Cane Da Pastore Bergamasco – The Shepherd of the Alps
This ancient breed of sheepdog has worked in the Italian Alpine region for more than two thousand years, taking its name from the Bergamo Shepherds. Their distinguishing feature is the heavy coat which forms naturally into mats.
The matted coat gives insulation from the extremes of climate they have to endure in the Alpine pastures. The Bergamasco has not only an instinct for guiding and tending livestock, but also can be trained to drive and fetch flocks of sheep, cattle and goats.
The Bergamasco dogs were therefore ideally suited to the practice of transhumance introduced by the Bergamo shepherds and herdsmen, all the while being super alert to send wolves and bears packing!
Bergamascos are friendly, intelligent, loyal, loving, and obedient — with a dash of mountain-dog independence! They take to watching over loved ones with a serene vigilance.
Origins
The ancestors of the Bergamasco are thought to have originated in the harsh mountain climates of Persia (in the area that is now Iran) and the Himalayan Lowlands several thousand years ago, and these ancestors migrated with the nomadic herdsmen that moved from east to west in search of new pastures, settling along a line from the mountain regions of Anatolia, through the Caucasus, to the Carpathians, the Alps, the French Central Massif and finally, to the Pyrenees.
Along this route, there are now a variety of breeds stabilized and recognized, which many commentators believe, are direct descendants from these common ancestors and, as with the Bergamasco, they all have robust constitutions and thick, rough haired coats with more or less pronounced tendencies to felting on all parts of the body including the head, where the hair often forms a curtain in front of the eyes, for example, the Ovcharka, the Komondor and Puli, the Polish Lowland Sheepdog, the Little Pyreneen and the Catalonian Sheepdog.
Map (above) showing the nomadic trail from Iran to Bergamo
Once the migratory populations abandoned their nomad existence and settled down, the shepherding breeds of each region evolved their specific characteristics adapted by the climate conditions, the geographical locations, the influence of environmental factors, and the habits of the local populations with which they lived, to produce their own individual traits.
Several of these breeds have heavily corded, matted or flocked coats. The Bergamasco does not have a corded coat like a Hungarian Puli or Komondor; rather, their hair creates “flocks” or “maps” (or, in Italian – “boccoli”).
This distinctive coat and exceptional intelligence and temperament is the result of the long selective process carried out by the Bergamo shepherds to adapt the dog to suit its work purpose and environment.
The Alpine sheepdogs were described as “big dogs with long, woolly coats” and “the courageous assistants of the Bergamasco Shepherds”.
A Bergamasco’s working life was often as a permanent companion to a solitary shepherd, typically sent up steep mountain slopes to retrieve sheep, goats or cattle independently, in addition to guarding the flock by night. All of these elements translate into the behaviours we see in the modern-day Bergamasco.
The Middle Ages
The migrant shepherds from Persia, who finally settled in what is now the province of Bergamo in Lombardy, kept their flocks between the valleys and the mountain pastures of the Bergamasque Alps and Prealps, whilst seasonally driving their flocks between the slopes of the Southern Alps and the River Po basin, always being careful to protect the bloodlines of their working dogs to optimize their conformation, temperament, intelligence, and their guarding and herding instincts.
Italian sheep were later migrated in vast numbers to Switzerland (the first documentation referencing this trade is dated in the year AD 739!) and continued until 1886, when the Swiss government prohibited this movement. From the eastern Piedmont and Lombardy regions, the flocks of several thousand sheep (40,000 once documented!) crossed the Valtellina and the more accessible Alpine passes to reach the Grisons, where summer pasturelands were leased for them.
The Alpine passes were wild areas where bears and wolves lived, so initially large and ferocious guardian sheepdogs were essential for the protection of flocks and their shepherds. Later on, livestock farming, especially sheep in the Po Valley, had to cohabit with agriculture, and so the Alpine Sheepdogs, in addition to guarding and herding, were adapted to also lead the flock around the edge of cultivated fields, as well as navigating narrow trails and gorges, all the while having to be careful to avoid treacherous cliffs and precipices.
