24/08/2025
“Tibetan”
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Initial Genetic Similarities and Later Differences Between the Purebred Mastino Napoletano and the “Mongrel” Cane Corso “Breeds”
ℹ️ This short article examines the genetic composition of the “Mastino Napoletano” breed (we'll call it "southern Italian molosser landrace subtype 1"), looking into its origins, genomic characteristics, and the effects of modern-day breed standardization. It then contextualizes these findings through a thorough comparative analysis with the “Cane Corso” breed ("southern Italian molosser landrace subtype 2"), focusing particularly on the pivotal period from 1946 to 1956, when the Mastino underwent modern, artificial, cosmetic-oriented redevelopment and selective breeding for dog shows, shaping its current closed gene pool, versus the Corso’s own “restoration”—also artificially and cosmetically driven—occurred a couple of decades later, from the 1970s through the 1990s, which included deliberate crossbreeding with multiple external breeds and types.
Historical Context and Ancient Lineage
The southern Italian molosser landrace cane da presa’s lineage traces back to the Western Roman Molossus, a type that spread across the Mediterranean and continental Europe with the Romans before the Western Roman Empire’s fall in 476 AD. The Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantine Empire, persisted, maintaining Roman law, culture, and administration until Constantinople’s fall, marking the end of the last direct continuation of Roman imperial tradition after 1,123 years. Naturally, it also preserved Roman canine knowledge and culture. The Eastern Roman Empire had its own dogs, more or less related, which followed a distinct evolutionary path over time compared to those in the Mediterranean region and Western Europe.
Spanish Political and Military Dominance Over Large Parts of the Italian Peninsula: A Robust Exchange of Culture, Art, and People
Later, the cane da presa's lineage was influenced by the over 500-year direct Spanish political and military control over what is now known as Italy. This period spans the Aragonese Period (1282–1516), the Spanish Habsburg Rule (1516–1700), and the Bourbon Era (1700–1800). The movement of people—be they soldiers, aristocrats, merchants, or common folk—between Spain and Italy for over five centuries, included the movement of their animals, including dogs.
* Migration to Southern Italy: From the 13th century onward, with the Crown of Aragon's conquest of Sicily and later the Kingdom of Naples, there was a consistent flow of Aragonese and, later, Castilian Spanish administrators, merchants, and soldiers to these territories. This was a long-term presence, with viceroys and their courts, as well as a military presence, becoming a regular part of the social fabric. This migration was a top-down phenomenon, with a new ruling class establishing itself, and their presence directly influencing the demographics of cities like Naples, Palermo, and Messina. The Quartieri Spagnoli (Spanish Quarters) in Naples were originally built to house Spanish garrisons and are a physical testament to this historical demographic shift.
* Nobility and Land Ownership: Spanish nobles were granted lands in Italy, displacing some of the local aristocracy and consolidating Spanish control over the economy and social structure. This led to a new class of Hispano-Italian nobility.
* Limited Italian Migration to Spain: While there was significant Spanish settlement in Italy, the reverse flow was much smaller. Italian migration to Spain during this period was primarily limited to specific, high-skilled individuals:
* Artists and Humanists: During the Renaissance and Baroque periods, a number of Italian artists, architects, and scholars traveled to Spain to work under royal and aristocratic patronage. Their numbers were not large enough to cause a significant demographic change, but their cultural impact was immense.
* Merchants and Bankers: A few Italian merchant families, notably from Genoa and Florence, established themselves in Spanish cities, particularly in the south and along the coast, to facilitate trade between the two regions.
Spanish Military Tradition with Dogs
It is well-documented that Spanish military forces, particularly the conquistadors in the Americas, used dogs as part of their military strategy. While this is most famous in the New World, the use of large, powerful "war dogs" (perros de guerra) was a widespread practice in European armies. By the late Middle Ages, the Crown of Aragon—which marked the beginning of Spanish control in Italy, which controlled Sicily, Sardinia, and later Naples—already used large molossers and sighthounds in combat and for guarding garrisons. These dogs, often of the molosser type, were also highly valued for intimidation, protecting camps, and hunting. When Spanish troops deployed abroad, they brought their own mounts, weapons, and animals, both for practical and symbolic reasons.
