Sanfratellano

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The Sanfratellano or Razza di San Fratello is an Italian breed of riding horse. It originates in the comune of San Fratello, in the Nebrodi Mountains in the province of Messina in north-eastern Sicily. It is one of three Sicilian breeds, the others being the Purosangue Orientale and the Siciliano Indigeno. The history of Sicily over the three millennia preceding the Unification of Italy in 1861 is one of repeated conquest and strife, with many different peoples and powers achieving total or partial dominance over the island for a time. These have included the Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Muslim North Africans, Lombards, Normans, Swabians, Angevins, Catalan-Aragonese, Spanish and Bourbons. It is likely that many of these invaders brought horses with them – from the Middle East, from North Africa, from the Iberian Peninsula and from Northern Europe. The Muslims who were present in the island from 827 to 1091 brought very large numbers of horses of Oriental type, while the Lombards brought heavy war-horses and the Spanish brought Iberian stock. The Sanfratellano is named for, and is believed to have originated in, the comune of San Fratello, in the Nebrodi Mountains in the province of Messina in north-eastern Sicily. The town is believed to have been founded by the Lombards in the eleventh century; a Gallo-Italic dialect with Lombard influences is still spoken there. The modern history of the Sanfratellano began in 1864 with the establishment of a Deposito Stalloni or military stud at Catania; this later became an Istituto di Incremento Ippico or horse-breeding institute.