrations by Ria Hörter
With thanks to Eva-Maria Krämer for some of her beautiful photos.

CIRNECO DELL’ETNA Ð SICILIAN HOUND

A DOG OF PRIDE AND DIGNITY

Mount Etna – 10,922 feet (3,323 metres) high and with a circumference of about 93 miles (150 kilometres) – is known for its violent eruptions. More than once in history, the inhabitants of surrounding villages in northeastern Sicily have had to run for their lives when the volcano smoked and rained ash or hot lava. One of the greatest eruptions destroyed a large part of the city of Catania in 1669. In 1971, the village of Fornazzo was struck, the lava stopping at 600 meters. Other major 20th-century eruptions occurred in 1949, 1971, 1981, 1983 and 1991-93. Recent eruptions took place in 1996 and November 2002. From January 2011 to February 2012, the summit craters of Etna were the site of intense activity when frequent eruptions and ash columns forced the authorities to shut down the Catania airport on several occasions. Apart from being an important tourist attraction, Mount Etna is a place for scientific research. Oranges, lemons, figs, grapes and olives grow in the fertile volcanic soil on Mount Etna’s slopes.

ROMAN VILLA AND EGYPTIAN TOMB

Images and written proof of early dog breeds are rarely found. However, visitors to the fourth-century BC Roman villa Romana del Casale near Piazza Armerina (Sicily) can admire mosaic floors showing realistic hunting scenes. The sighthounds are depicted with long tails, pointed muzzles and big, triangular, erect ears. The same type of dog can be seen on Sicilian coins dating from the Greek
occupation, about 600 BC.

There is no doubt that cirnechi were bred in Sicily before the start of our era. While there is no solid evidence to support the assumption that this type of dog was taken by Phoenicians from the Nile Valley in Egypt to Sicily during their colonization of the island, Egyptian tombs show dogs with the same pointed muzzle and big erect ears as can be seen on dogs in the Roman villa and today’s Cirneco. The breed’s present name appeared for the first time in 1533, in a Sicilian law. People using cirnechi for hunting were punished because the dogs caused too much damage to wildlife. More than 400 years later, in 1973, Fiorenzo Fiorone, the Italian author of Cani da Caccia (Gun Dogs) wrote that several thousand Cirnechi still existed in the area surrounding Mount Etna.

Short URL: http://caninechronicle.com/?p=130186

Posted by Alex on Aug 15 2017. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.