The Early Modern Era
We can find historical references to the breed dating as far back as the first half of the sixteenth century with the Alpine Sheepdog depicted in a painting by Lorenzo Lotto who lived in Bergamo for most of his life.
During this era, the breed evolved during which the dogs retained their guardian qualities, but also acquired a new behaviour pattern through which they learned to move the flock often having to use their own initiative. The Alpine Sheepdog’s size subsequently reduced, becoming friendlier with even greater intelligence.
The writings of G. von Albertini von Tamins from 1781, state that at the beginning of June, Italian shepherds drove their flocks up the Splugen Pass from Piedmont, describing their “excellent sheepdogs” bravely guarding their masters and the flocks against wolves and virtually replacing the shepherds in “managing the animals”.
Jakob Romer and Heinrich R. Schinz wrote in their book “Der Einheimischen Saugenthiere” of 1809 that the Alpine sheepdogs were “big dogs (with) long, woolly coats…the courageous assistants of the Bergamasco Shepherds…a group of sheep is allocated to each dog which guides them safely and securely to their destination (and)…in reply to shouts from the Bergamasco shepherds, the dogs ward off wild animals such as wolves and bears”.
The Alpine sheepdog was exhibited at the first Italian dog show in Milan in 1881 and the first registration of the breed in the Libro Origini Italiano (the Italian national stud-book), was in 1891. At this time (the end of the 19th century), the Bergamasco was still referred to as the “Alpine Sheepdog” or the “North Italian Sheepdog”.
In the Hoepli manual of 1897, entitled “The Dog”, author Angelo Vecchi wrote that, “The North Italian Sheepdog, in particular those that emanate from the Alpine regions, are docile, friendly and not aggressive unless their flocks are menaced. The shepherds teach them how to manage the sheep to prevent them from straying into fields (with crops) along the paths they follow on their long journeys and to keep them together on roads.”
This shepherding work was traditionally carried out by people from the Bergamasco Valleys, and due to their association with the dogs that always accompanied them, the name “Bergamasco,” a name often used to refer to the shepherds, also became the commonly used name for the dogs.
There are several – and some divided – thoughts on the actual breeds which the Bergamasco can trace direct lineage through, among them being the Briard, the German Shepherd Dog and the Bernese Mountain Dog. Evidence from DNA tests has emerged recently that suggests the Bergamasco is not closely linked to the Hungarian Komondor and Puli, nor the Berger Picard, as was originally thought.
The Bergamascan Shepherds, were widely known for their sheep tending skills and their dogs were the tools of their trade but they led insular and self-sufficient lives so that their dogs were not available to outsiders. This way of life continued until after the Second World War, when the region became industrialised and there was a large drop in the demand for wool and a sharp decline in the numbers of Bergamascan shepherds and their dogs.
Post war era
The industrialisation of the Po Valley, a decrease in the rural population, ever-increasing tourism, a decrease in the demand for local wool and subsequently, the alarming decrease in Bergamasco sheepdogs was recognised by a few individuals, who noted the loss of cultural heritage to the Italian and southern Swiss Alpine regions. They made it their life’s work to develop breeding programmes to save the Bergamasco breed from extinction. Several of those early kennels still exist today whilst others are gradually appearing around the world.
Mr. Isaia Bramani from Bergamo had the first recognized kennel named Brahama, in 1942. Mr. Pietro Rota from Milan established the Valle Imagna kennel in 1945, and in 1949, Baron Annibale Guidobono Cavalchini not only founded the Valle Scrivia kennel, but also became the first President of the very first Bergamasco breed club, S.A.B. (Societa Amatori del Cane da Pastore Bergamasco – in Milan), literally, the “Society of Bergamasco Sheepdog Lovers”.
Overtime, other Bergamasco enthusiasts set up Bergamasco kennels, notably Professor Achille Alipandi (founder of the Vernella Kennel in 1953), the architect Sandro Carnelli and Mrs. Carla Mariana, founders of the Lupercali Kennel in 1954, Mr. Mario Chignoli (founder of the Dell’Idro Kennel in 1959), Giuseppe Angela – founder of the Grigiastro Kennel in 1966, and Dr. Maria F. Andreoli who founded the Dell’Albera kennel, also in 1966.
