The Masseria of The Old South
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This is a summary on Cane Corso Italiano: the
origin, the history, the integration in socio-economic context into the
masserie of the Meridione, and the decline, recovery and recognition of the
Corso breed. It must be qualified that this summary on Cane Corso is compiled
from articles, books, and the Cane Corso Pages web site. The main sources being
“IL Cane Corso: Origini e Prospettiv del molosso italico” by Prof. F.
Casolino and Dr. S. Gandolfi, published 1996 by Mursia, “IL Cane Corso”
by Dott. Flavio Bruno published 1994 by Arti Grafiche La Regione and “IL Cane Corso: studiato nella razza, nella storia, nella
famiglia e nella societa” by Dott. Flavio Bruno published 2002 by Arti
Grafiche La Regione.
Any mistake and misrepresentation in this
compilation is mine and mine alone. The copy right of this compilation remains
with Hu Song and the Cane Corso Pages. Permission in writing is required for
reproduction of the whole or part of this compilation.
Hu Song Thursday, May 15, 2000, revised
December 01, 2001 and May 25.2003.
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The aristocrats kept packs of Corsi for hunting
and often they were specialized for different kind of games. They also kept
Corsi for defence, for guard and for protection. However it was often the Cane
Corsos of the farmer, the peasant, the cowboy, and the shepherd that were used
beyond guarding, protecting, and hunting, which revealed their many talents and
functions. These Corsos were obedient and adaptable to whatever usage, aides
for whatever needs without substitute, cattle dogs and herders, guard dogs and
hunters, cart dogs, and always a pleasant company in solitude. They were the
‘policemen’ and ‘defenders’ of the farm, the trusted bodyguards, occasionally
the butcher’s helpers, and the fighters. Their usage in the rural country of
the Old South has been so intertwined with the agricultural economy and
extending to the social and cultural life that the Cane Corso of the
masseria became an aspect of the agricultural economy and rural culture
in Southern Italy. At the center of such agricultural economy and rural
culture was the masseria, which has since disappeared.
The direct heir of the late Roman curtis,
the masseria, or farm of the old Southern Italy, is the corner stone of
all economic activities from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance era. It had
not changed much till the early 20th century. A small village developed
in or near pre-existing fortifications such as castles, defensive buildings
and watchtowers to answer first of all the defensive needs against external
enemies, rivalries from other factions or cities, bandits and criminals.
For the large masseria there was the central
courtyard walled and surrounded by various constructions normally used for pigs
and poultry as well as other agricultural activities. Houses of the owner and
his domus (assistants) and the chapel were near the courtyard. Then
there were the "casalinum", buildings for uses like wine
cellars, oil presses, flour mills, ovens etc. Next to the "casalinum"
were houses of the massaro (manager of the farm) and the massaricia
(peasants). Farthest away from the courtyard were the "cafoneria",
housing for seasonal workers and "cafoni" (peasant helpers).
One also found stables, pigeon cotes, vegetable gardens, as well as vineyards
and citrus and olive trees. The cultivated fields of wheat and other cereals as
well as pasture for wild or semi-wild cattle and horses were outside the walls.
Corsos were used in the masseria as guard of
stables, warehouses and other buildings as well as livestock. They were kept in
chain during the day, permitting the dogs to move freely without tripping but
with limited mobility. And they were let off the chain at night to keep away
the cattle rustlers, thieves and nocturnal predators like the foxes, weasels
and more rarely the wolves and the bears.
In the rural villages and towns as well as the
hills there were also the small farmers and peasants who worked the land and
kept flocks and herds in a family structure. Next to their cultivated fields
their houses of stones and clay were such that the ground level would be
stables for sheep, goats, pigs and poultry with the family living above. Corsi
were stationed at the stables to guard the livestock from being stolen by
thieves and nocturnal predators. Perhaps there were also smaller watched dogs
that would alert the approach of ill-intended strangers and animals.
These small farmers and peasants increased much
in numbers during the period after World War I, from 1920 to 1940, when things
returned to normal and even improved in Southern Italy with renewed interests
in agriculture and cattle raisings as well as disintegration of larger
masserie.
