Neapolitan Mastiff Dello Stradone Vesuviano

English Translation by Il Colosseo member Johan

The Stradone Vesuviano Neapolitan Mastiff Kennels were founded by Vincenzo Manna and myself, Giovanni Matrone, two people brought together by one common passion: dog breeding. It all started during the late 1980s. I was not yet married at the time and the limited space at my parents’ house was not even sufficient for rearing one dog. Led by my interest in dog breeding, I would attend exhibitions and visit kennels and other places where I could see and admire dogs, until I came to know of

, who lived in Via Stradone (now Via Filippo Turati, and from where our kennels took their name), in the nearby town of Poggiomarino.

Vincenzo kept large dogs and was fond of canines that had a particular character. He was the proud owner of Indio Del Kubut, the first Argentine Dogo to be brought to Italy, which he purchased from a certain Citterio. I paid him a visit to have a look at his dogs, although he did not keep any Mastiffs at the time. My visits to Vincenzo’s house became more frequent, and we eventually started visiting dog shows and exhibitions together. Of the two of us, Vincenzo was the first to show interest in Mastiffs. I remember him telling me that he had once seen a white Mastiff, and that he had mated an Argentine Dogo (Stella) with a Mastiff. The resulting litter consisted of two particularly beautiful dogs endowed with a solid build and stupendous energy; suffice it to say that the male, named King, could reach 90 kilograms when in top form.

A request from a friend, originally from Vincevo but residing in Turin, was the turning point in our forming a decided interest in the Neapolitan Mastiff. Knowing that Mastiff pups were easily obtainable in our areas, he asked Vincenzo to provide him with a Mastiff bitch. Having heard of a large litter bred by one Balsio Raffaele, who lived close to Poggiomarino, Vincenzo made his way to the breeder’s house to negotiate the purchase of the puppy on his friend’s behalf. The puppies were born to a beautiful Mastiff bitch and a stud of Masaniello di Acerra’s lineage. Seeing that the owner was willing to sell a second pup at a very good price, Vincenzo eventually left the house with two dogs.

My partner sent Pacchiana, a lovely bitch also known as Furia, to his friend in Turin, and kept crooked-tailed Jessi at his house. Seven months had barely passed when Furia (then 9-10 months old) was returned to Vincenzo, his friend in Turin being unable to keep her any longer. Having heard of her return, Balsio, who had bred and sold her, asked if he could visit. He knew that Furia’s sisters, that were still being kept in areas close to ours, were exceptional specimens, and he was now curious to see her. After seeing the dog at Vincenzo’s house, Balsio passed no praising remarks in the hope of purchasing her at a low price. Vincenzo declined all offers, and Balsio eventually offered a substantial sum to my partner. His curiosity aroused by the substantial monetary offer, Vincenzo decided to consult an old Mastiff breeder in the hope of finding out Furia’s real worth.

Zi Mimì o re de cane (Uncle Domenico, the king of dogs), who lived in Casamarciano, told him that the dog was beautiful and that he should keep her hidden under a bed to avoid her being stolen. So it came to be that this episode concerning Furia, whose pedigree name was Pacchiana, inspired Vincenzo to start attending his first Mastiff shows and exhibitions. While on our way to one of these events, my friend proposed we start an organisation together, offering his house as a place to set it up in.

During one of his trips in search of Neapolitan Mastiffs, Vincenzo got hold of a young, black bitch named Birba, that would eventually bear our first champion: Gennarino Dello Stradone Vesuviano. Even today, our two main bloodlines are those of Birba and Pacchiana also known as Furia. As I have already hinted, Birba gave birth to Gennarino. On the other hand, the mating between Furia and another one of Birba’s offspring named Eros produced Lion, a Mastiff truly impressive to behold due to the proportion of his body diameters and his skeletal frame. Lion was later exported to Mexico. We travelled all over Italy and went abroad on several occasions with Gennarino. Our enthusiasm was alight and further helped make up for the sacrifices that we had already contentedly made.

All those trips devoid of rest and proper food finally paid off when our first champion established himself: people started hearing and talking about us, and although the sale of a few puppies meant that our efforts were even being rewarded financially, our greatest satisfaction came from our being able to say that we too were capable of producing real Mastiffs. We both agreed upon a code of ethics, whose cardinal point was and still is honesty, to be used both between us and with our clients. The observance of these rules has brought us to where we stand today. The dogs sold were and still are our most beautiful specimens, those that give us the best publicity. This policy of ours has in fact made us the proud sellers of puppies and adult dogs that later became champions in their respective countries, thus giving us more prestige and helping to increase purchase requests for other purebreds. Our honest approach has sometimes led us to replace pups that had already been sold, due to some unfortunate defect that the animals displayed as they grew older.

We have also been let down many times due to our good nature: a few clients never paid us the money we were owed, some we thought of as good friends used the excuse of friendship to rob us of puppies, while others that pretended to be brothers of ours appropriated themselves of the fruits of long years of labour by using our breed bloodlines. These people might think that they have reached the high standard they were after, but they are not aware of the fact that dog breeding is an art like music and painting: possessing all the colours and tools needed to create a painting does not turn one into a new Michelangelo.

Our first champion, Gennarino, was succeeded by the female champion

, who won the title of Italian and World Champion in Portugal. This bitch of remarkable dimensions would later give birth to ch Marco Dello Stradone. Marco was the male counterpart of Annarella. This dog’s body diameters were truly astounding: he was over 70 centimetres tall at the withers and reached the weight of 100 kilograms. The peak of success was reached with Leone Dello Stradone Vesuviano. Leone’s litter was fabulous, and we were at pains trying to pick the best of the brood. Leone placed first at the Trofeo Caielli Italian Breeds Show and was an unrivalled champ wherever we took him, except where we lost due to some corrupt judge’s unfair vote. Leone also reproduced like a champion, in the sense that he had the right phenotype and genotype schemes that were to generate several future champions. One of these was Marco, later succeeded by Bruno, Vulcano and Giusta. Leone also fathered Rudy, which in my opinion was one of the most beautiful specimens ever to live. At 17 months of age, Rudy could still compete in the Junior Class and had already been through the Italian Championships. Also worthy of mention are Quintilliana, who was awarded the title of World Champion in Amsterdam, and her sibling Pupetta (sold young to an Argentinian buyer), who won the Milan World Championships in the Puppy Class and placed above all the other juniors from different breeds.

This is just a summary of the history of our kennels up till now. We made many sacrifices, as we still do today, and our ongoing success has made numerous breeders quite envious of our achievements. We are however determined to carry on with our efforts in the sincere hope of bettering the breed through our work.

Giovanni Matrone & Vincenzo Manna