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Cirneco dell'Etna
Origin	Italy
Traits Height Males 46–50 cm (18–20 in) [1] Females 44–48 cm (17–19 in) [1] Weight Males 10–13 kg (22–29 lb) [1] Females 8–10 kg (18–22 lb) [1] Coat short on head, short to semi-long on body Colour light sand, isabella, light to dark tan
Kennel club standards Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana standard Fédération Cynologique Internationale standard
Dog ( domestic dog )

The Cirneco dell'Etna ^[a] (Sicilian: Cirnecu) is an Italian breed of hunting dog from the Mediterranean island of Sicily. It is named for the Etna volcano in eastern Sicily. It has a keen sense of smell, and is used to hunt small game, particularly rabbits. ^{[2] [3]} As with many working dogs, registration is conditional on successful completion of a working trial. ^[4]

Contents

• Name
• History
• Notes
• References

Name

The first word of the name, cirneco, derives from the Latin : cyrenaicus, related to Cyrenaica in North Africa, and in modern Italian is used for all the small hunting dogs of the Mediterranean islands, including Sicily, Malta and the Balearic Islands. The second part relates to the area of the Etna volcano in Sicily, where it originated. ^[2]

History

The Cirneco dell'Etna is an ancient breed, thought to descend from the Tesem of Ancient Egypt and introduced into the Mediterranean basin by the Phoenicians. Its presence in Sicily is attested by depictions of it on coins, incisions and mosaics dating from before Christ. ^{[2] [3] [5] [4] [6]}

Genetic studies of the relationship of the Cirneco to other breeds have yielded conflicting results: one confirmed the Kelb tal-Fenek of Malta and the Podenco Ibicenco of the Balearic Islands to have the least genetic distance from it, ^[7] but also linked it to the Pyrenean Mountain Dog; ^[8] another found evidence of gene flow from the Podenco Canario of the Canary Islands; ^[9] a genomic study in 2021 found it to be most closely related to the Kelb tal-Fenek, the Segugio Italiano a Pelo Forte and the Segugio Italiano a Pelo Raso. ^[10]

The earliest written description of the modern breed was by Maurizio Migneco, a veterinary surgeon from Adrano on the slopes of Etna, who published an account in 1897, in which he claimed that the breed was a direct descendent of the Sicilian wolf. ^[11] An account he wrote for Il Cacciatore Italiano in 1932 was seen by the Sicilian noblewoman Agata Paternó Castello, who bought some of the dogs and in 1934 started breeding them. ^[5] The breed was recognised by the Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana in 1939, based on a breed standard drawn up by Giuseppe Solaro of Turin. ^{[5] [12]} The Cirneco was definitively accepted by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale in 1956. ^[13] It is a rare breed; in the period from 2010 to 2018, new registrations in Italy were between about 100 and 150 per year. ^[4] Breed registration is conditional on successful completion of a working trial – in this case a specific field trial. ^{[4] [14]}

Notes

References

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