Visitors would arrived the rural villages and
masserie for purposes of commerce: the butchers for live stock, the merchants
for agricultural and dairy products, the cart drivers who supplied what were
needed by the masseria and carried away crops and anything which required
transport. The masseria was the center of business and commerce during the day.
And from it derived the tradition and the culture.
The cart drivers, the butchers and the
merchants came with their Corsos too, guarding their goods and protecting both
his owner and their merchandise from highwaymen. At times the farmer as well as
the visitor stimulated the other party to prove the superiority of their dogs.
And arranged dogfights often followed as result. Of course there were also
dogfights organized for purposes of making money held in secret by unscrupulous
persons or criminals who used Corsos as aggressive and dangerous protection.
The Cane Corso of the farm was sometimes
called straw stack dog - “Cane da pagliaio”. The straw-stacks and the haystacks
were common in villages and in countryside. Such straw-stack or haystack was a
functional unit of the farm. The stack was used to store precious goods of the
farms, like grains, wheat, fodder, forage, and hay. In addition to storage for
goods and serving as shelter for farm animals including cats and dogs during
the winter, the straw was used in the production of chalk and bricks - a need
for bakers, snow-wipers and brick-makers. The farmers used straw ash or straw
ash and olive oil mixture to disinfect the wounds of their Corsi when the dogs
are injured.
Corso was used to guard the straw-stack or
haystack and the goods stored inside. The preferred straw-stack corso was of
straw-like coat colour, aggressive and strong.
The cultivation of cereals in the countryside
and the vast zones of pasture favoured the economics of raising cattle.
In the pasture, forests and the Mediterranean
bush, herds of semi-wild horses belonged to the masseria were raised. It
was the responsibility of the vigilant, untiring, tenacious and territorial
Corso to guard these horses against horse thieves. The cowboys preferred their
Corso dogs to be brindled or black, camouflaging them in the terrain, making it
easier for them to surprise the predators of ill intent.
Until the late 19th century, huge herds
of buffalo and Eastern European cattle were gazing along the swampy and
marshy areas along the Italian coast. These animals were well adapted to the
land and thus economically profitable to the masseria. Used by cowboys to watch
the herds, the Corso kept them away from trouble and protected them from cattle
thieves and any predators.
The dogs occasionally had to dominate the fury
of the bull or bring a straying calf back to the fold. Capable of facing
animals as terrible and as powerful as infuriated bulls, the Corso grabbed them
by the ear and immobilizing them. This solid grip due to a slightly undershot
jaw was a quality of the Corso to which the cowboys gave much importance. These
Corsi were firm, resolute, and dominant. They made it possible for the cowboys
to control the herds with only occasional inspections on horseback, taking
advantage of these occasions to feed the dogs.
In addition to guarding and leading semi-wild
cattle, the Cane Corso was used in breeding stations, stable or barn, working
as an auxiliary. In this case the masseria master placed no significance of the
Corso’s coat colour but preferred to choose talented youngsters who are adept
in learning from the adult dogs.
Sheep
farming, as an activity as ancient as man, was economically important in the
rural Southern Italy. Often the total sheep owned by only one owner may made up
of 10 to 15 thousand heads, divided into herds of 400 to 500 each. The owner,
his shepherds and helpers are well organized into a simple but clear hierarchy
forming a community of about 60 persons. The sheep in herds were seasonally
moved from the mountain fields of Abruzzo to the flat land of Puglia. During
the seven months from November to May, it was the shearing season, the season
of birth of lambs and kids and the season of cheese making and preparation of
the pastures. It was at this time the more expert and caring shepherds planned
the mating of their dogs, Cane Corsos included.
It should be noted that the shepherds developed
the mezzocorso, a cross breed between the Maremma-Abruzzese and the Corso
and the hunters developed the cross breeds of Corso and the tracking hounds,
the straviere, mezzoleviero and cross breed of Corso and the scent hound, the
mezzosangue.
From June of the year, the movement of sheep
began from pastures of the plains to mountain grazing fields of the peaks where
they would stay until October. Such migration, the trasumanza, was
carefully planned and prepared to the level of each herd and after studying the
divisions of taps and the stops along the way. Each herd came from own pasture
and followed different routes to predetermined destinations. These routes had
been traced, almost unchanged through the centuries, through the paths and
grassy land in Southern Italy.