Many of these kennels were based on the Valle Imagna bloodlines, of whom Alpino di Valle Imagna was the progenitor of our Bergamasco breed, tracing back to the early 1940s, when a Bergamascan shepherd happened upon Mr. Rota’s farm in the Bergamasco hills. The shepherd’s dam was about to deliver her puppies, and the shepherd requested permission to leave the bitch on the farm until she birthed the pups. She delivered two puppies, one of which Mr. Rota chose to keep; this was the puppy that grew up to become Alpino di Valle Imagna.
Alpino di Valle Imagna – a founder dog and important point of reference in the drafting of the first breed standard.
Marquis Paolo Cornaggia Medici, a long time Bergamasco enthusiast, had written a draft of the standard in 1950. The Bergamasco breed was subsequently recognised by the Ente Nazionale della Cinofilia Italiana (ENCI -the Kennel Club of Italy) in 1956, and was definitively accepted by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale (the FCI – the World Canine Organisation, Belgium) in the same year.
In Switzerland, the first Bergamasco Shepherd Dog had been registered in the Swiss Dog Studbook in 1948. Following on from the Alpino von Dimgod Kennel, the Arcobaleno and Montevergine Kennels were to become very important, the latter of which is based on old Italian bloodlines of working dogs.
Giulio Colombo wrote an article for ENCI in the 1960s about his experience accompanying two Bergamasco shepherd dogs who led and drove (one dog leading the way to find the safest route, the second dog cajoling reluctant beasts at the back) a herd of cattle down a mountain with treacherous hazards, describing the Bergamascos as having “much prodigy of intelligence and sense of duty.”
“From Her It All Began”: the “little grey marvel” (Maira : 1966-1978) that sparked Dr. Maria Andreoli’s lifelong passion for the Bergamasco breed.
From the early 1990s, other breeders started to appear around the world – notably in Germany, the Czech Republic, Finland, USA, Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK.
The Bergamasco’s origins in the UK
Currently, in the UK, the Bergamasco is classified by the Royal Kennel Club as an Imported Register Breed in the Pastoral Group. The first bitch, La Donna Grigia of Triskele and bred by Fiabrizio Nava was brought into the UK from Italy, in whelp, in 1989 by John & Lorraine Webb.
Reyna and David Knight brought in the first dog, Ammone Dell’Albera of Chique from Dr Maria Andreoli in Italy in 1990. In 1991, the first litter was whelped in the UK – 8 black pups to Donna and Ammon. On December 31, 1994, the second Bergamasco litter born in the UK (four grey puppies, sired by Int. Ch. Zecchino Dell’Albera out of Ubi Dell’Albera), were actually born in quarantine, bringing Britain’s total Bergamasco population at that time to 14, several of whom were entered into Championship Shows and Open Shows where Import Classes were offered, claiming many Best Puppy and Best Import awards.
Mr. D. & Mrs. R. Knight imported Bergamascos from Italy and Sweden in the 1990s and early 2000s and inaugurated the Bergamasco Club of GB which developed an interim standard, subsequently approved by the Kennel Club and which still applies today. Reyna Knight showed numerous Bergamascos for over 20 years and was delighted to own and have shown the first Bergamasco to take Best of Breed (Pastoral Import) at Crufts in 2014, with ‘Jude’ from her Chique litter born in 2007.
Reyna Knight’s ‘Jude’ – Chique Barolo, after winning Best of Breed (Imported Register Pastoral) at Crufts 2014
On the 22nd September 2012, Reyna Knight’s Jude sired 13 puppies out of Ella (a Norwegian bitch brought in by Chris & Alasdair Walker) – a European record for live pups (with 12 still alive at the time of writing – November 2023) – and this established Mr. A. & Mrs. C. Walkers’ Calshair kennel. Since then, several dogs have been imported into the UK from USA, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Netherlands, Finland, Sweden and Norway and along with a further 8 litters since 2012, the UK population is around 77 Bergamascos at the time of writing (November 2023). In addition, 3 dogs from those 8 litters have been exported to USA, South Africa and Germany.
