Gentile di Puglia

A southern Italian breed from the Tavoliere di Foggia, the northern Apulian plain; also called Merinos d'Italia or Italian Merino. It derives from local ewes crossed with Spanish Merino rams, first brought by Alfonso V of Aragon in the 15th century and later repeatedly by the Bourbon kings of Naples.

After Italian unification it was also crossed with French Rambouillet and German Merinolandschaf to improve wool. After the wool market collapsed in the late 20th century numbers fell sharply: about 500,000 in 1983, 3,532 in the herdbook in 2013.

Its wool is of high quality, 18–22 µm; rams shear about 6 kg and ewes 3.5 kg. It gives 80–100 litres of milk per lactation, mostly taken by lambs but also used for pecorino such as Incanestrato Foggiano; lambs are slaughtered at 50–60 days and 12–15 kg.