Scenarios in Italy
While there’s no single famous “war dog” episode in Italy on the scale of the Spanish conquests in the Americas, Spanish forces did bring their dogs, including molossers and other large breeds, when they moved into and ruled parts of the Italian peninsula. Garrisons in Sicily, Naples, Sardinia, and Milan during the Habsburg period (1500s–1700) included guard dogs for security, just as Spanish fortresses in Iberia and the Americas did. Spanish nobles and officers stationed in Italy often hunted, and bringing their own dogs was part of elite culture. The movement of troops between Spain and Italy was constant, so animals (including dogs) were part of the logistical flow.
* Military and Guard Dogs: The Spanish' control over Italian territories was often maintained through military presence. The primary dog breeds used for these purposes were large mastiff types. These breeds were historically used for war, large game hunting, and guarding property and livestock. These powerful dogs were part of the military garrisons and the retinue of the Spanish viceroys and governors in Sardinia, Naples, Sicily, and Milan.
* Hunting Dogs: Hunting was a favorite pastime of the nobility and a practical activity for commoners. Spanish nobles and aristocrats who moved to Italy brought their hunting dogs with them. Sighthounds and general hunting breeds were highly valued. These dogs were bred for their speed and endurance and were used for coursing and hunting small game. The presence of these dogs introduced Spanish bloodlines to Italy's already rich variety of hunting dogs.
* Herding and Livestock Guardian Dogs: Many Spanish soldiers, administrators, and settlers who moved to Italy were from a pastoral or agricultural background. They relied on their working dogs for managing livestock. Breeds like the Spanish Mastiff were used for centuries to protect flocks from wolves and other predators. While Italy had its own mastiff types (such as the cane da presa), Spanish Mastiffs would have been brought over to work on the large estates owned by Spanish nobles in southern Italy.
In short, the movement of people—be they soldiers, aristocrats, merchants, or common folk—between Spain and Italy for over five centuries naturally included the movement of their animals, including dogs. These dogs have been prized for their specific purposes, from guarding and hunting to companionship, and their presence has influenced the local canine population and culture.
Shared Ancestry & Functional Roles
* Ancient roots: Both the Spanish molosser types and the southern Italian cane da presa descend from large molosser-type dogs used by Romans for war, guarding, hunting, and livestock protection.
* Medieval divergence: After Rome’s fall, these dogs evolved locally. In Spain, molossers became famous as livestock guardians on the Mesta sheep routes and another strain as fighting and catch dogs. In Italy, they guarded estates, worked with butchers, served as war dogs for city-states, and were used for fighting.
* Functional overlap: Both traditions prized relative size, strength, and a calm but highly reactive and protective temperament when needed—traits that made them ideal for military garrisons and noble households.
* Pathways of Influence (1282–1700): Aragonese and Habsburg rule in Sicily, Naples, Sardinia, and Milan meant Spanish soldiers, nobles, and administrators lived in Italy for generations. Dogs were part of military and noble retinues for guarding, hunting, and status.
* Breeding opportunities: In southern Italy, imported Spanish molosser types were crossed with the local molossers, subtly influencing size, head shape, and guarding instincts in the cane da presa.
Cultural & Breed Influence
The southern Italian molosser landrace, cane da presa, shares functional similarities with the Spanish molosser-type tradition. While this landrace predates Spanish rule, centuries of contact have influenced breeding lines.
Rather than replacing local breeds, Spanish molosser types blended into the existing genetic pool of the southern Italian Cane da Presa during the centuries of Spanish control. The result was a subtle reinforcement of certain traits—size, guarding instinct, and calm temperament—that still defined the cane da presa in recent history.
Cultural & Linguistic Echoes
Some Spanish terms for dogs and hunting entered southern Italian dialects during this period, reinforcing the cultural presence of Spanish canine practices. Southern Italian dialects absorbed Spanish hunting and dog-handling terms during Spanish rule, reinforcing the cultural presence of Iberian canine traditions. In some rural areas of Sicily and Calabria, oral histories still recall “cani spagnoli” (Spanish dogs) as particularly prized guardians.
In short: While bloody war-dog stories of the New World aren’t documented in Italy, Spanish soldiers and administrators brought their dogs—for guarding, hunting, and status—during their centuries of presence on the peninsula. The exchange has left subtle marks on local dog genetics, culture and vocabulary.
Mastino and Corso: One Breed, One Genetic Legacy
The Mastino and the Corso share the exact same genetic pool at their modern base of reconstruction and redevelopment, as they were once the same dog.
