The Mora Romagnola is a

breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus s ...

from

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

, in northern Italy. It may also be called , , or . It is raised principally in Emilia–Romagna, but also in

Campania Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...

Friuli–Venezia Giulia (man), it, Friulana (woman), it, Giuliano (man), it, Giuliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_t ...

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

, the

Marche Marche ( , ) is one of the twenty regions of Italy. In English, the region is sometimes referred to as The Marches ( ). The region is located in the central area of the country, bordered by Emilia-Romagna and the republic of San Marino to the ...

Piemonte it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

and the

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

. It is one of the six autochthonous pig breeds recognised by the

Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali The Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, it, Ministero delle Politiche Agricole, Alimentari e Forestali, italic=no or MiPAAF, is an Italian government department. It was formed in 1946 as the Ministero dell'Agricoltura e delle F ...

, the Italian ministry of agriculture and forestry.

History

In the early twentieth century there were several similar but distinct regional sub-types of Romagnolo pig, including the Forlivese from the area of

Forlì Forlì ( , ; rgn, Furlè ; la, Forum Livii) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. It is the central city of Romagna. The city is situated along the Via E ...

, the Faentina from the area of

Faenza Faenza (, , ; rgn, Fènza or ; la, Faventia) is an Italian city and comune of 59,063 inhabitants in the province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, situated southeast of Bologna. Faenza is home to a historical manufacture of majolica-ware glazed eart ...

and the Riminese or Mora Riminese from the area of Rimini. From the beginning of the century all of these types began to be crossed with British

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

pigs, which were first imported to the area in 1886. First-generation crosses preserved some of the meat quality of the local breeds, but grew much faster; because of their smoky colouring, these hybrids were known as Fumati. By 1927 it was recognised that indiscriminate cross-breeding beyond the first generation would lead to the disappearance of the local stock, and in 1941

selective breeding Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant mal ...

of Romagnolo pigs began; in 1942 the breed was named Mora Romagnola, for its brownish-black colouring. In 1918 there were 335,000 Romagnolo pigs in Italy. The population declined rapidly both before and after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, falling to 22,000 in 1950 and to a low of 12, all in one farm, in the early 1990s. At that point the Italian

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wo ...

, the Università degli Studi di Torino and other institutions launched a recovery project, and numbers have since increased. A herdbook was established in 2001, and is kept by the Associazione Nazionale Allevatori Suini, the Italian national association of pig breeders. The conservation status of the Mora Romagnola was listed as "critical" by the FAO in 2007. At the end of 2012 a population of 1063 was reported. The breed remains at risk from crossing with Italian Duroc pigs; first-generation hybrids are difficult to distinguish from pure-bred stock.

References

{{Pig breeds of Italy Pig breeds originating in Italy Ark of Taste foods