The shepherds used the white Maremma-Abruzzese
sheepdogs as the flock-guardian since they are by temperament closer to the
sheep than the shepherds. The Corsi, closer to the shepherds, were used for
protection of the shepherds and movement control of the flock, intervened and
attacked at the command of the shepherds. They were used to thwart the assaults
of the wolves and the attacks of the bear along the way with the
Maremma-Abruzzese. Hunting parties were organized to prevent the return of the
bears. This party, on foot or horseback, had pack strong tenacious Corsi
sometimes joined by cross breeds of Corso and local tracking hound as well as
the Maremma-Abruzzese sheepdogs. The encounter of the dogs and the bear was
savage and cruel as the Corsi could survive only if they managed to immobilize
the bear and if the hunters were fast and expert enough to finish the bear off
with their pikes.
The shepherds preferred brindled or black
Corsi, to distinguish them from the Maremma-Abruzzese sheepdogs and the flock
during the movement of sheep and during the hunt.
The goats were usually raised in smaller
herds by the lesser breeders as a side activity carried on at the edge of the
village or the peasants’ houses. Goats live on fodder natural resources and that
grows spontaneously according to seasons. They usually graze in fields that are
difficult to access by sheep and cattle, with bushy vegetation that cannot be
tilled.
The goatherd is a special kind of shepherd. In
those times, both in the morning and in evening, the goats were brought into
the village by goatherds to deliver milk directly to homes. Goatherds announced
their arrivals by a typical ‘goatherd’s whistle’ or by twinkling the little
bells on their goats. The goats were directly milked for mothers waiting at
their doors.
The goatherd generally lived not very far from
the town or village area but did not own land. He usually had a few goats. He
might also take care of others people’s goats, sharing whatever produced by the
she-goat with the owner. With a rod and a hatchet in his hand, a goatherd went
everywhere to graze his goats, including wild fields, ravine and places where
grazing was forbidden. As a result, the goatherd often trespassed boundaries
and often lived in conflicts with the law.
The goats of the goatherd were not many in
numbers. He needed just a couple of Corsi. This is for helping him with the
stubborn ones who refused to be milked, for keeping the goats together during
grazing, for guarding the herd grazing at places inaccessible by the goatherd
against predator, and for defending the goatherd himself.
The goatherd preferred black or wheaten
coloured dogs, to which he entrusted his small herd and its modest pasture. He
preferred the Corsi to be aggressive and violent, ready to defend him and his
goats in any occasion. These Corsi were usually hard, distrustful, aggressive
and terrible when attacking an animal or person. The goatherd’s Corsi working
in pair, one would block the predator, attacking its neck and the other would attack
it on its side. They finally would killed and tore it up.
Swine
breeding played a significant role in the agricultural and pastoral activities.
Their meat has been an important food. Rustic swine were raised in wild and
semi-wild state in pasture and in woods outside the masseria. The swineherds
moved them from plains to peaks for 3 months when the chestnut offered ripe
nuts and the oak, acorns. They return with the swine from peaks to plains for
the pasture after the harvest. In summer time, the swine were taken to the
pasture in the evening when it was cooler, and during the day they were kept
under the shade of large oak trees near river or lakes.
Usually in the day the Corso stayed with the
herd of swine in the woods to protect them from wild animals and robbers. At
night, after being fed with a mixture of wheat and water, the Corso guard the
pigsty. During the movement of the swine up to the peaks and down to the
plains, besides herd control, the Cane Corso had to protect the herd from
intruders like a wild male boar attracted by the odour of a domestic sow,
attacked the boar and kill him.
The Corso was used to hunt the swine in the
wild state and then as guard dog for the domestic breeders. The swineherds used
their dogs to keep the wilder animals under control, as the swine were inclined
to run away into the woods or hide in the bush. In such case the Corso had to
flush out the pig and hold it by the ear or the snout until the herder’s
arrival. This was indeed a dangerous task. The male pig, known to weigh around
200 kg or 440 lbs and like wild boar had thick armour-like hide covered with
hard bristles, was aggressive and bad-tempered. And the sow after just giving
birth would attack anyone and any thing that came near to her and her family.