Before World War II, Italian molosser-type dogs existed as a diverse landrace, from dogs and the influence discussed earlier, predominantly in Southern Italy, varying regionally but consistently grouped and identified under terms like “cane da presa” (literally “catch dog”) in the broader South, and other pronunciations and names in regional dialects based on this same denomination—i.e., in Campania (Neapolitan, specifically): O’ can e’ pres; in Calabria: U Bucciriscu/Bucciriscu Calabrese; in Sicily: Branchiero; in Apulia: Dogo de Puglia; and in the 18th–19th c., during the Bourbon Kingdom of Naples era: Mastino Corso (in Campania/Apulia), Cane Corso (common in mainland South), Cane da Presa (generall term in this period), Cane da Presa Meridionale (notably in Apulia and Basilicata in the mid-20th c.), among others. These were merely regional expressions for the same dog, depending on place and era—not distinct breeds—reflecting local dialects and occupational slang, with no significant differences among them.
Linguistic note: “O’ can e’ pres” is written in Southern Italian dialect Neapolitan (Napoletano) and closely related Campanian varieties.
• O’ = “il” (the) in standard Italian, but in Neapolitan it’s the masculine singular definite article.
• can = “cane” (dog) in Italian, but in Neapolitan the final vowel is often dropped.
• e’ = “di” (of) in Italian, but in Neapolitan/Campanian dialects “’e” or “’e” with an apostrophe is the contracted form of “di” or “del/dei” depending on context.
• pres = short for “presa” (catch/grip), again with the final vowel dropped—a common phonetic feature in Neapolitan and other Southern dialects.
So, “O’ can e’ pres” literally means “the catch dog”—the same as cane da presa in standard Italian—but expressed in the local speech of Naples and surrounding areas.
• Sicily’s Branchiero was essentially the island’s version of the Cane Corso—a butcher’s guard and cattle dog.
• In Calabria, the Bucciriscu name tied the dog directly to the butcher’s trade, where it would hold livestock for slaughter.
• In Puglia, the dogs were faster and more often used for hunting large game before becoming more focused on guarding and droving.
All these names weren’t rigid breed labels—they were more like occupational nicknames. A “Cane Corso” in one village might be called a “Bucciriscu” just a few valleys over, or even in an adjacent valley, despite being the same dog.
The Modern Re-foundation Era: A Shared Genetic Bottleneck
Following World War II, the rural molosser type population of southern Italy had fragmented into localized guardian and catch dogs with substantial phenotypic overlap. Both the Mastino and the Corso underwent a modern, artificial, cosmetic dog-show-driven reconstruction, drawing from this same residual Italian molosser population.
At this point of standardized re-creation, genome-wide similarity between the Mastino and Corso was high, with divergence largely limited to loci under direct phenotypic selection. Both dogs experienced a severe genetic bottleneck, reducing their effective population size and concentrating existing allele frequencies from their common ancestral stock.
The organized re-foundation of the Mastino began with Piero Scanziani’s selection at the 1946 Naples exhibition and subsequent breed standardization in 1949. The Mastino was deliberately standardized for extreme bulk, excessive skin and wrinkles, and an overall so-called imposing appearance.
Meanwhile, the Corso was initially selected for agility, athleticism, and a more moderate conformation to serve theoretically as a multi-purpose working dog.
Divergence Through Deliberate Genetic Infusion
While the Mastino’s gene pool remained closed (purebred) after its initial standardization, the Corso’s restoration was highly fluid. The first Cane Corso breed club initiated vigorous programs in the 1970s, drawing on the remaining rustic dogs and slowly introducing selective outcrossing to re-establish viable pedigrees and genetic diversity.
In the 1980–1990 period, the Corso underwent extreme targeted introgression from multiple Italian and non-Italian breeds and types. Documented and widely reported inputs included Boxers, Rottweilers, Deutsche Dogges, Bullmastiffs, Dogues de Bordeaux, Beaucerons, Boerboels, Presa Canarios, Dogos Argentinos, APBTs—even German Shepherds, Labradors, and Huskies, among others. Of course, the most easily available crossbreeding performed, preferred by many, was always the breeding back to the purebred Mastino, standardized just a couple of decades earlier, which was still, from a genetic standpoint, essentially the exact same dog up until that point in time, even though it had been taken it a different path.
The objectives of these deliberate crossbreedings were to increase genetic diversity, restore population numbers, alter the traditional type, reinforce and expand “rare” coat colors, and enhance overall market appeal.
Formentino Color Reinforcing in the Cane Corso: For example, the Formentino color—a dilute fawn (ASIP Ay + MLPH dd + MC1R EM)—was reinforced through deliberate crossbreedings with non-mastiff breeds and types and selected exclusively for “rarity” and market appeal.
