A brief history of the breeding of the camel (Camelus dromedarius) in

Italy

Dr Maurizio Dioli camel4ever@fastemail.us

3rd Camel Conference at SOAS 9-10th May 2015

detail of the facade of the temple of Allat-Nemesis, Hatra, Iraq © O SPOT

Camel and procession of veiled women at Temple of Baal. Palmyra, Syria.

© Dioli. Sudan

© British Museum, UK

© Polish Mission to Palmyra

© Museo Capitolino, Rome

© Dioli, Sudan

© Bani Walid Museum, Libya © Albarouni Museum, Libya

from: Brogan, O., 1954. The Camel in Roman Tripolitania. Papers of the British School at Rome, Vol. 22, pp. 126-131

© Dioli. Yemen

Palazzo Mastelli o del cammello, (Venezia, Italy)

Coat of arms of several Italian Municipalities (Comuni): from top left clockwise: Sant’Elena Sannita (previously named Cameli, Molise), Camigliano (Campania), Pietracamela (Abruzzo), Camigliano (Toscana). Bottom right the 1717 coat of arm of the “contrada” of the “giraffa” in Siena (Toscana)

Coat of arms of several aristocratic Italian families: from top left clockwise : Borromeo (Milano), Gobio (Mantova), Del Gobbo (Piacenza), Comelli (Bologna), Boca (Torino), Bicchierai (Firenze)

© Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek, Austria

© Bibliotheque Nationale de France © Biblioteca Casanatense, Rome, Italy

© Raccolte Museali Fratelli Alinari (RMFA), Firenze, Italy

© Ufficio Promozione, Park Migliarino-San Rossore-Massaciuccoli, Pisa, Italy

Postcard from Pisa (Italy) about 1920

© Ufficio Promozione, Park Migliarino-San Rossore-Massaciuccoli, Pisa, Italy

© Ufficio Promozione, Park Migliarino-San Rossore-Massaciuccoli, Pisa, Italy

© Ufficio Promozione, Park Migliarino-San Rossore-Massaciuccoli, Pisa, Italy

© The illustrated London News, 9 November 1861

© Raccolte Museali Fratelli Alinari (RMFA), Firenze, Italy

© Antonio Fascetti

newspaper: La Voce del Serchio, 07-08-2014

newspaper: La Voce del Serchio, 05-10-2014

newspaper: La Voce del Serchio, 05-10-2014

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A brief history of the breeding of the camel (Camelus dromedarius) in Italy

Maurizio Dioli, DVM,MSc,DVetMed,MRCVS e-mail: camel4ever@fastemail.us

To write about the history of camel breeding in Italy is a bit unusual. To the majority of people the dromedary (Camelus dromedarius) or one-hump camel or more simply camel is not at all an Italian livestock species but a livestock species typical of exotic surroundings among nomadic pastoralists living in arid wide open areas and treeless sandy deserts. The reason of this assumption is probably due to the perceived camel habitat and presumed place of origin of the domesticated camel: the arid areas of Arabian peninsula and to the camel frequent utilization by the various ethnic groups of these areas. Indeed at the origin of the history of the camel as a domestic animal, around 1500-1000 BC, his role was essentially that one of a “ship of the desert” or of a “commercial” pack animal used to transport trade goods across long distances from several areas in the Arabian peninsula and middle east (Bulliet 1975). Such was the importance of the camel that in some case, like shown in the Hatra bas-reliefs (Figure 2), the camel was playing a central role in the local religious cult (Campbel 2008, Wathig Al Salihi 1998) and also appear to be used in ritual procession ceremonies as a bas-relief in Palmyra (Syria) indicate (Figure 3) The use of camels was progressively expanded to include other human activities such as military operations as shown by the Assyrian bass-reliefs of Niniveh palace, in present day Iraq, and in a roman era bass-relief from Palmyra (Syria) of 193 AD showing a soldier, possibly a member of the camel cavalry unit known as “ala I Ulpia dromedariorum milliaria” (Southern 2007) (Figures 4, 5). Under the Roman pragmatic approach the use of camels progressed to include also farming activities such ploughing as illustrated by various archeological finding in northern Libya of 200-300 AD (Brogan 1954, Coro’ 1929) (Figures 6, 7). The Romans appreciation of the qualities of the camel ensured that there was an increased use of the camel in other part of their territories particularly Europe. This has been confirmed by camel osteological remains found all over Europe from modern day England to the west to Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia, Serbia, Hungary to the east (Pigière & Henrotay 2012, Bartosiewicz & Dirjec 2001, Vukovic & Bogdanovic 2013, Vuković-Bogdanović & Blažić 2014, Bartosiewicz 1996, De Grossi Mazzorin 2010, De Grossi Mazzorin 2006, Morales-Muniz et al 1995, Moreno-Garcia et al 2007). The abundance of camel images in sculptures, coat of arm of various Italian municipalities and of various Italian aristocratic Italian families suggest that the camel was a well known animal in medieval Italy (Figures 8, 9, 10). In fact camels were such a well established presence in Italy and Europe at large that in XIV-XV century camels were butchered for meat together with cattle as shown by the illuminated manuscript: Tacuinum Sanitatis (Table of Health) a book commissioned by Giangaleazzo Visconti, the Count of Milano in northern Italy and based on the book: “Taqwim al-Sihha” "Maintenance of Health" written by an eleventh century Christian physician born in Baghdad named Ibn Butlan. The book advise on a healthy diet and illustrate various food items mainly fruits, vegetable, herbs (Janick et al