Pregnant sow was allowed to leave the herd as
the time came near and to find a quiet and tranquil spot in the woods to give
birth to piglets. In this case, the Corso had to seek out the sow, to hold her
by gripping her ear while the swineherd, following the oinks of the piglets,
found them and transferred them into his basket. The Corso would then release
the sow, ensure her followed after the swineherd who rode an ass with the
piglets in the two baskets attached to the saddle and return to the pen.
Family in the masseria would often bought a
piglet at the spring fair with the intention to bring him up and butcher him in
late autumn. Every morning this piglet was given to a swineherd accompanied by
a pair of Corsi who took the piglet to graze in the pasture outside the
masseria. As the swineherd passed from house to house, the herd grew in number,
until there were more than a hundred in his care. This old custom of the south
gave a taxing and delicate task to the Corso, keeping the youngsters together,
guiding them to the pasture and accompanying them back safely to the village
and to their owners.
Sometimes the swineherds would also use their
Corsi to fight against boars as a show for the people. Such fight would end
when the boar, bitten in the nose or the ear, was submitted and bound by the
swineherd.
In order to be used with the swine, the
swineherd preferred their Corsi to be determined and powerful, with solid,
precise and tightly closed grip which the swine-keepers called serrata.
The swineherds also preferred black Corsi as they were better sighted among the
whitish-pink swine.
aggressive and strong.
The butcher was an important person both in
villages and in town. During the week, the butcher slaughtered lambs, sheep,
goats and fowls, but before important celebrations he slaughtered bovines, the
bull especially. Every butcher had his own way of slaughtering animals, using
simple and effective techniques, but always helped by the butcher’s Cane
Corso.
As the butchers’ dogs, Corsi were used to drive
these semi-wild cattle from the cattle market to the slaughterhouse. The
butcher would tether the bull to the chain at the slaughterhouse with strong
rope. The Corso would openly dare it and the bull would answer bellowing, thus
attracting people’s attention. That was the butcher’s way of advertising his
job.
The butcher then clubbed the bull with a
hammer, hitting it at the center of the head between the horns. This required
the butcher to be very precise because, in case the bull was just hurt, it
could react violently. And thus the help of Corso became necessary. When the
bull was subdued after being clubbed, the butcher then stabbed it by a
particular knife, the “rapier”, obliquely between the occiput and the atlas.
This again required the butcher to be very experience and accurate because a
vertical stab could hit the occiput, thus provoking the bull with pain without
killing it. In this case the bull became very dangerous and the Cane Corso was
essential. In both cases, the Cane Corso would attack the bull biting his nose
to submit it. And when the bull was submitted, the butcher could give it the
deathblow.
Sometimes, the butcher would himself caused the
intervention of the Corso by letting the bull charging. At the command of his
master the Corso would intervene efficiently, blocked and held the bull. And
during feasts, it was common to see the Corso and the bull fighting, with the
dog overcoming the bovine.
During winter the butcher used to go to the
farms to slaughter pigs as a supplement of his income. The subject usually was
a huge boar, castrated at the end of summer and to be slaughtered in winter
after 5 to 6 months fattening. The subject could also be an old boar that was 3
to 4 years old and at the end of his productive “career”. In this case the Cane
Corso was a necessary assistance. He immobilized the boar and the butcher
stabbed it with a thin, pointed knife through its heart. This knife is the
so-called “pig-slaughtering knife”.
Frequently it happened that Corso of the
butcher, the cart-driver or the merchant visiting would fight against the
straw-stack Corso of the farm. And just as frequently a female straw-stack
Corso of the farm would mate with the Corso of the butcher, the cart-driver, or
the merchant, thus causing genetic exchange.
Clearly it was the masseria and its population
that had kept their Corsi, not only alive, but as an integral part of their
socio-economic activities, making the Cane Corso a part of the tradition
and culture in this Italian South. The Cane Corso was so connected to the
fortune and the vicissitudes of the masserie’s population that they share the
same prosperity and misery, the rise and the downfall of the masserie. They
were so intertwine in the daily life of the masserie that Cane Corsi were
frequently found in the legend, the folklore, the anecdotes and the favourite
stories of the rural Italian South.
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