Influences on the Mastino Napoletano Neapolitan Mastiff - Part 1

When asked about the background and history of the Mastino Napoletano, the common response is that it can be traced back more than 3,000 years in time. It is an ancient breed we way, steeped in tradition and many a romantic folklore tale has been written containing battles with the Gladiators in the arenas of Rome. There is indeed much evidence within the walls of various Museums of the world to support the fact that a large canine exisited all those years ago, that was longer than he was tall, of feline gait, yet heavy boned and bodied with a dewlap formed under his chin.



 Ancient artefacts, paintings, bas reliefs adorning buildings and public monuments in the cities of Italy bear testimony that this canine was an important figure in this part of the world, but was he anything like what we associate today as the Mastino Napoletano?





We do know as a fact that following the second World War, numbers of Mastini in Italy became seriously depleted and that author Piero Scanziani made it his personal mission to resurrect the breed and protect it for the future. Scanziani was son a journalist, born in 1908 and spent his childhood in Lausanne, Switzerland, Lake Como and Milan. He studied the classics at University and completed his degree in 1928, going on to emulate his father and become a journalist, but also between 1941 and 1980, he published more than twenty literary works and was nominated twice for the Nobel Prize. He became an expert on all breeds of dog, studied animal psychology and produced a popular dog magazine of the time 'Cane'.

In 1946, the plight of the Mastino Napoletano came to his attention and so began an extremely important time in its modern day history.    

Well known Italian Breed judge and long time Mastino fancier Marissa Chellini was a small girl in 1947. Her father was a shipping company owner, originally from the North of Italy but moved with his family back to the South following the end of the war to resume his business. The young Marissa, who had had a lifetimes fascination with dogs, lived in a Villa on the outskirts of the city and clearly recalls a groundsman called Gianni from the neighbouring Villa and his constant companion, a Mastino Napoletano male who was joined one day by a smaller female. They would pay regular visits house owners and small shops in the vicinity asking for any leftover food, which was in short supply at the time, so that the dogs could be fed. The names of this genial pair of Mastini were Guaglione and Pacchiana and it was not until many decades later that Marissa, on reading an article on Mastino history, realised that this pair from her childhood were the famous foundation Mastini belonging eventually to Scanziani!


Guaglione


Pacchiana

Marissa says ' I can clearly remember Gianni calling to the kitchen of my home and taking away old bread and scraps for his dogs. The male Guaglione was quite enormous, with height and length similar to the dogs of today. He had a very outgoing character and the children had no fear to pet him. The black female Pacchiana came later and she was a lot smaller in size and bones in particular, but she too was very friendly and it became a familiar sight in the neighbourhood, this man and the two strange canine companions at his side.'

There is no doubt that Scanziani is rightly attributed as the man who rescued the Mastino at this time in its recent history and without his timely intervention, highly probable that the breed would have died out completely. Scanziani was the person who planned and carried out its reconstruction in the late 1940s and 50s and it is no secret that this included a large injection of blood from other breeds, which accounted for the inconsistency in type of the eras following. It was noted by Dr Ruggero Soldati, a young veterinarian from Treviso in the North of Italy who had moved South and noticed the difference in appearance between dogs in Naples in particular when compared with the dogs in the North, although they shared the same genetic make up. This inspired him at the same time as Scanziani began his work, to make a statistical study which provided the necessary information to write the first breed standard.   

But the Mastino of that time was still a completely rustic animal. He lived on farms and large rural estates and he worked hard. Maybe Scanziani's breeding selections were based around function as much as or indeed even more than appearance to begin with, but we have through his writing, an insight into his vision for not only the Mastino, but all breeds. In 'Il Cane Utile' (The Useful dog) published in 1952, Scanziani writes:

“ Dog show’s primary fault is that it is based on a man’s judgments. The Judge in the Court makes mistakes, so can our judge on the ring. There are some incompetent judges, who are a plague for cynophily and that should be kicked out. What is more, there are some judges who have no manners at all, who ill-treat the new expositors because they present ‘average’ dogs. They should be expelled for unworthiness from the show, which are the places where zootechnics and sport’s cordiality meet …”.

The second fault of the shows is that the lovers are too much worried about beauty and peculiarity, forgetting the practical duty of a dog breed. On this subject, the English have reached degeneration making very beautiful Setters but unable to point, made stupid and just able to stand on a ring. I know some Boxer and Alsatians breeders as bewildered by the shows as to believe that their dogs live just to posture to a judge. This is very dangerous, we must defend our dog from this attitude as it has destroyed many breeds …”.



So, we can assume that although Scanziani made his Guaglione the first Mastino Napoletano Italian Champion  in 1949 after the breed was officially recognised by the ENCI, his aim was not simply to produce a beautiful dog for the show ring, but seriously consider his heritage. Scanzianis work, eventually produced seven Champions, including his first Champion under his own Allevamento, ' Villanova' in 1951



 and the obvious breed progression he achieved with Ch Ursus in 1954,

Ch Ursus

was vital for the breeds very survival and so, we can confirm that Piero Scanziani was our first major influence on what we know today as a Mastino Napoletano.