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2010) but also animal products and in this regards shows the butchering of various livestock species including the camel (Figure 11, 12). All the images of camels shown in the Tacuinum Sanitatis are of juvenile camels and this logically leads to the assumption that the camel must have been actively bred in Italy and Europe in general. Proof of camel breeding in Italy is difficult to obtain through osteological remains. However, starting from XVII century onwards it is possible to find various Italian literary sources mentioning the existence of a breeding herd of camels in a specific locality in northern Italy. Various documents mentioned that in 1622 a herd of breeding camels was established in Tuscany near the town of Pisa, close to the village of San Rossore in what is presently known as the Parco Naturale di Migliarino, San Rossore, Massaciuccoli. The herd originated in 1622 when several animals were given from the Bey (monarch) of Tunis as a gift to Ferdinando II de Medici (Santi 1811, Cocchi 1858, Lombardini 1879). In 1667 four more animals were obtained from the Bey of Tripoli, Libya, 10 more in 1697 and 14 more in 1738-39 and 8 in 1759 again from the Bey of Tunis, Tunisia (Fascetti 1991, Gråberg De Hemso 1841). An additional unknown number of camels were also obtained in 1683 as a “spoils of war” (Manetti 1915, Droandi 1936) after the victory of the Holy Roman Empire army coalition, over the army of Ottoman Empire at the battle of Vienna in which it has been recorded that in the aftermath of that battle the loot left by the defeated Ottoman Army was enormous and included “10.000 camels” (Schimmer 1847). The introduction of camels obtained from the spoils of Vienna battle is indirectly confirmed by a letter of 1692 of an official of Cosimo III de’ Medici , Grand Duke of Tuscany, concerning the work placement and duties with the “cammelli” of three “Schiavi Turchi” (Turkish slaves in Italian) (Lombardini 1879, Simoni 1910) presumably Ottoman captives from Vienna battle. The San Rossore camel herd was successfully managed as other large common livestock species. From November to April the entire herd was stabled then at the beginning of May adult males 4-5 years old were utilized as pack animals to carry wood, stone or sand while females with calves were left free to graze in the woods or surrounding pastures (Gråberg De Hemso 1841) (Figures 13, 14, 15). However, because of their docility and strength San Rossore camels were also in numerous occasions used to carry people (Figures 16, 17, 18). The exceptional load bearing capability of the San Rossore camels has been carefully recorded: for males 4-5 years old 500 kg at 5 km x hour (Santi 1811, Cocchi 1858,) or between 550 and 630 kg at 3km x hours (Gråberg De Hemso 1841). It is important to note that the camels of San Rossore where seen not as an exotic circus curiosity but as another Italian livestock species and therefore shown at various national agricultural exhibitions and in some cases obtaining prizes: as demonstrated by the photograph of a male camel exhibited in the “Exposizione Agraria Toscana” of 1857 (Semplicini 1857). (Figures 19, 20) and be the subjects of various veterinary studies and monographs by Italian researchers. (Savi 1824, Savi 1828, Richiardi 1881, Richiardi 1887, Savi 1843, Lombardini 1879, Droandi 1936, Droandi 1932). The total recorded number of the Italian camel herd fluctuated regularly influenced periodically by inclement winter weather and diseases but reached the total number of 196 animals in 1789 (Porte 1815, Santi 1811, Gråberg De Hemso 1841). In the following years the herd continued to breed however, slowly diminishing in number because of sales (or official donations), diseases, diminished allocated grazing areas and the progressive enforcement of modern breeding strategies requiring the disposal of weak or unsound

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animals. The chronology of the herd total number is as follows: 170 animals in 1810 (Santi 1811), 118 in 1814 (Droandi 1936), 178 in 1838 (Cocchi 1858), 171 in 1841 (Gråberg De Hemso 1841), 122 in 1858 (Cocchi 1858), 120 in 1878 (Droandi 1936, Lombardini 1879), 110 in 1910 (Simoni 1910), 92 in 1912 (Droandi 1932, Droandi 1936), about 60 in 1935 (Droandi 1936) that presumably included 4 male animals imported from north Africa in 1930s (Fascetti 1991), and 68 in 1942 (Fascetti 1991). The end of the San Rossore camel herd happened rather suddenly during the last part of II World War in 1944 when the remaining animals were slaughtered for meat. In 1956 a tentative was made to reintroduce camels in San Rossore with a male and a female imported from Lybia (Figure 21) however, although they reproduced successfully their number was not strengthened by other introductions and the last of their progeny died in 1976 (Fascetti 1991, 2014). Another tentative has been done very recently with the introduction of 2 males and 1 female (Anonymous 2014) but without further reintroduction of female animals is doubtful that the recreation of a self sustaining camel breeding herd will be successful (Figures 22, 23, 24).

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