Valdarnese bianca

Synonyms or local names: Pollo del Valdarno

Geographic origin: Valdarno area (area surrounding river Arno), province of Florence

Geographic distribution: Tuscany, northern Lazio, Liguria

Estimated total population size: 398 (Castillo et al., 2021)

Extinction risk status (FAO, 1998): Threatened conserved

Any other specific information: Dolicomorphic, medium-sized breed

Historical origin of the breed

References to a chicken with white feathers and highly pigmented yellow legs, raised in the upper Valdarno, are lost in time. This chicken was known for its rusticity, rebelliousness to reclusion, and for its firm and tasty meat. Initially described as belonging to the white variety of the Valdarno breed, during the 1900s it first underwent crossbreeding and was then selected to eliminate the genetic components of other breeds (white Livorno in particular). Various denominations have been maintained over time (Pollo del Valdarno, Valdarno bianca, Valdarnese, Valdarnese bianca). The first references, with the denomination of “white Valdarno”, date back to the beginning of the last century (1902): the Marquis Girolamo Trevisani at the Agricultural Society of Bologna cited Florentine breeders who were particularly active in launching the breed; in 1925 white Valdarno breeders were presented at the winter egg production competition in Bergamo. However, the most significant report is that relating to the participation in the Cremona Poultry Exhibition in 1953, which represented its first proper official recognition as a breed on its own. Actually, the 1950s saw a strong recovery in the rearing of this breed, thanks in particular to the establishment, in 1954, of the Valdarno Poultry Group (Montevarchi – Arezzo), characterised by a selection center, two large hatcheries, and numerous breeding chicken coops.

On March 7^th of the same year, the “Conference for the enhancement and improvement of poultry farming in the Upper Valdarno” was held in Montevarchi (AR), which had national importance and also marked the beginning of a selection plan for the white Valdarno under the control of the Provincial Inspectorate of Agriculture of Arezzo and with the subsequent contribution of the research of Professor Quilici conducted at the Poultry Experimental Station of Rovigo, starting from 1957. In a short time, the breed reached its maximum productivity and notoriety. Farmers recall that in those years in the most important markets of the Valdarno (Montevarchi, San Giovanni, Figline, Laterina, and Loro Ciuffenna) on average, 20,000-30,000 chickens of the Valdarno white breed were marketed each week under the denomination of “new chicken”, with minimums in the months of January-March and maximums from September to December, for the markets of Milan, Rome, Genoa, and Florence, and compare the cost of a chicken to at least the daily salary of a worker. The prices obtained could vary in the 1950s from a minimum of 500 Lire/kg in the months of September-October to a maximum of 1200 L/kg in the months from March to May. Starting from 1963, in conjunction with the drastic reduction of sharecropping contracts and with the progressive expansion of intensive poultry farming, the decline of breeding of the white Valdarno began, aggravated by the management crisis of the Valdarno Poultry Group and by the recovery of the countryside breeding of white Livorno, favoured by the easier finding of chicks produced by specialised hatcheries in Northern Italy.

The following year, after nine years of existence, the Valdarno Poultry Group ceased its activity. Nonetheless, a part of the chicken farmers in the area has continued, albeit often on a small scale, to raise this type of chicken, with the specific aim of maintaining a well-rooted tradition and with the concern of guaranteeing the survival of the breed. About ten years ago, the structure that had inherited the activity of the Rovigo Experimental Station, i.e. the Conservatory of Poultry Breeds in Danger of Extinction of the Veneto Region, once again took into consideration the risk of loss of the breed and undertook a work of multiplication starting from a hundred hatching eggs, transferred there and subjected to control. In the last year of the Conservatory’s activity (2001), the last remaining breeders among those that had been entrusted to few farmers went missing, but a certain number of subjects derived from these are still present in some farms in the Valdarno.

Bibliography

Gualtieri M, Pignattelli P, Cristalli A (2006) Pollo di razza Valdarnese bianca. In: Risorse genetiche animali autoctone della Toscana. Ed. ARSIA (Firenze)

Valdarnese bianca male (UniFI)

Valdarnese bianca female (UniFI)

Qualitative morphological traits

Feather morphology: Normal

Feather distribution: Normal

Plumage structure: Abundant and uniform plumage

Plumage colours: Milky white tending to yellow on the cape and back (especially in the male).

Colour features: Single colour, without sexual dimorphism

Colour pattern: Milky white tending to straw yellow on the cape and back, especially in the male. In the male, longer cape feathers and tufted tail with short sickles.

Chick plumage colour: Yellow

Comb type: Simple comb, upright in the male, falling to one side in the female

Comb spikes: Five to six spikes

Ear-lobe colour: Cream yellow with some red veining

Beak colour: Antique gold yellow, slightly curved

Iris colour: Red-orange

Skin colour: Yellow

Shank colour: Yellow

Shank feathering: Free from feathers

Other specific and distinct visible traits: Very long wattles (7-9 cm)