COUNTESS PAOLINA BARACCA
ADDRESSING ENZO FERRARI
“Ferrari, put my son’s prancing horse on your racing cars. It’ll bring you luck.”
Persano horse
In 1744
The main characteristic of the Carditello Royal Site is the presence of horses of the Government Race of Persano, the prized breed of state horses born in 1744 by the will of the King Charles of Bourbon.
The breeding of horses of the Government Race of Persano (named after the Royal Site of Persano) was aimed at the establishment of a Royal Cavalry of high prestige, with specimens characterized by resistence, courage and elegance.
The King Charles of Bourbon received as a gift 4 Turkish stallions from Sultan Mahmoud II and rented land, already identified by the viceroy Michele Reggio, in the plain of Capua and more precisely in the district of San Tammaro: the Carditello farm.
For years, this extended area, rich and fertile, was also used for hunting, as well as for agricultural production: in other words, the Carditello farm was in the beating heart of the Campania felix sung by Virgil.
In 1787
Ferdinand IV had the clear intention of breeding, selecting and displaying the horses of the Royal Race of Persano, which were already famous because they were considered the best war horses of the time.
These horses were treated with all respect and jealously guarded by the Bourbons. King Ferdinand IV arranged shelters and stables, as well as a racecourse that was the first to arise in Italy and the only one to be included in an architectural complex, become Royal Residence only thanks to the importance that these horses had.
Owning a good war horse was a necessary condition for the defense of the State, as well as being a sign of social distinction. Horse hunts were used to select stallions and mares, as they reproduced situations similar to those of war and cavalry. Thus the court rituals were also exalted and diplomatic relations were strengthened.
After the unification of Italy
The noble history of horses linked to the Bourbon Dynasty suffered a setback in 1874, when the stables of Persano were emptied and the herd was sold. It was the Savoy, through the minister Ricotti, who made this decision because the image of these horses was too linked to the previous dynasty.
In 1900 the Government of the Kingdom of Italy, returning to its own steps, decided to reconstitute in Persano the Real Breed with the name of Government Race of Persano, looking for mares and stallions, or the sons of these, who had been sold to the great breeders in 1874, as in the case of the specimens purchased by the same King Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy.
The Breed continued to be raised by the War Ministry for the needs of the Cavalry until 1954, together with the subsequent sporting needs. The horses suffered a further trauma in 1972, due to their unfortunate transfer to Grosseto, at the Italian Army.
In the 90s, the Army stopped permanently dealing with the horses of the Government Race of Persano, a decision that would have determined its extinction.
In recent years
It is thanks to the Prince Alduino di Ventimiglia di Monteforte that the Government Race of Persano is saved and that today it has its status of “Race”.
The result of an intense study, carried out during his military service in the Army of Cavalry in Grosseto, which also became the subject of his university thesis. All this, after various and useless attempts of Alduino di Ventimiglia di Monteforte against the Italian State, so that they would take on the burden of saving the “Race“.
To save the Government Race of Persano, Alduino buys the mares and stallions of the Italian Army, pure and certified horses, rebuilding the herd and breeding it for all these years. The same and only herd that is possible to admire today in Carditello, its historical place of constitution.
The horse of the Government Race of Persano is also given the honor of representing the most famous brand in the world: the prancing horse symbol of the stable Ferrari.
Enzo Ferrari put it on the prestigious cars, after receiving it as a gift from the Countess Paolina Baracca, mother of the ace of the skies of the First World War: the Captain Francesco Baracca, a true war hero who fought with the image of the prancing horse painted on the fuselage of his plane, in honor of his Regiment and his horse of the Government Race of Persano.
Thus was born the most prestigious brand in the world, acclaimed as a symbol of speed, elegance and beauty.