Spread of the Tan-Point Allele in the Cane Corso: The at allele at the Agouti locus, which produces black-and-tan markings and is absent in the pure Mastino, is present in modern Corso populations and is consistent with infusion from Rottweilers, Beaucerons, and other dogs.
Modern Genetic Signatures and Health Implications
Genomic studies suggest that while the Mastino and Corso share key ancestral markers and cluster closely among European Molossers, they are genetically distinct from Asian mastiff types and Mediterranean flock guardians, despite superficial morphological similarities. Large size and mastiff-type traits arose independently in several geographic clusters—a case of convergent evolution under similar selection pressures.
The Mastino presents a remarkable case study in the interplay between ancient pedigree, breed standardization, and the perilous narrowing of genetic diversity. The standardization and tight selection that shaped the modern Mastino have restricted its nuclear genetic diversity. Pedigree analyses and population genomics suggest an elevated inbreeding coefficient, heightened by the small size of the breed’s founding population and subsequent selection for extreme morphological traits. This has left the breed particularly at risk for serious health issues and an extremely short life expectancy, having no real-life utility, with some bloodlines or specimens being so extreme that they cannot even move properly without difficulty.
Conversely, the Corso, reconstituted via wider genetic crossbreeding networks and a theory of practical utility on paper, has seen a more moderate impact from "show type" exaggeration due to the persistent influence of working- and utility-bred lines. While it shares many of the same health predispositions as the Mastino due to their common bottleneck, it also presents some rare breed-specific ailments like DSRA.
The Removal of the White Coat
The modern standard for both of these dogs and their transformation from rustic cani da presa to show breeds were inspired by the wave and trend that swept through and forever changed the dog world—beginning with the first dog exhibitions held in the mid-19th century. These exhibitions, once seen as harmless competitions, proved catastrophic for working dogs and dogs in general. And the Mastino and Corso were no exception to this.
Naturally, in these official, artificial, modern-day breed standards—drafted for cosmetics rather than utility—there are no white coats permitted, among many other key removals. This was a product of the so-called “evolution” towards the beauty-pageant-type dog show wave and trend mentioned prior, involving modern breeding and selection practices aimed at essentially eradicating the colour white—just as happened with nearly all European molosser when dog shows came along. Historically, all European mastiff and bulldog types (Molossers), without exception, carried white in their gene pools, and the distinctive and restrictive color and markings allowance in both of these dogs, too, is a trait introduced by these altered, modern, mostly dog-show practices of English influence, along with strict preferences for specific coat types, weights, measurements, and other cosmetic features.
And because the selection criteria in both dogs were always and still are exclusively cosmetically driven, without any official working trial in either of their respective parent breed clubs or other FCI kennel clubs, their practical utility has rapidly disappeared over time.
Italians Don't Care
The biggest proponents of both of these dogs in Italy were always, and still are, fine with the stripped-away colors, patterns, and traits deeply rooted in recent history and tradition from just a few years ago, while hypocritically talking about Italian history and canine tradition through a dog—the cane da presa—emptied of this same history and tradition via its derivative modern-day show types, the Mastino and the Corso.
Once the landrace cane da presa lost its real-world purpose, the stage was set for a fundamental mistake: turning a rustic, utilitarian dog into a pageant competitor via these two artificially created breeds. The resulting standards of the two reflect neither the true evolution nor the heritage of the cane da presa. Its genetics, in pure form—very hard to come across today—still carry echoes of late 19th- and early 20th-century Southern Italian working stock, traits largely ignored by today’s selection criteria. All of this forces the two “breeds”’ identity into the narrow confines of cosmetic preference, erasing a vital part of their history and Southern Italian tradition.
The cane da presa’s legacy will not endure. The conversation that could shift back to what truly matters—intelligence, health, soundness, confidence, working ability, and an honest respect for both of these dogs’ origins, dogs that should be one—has never taken place and never will.
If dogs like the modern Corso showcased in this video seem to portray a small sample of correct temperament under particular circumstances, such dogs are exceptions to the rule—exceptions that can occasionally occur, even in show dogs, due to the recent or not-so-recent crossbreedings discussed earlier in this article.
Closing Thoughts
All of the above is to say this: just like the Central Asian Shepherd, Belgian Shepherd, Collie, and other breeds, these two dogs should have remained subtypes or varieties within the same landrace breed—the cane da presa, found in southern Italy, an important canine legacy left to us by our ancestors, the Romans.
