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| The Italian Butteri |
Also, I'm not talking about Spanish cowboys, known as "Spanish Vaqueros." Italian cowboys, known as "The Butteri," or "The Italian Butteri," are traditional Italian cowboys from Lazio and Tuscany. Italian cowboys, known as "the butteri," and Spanish cowboys, known as "vaqueros or vaqueros de alzada," are cowboys in their respective countries. Both share the same common purpose of managing cattle on horseback. But they are different in a lot of ways.
Besides their significantly different histories, the geographic terrain, their clothing, and even their saddles and other "tools" of their trade. In fact, instead of using ropes, a lasso or a lariat, known as a reata, to rope cattle, Italian butteri use a long pole, known as a lancia to move cattle.
Italian cowboys of the Maremma region traditionally use specialized saddles like the Bardella, but they do not typically "dally" a rope in the same way American cowboys do. Instead of using a rope or a lariat for roping cattle, the butteri historically use a "mazzarella" which is sort of like a pike. It's a specialized wooden stick used to herd and control livestock. So while some modern Italian-made Western saddles include horns for roping or barrel racing, some traditional Italian military-style saddles known as "Scafarda" sometimes feature a removable stainless steel horn or lack a reinforced roping horn entirely.
Italian butteri are renowned for their ability to break wild horses and manage livestock in the Maremma region in Tuscany and northern Lazio. The hills and marshy landscapes of Tuscany and Lazio can be challenging, especially when going after wild horses. And yes, they are renowned for their skill in handling wild Maremman horses and cattle. In fact, their techniques of doing that is timetested, and they are seen as the "Guardians of an ancient, rugged tradition." The butteri are considered the oldest working cowboys in Western Europe, with traditions dating back centuries to rural Maremma. They certainly predate the American cowboy by a thousand years.
Though Buffalo Bill initially dismissed them, the Italian cowboys' skill was said to have been extremely impressive. For Europeans who have always looked down their nose at Americans, the Italian cowboy victory must have been a celebrated moment. Of course, today the event is a cornerstone of Italian cowboy history. Italian lore considers it a historic victory over the famous American Wild West Show.
The most traditional and well-known saddle of the Italian cowboy is the "Bardella." It is a treeless saddle, meaning that it doesn't have a rigid internal frame. Traditionally made of suede or smooth leather, it is padded with horsehair. It has a wide, comfortable seat and large, prominent rolls to keep the rider secure during fast movements or "spooks" when working wild livestock. Its color is described as having a predominantly "orange hue" because of its specific leather treatment.
Of course, because they don't use a rope, they have no need to dally a rope on a saddle, so their saddles are very different than our Western saddles. The front part of a Western saddle is primarily called the pommel. In Western riding, the raised post attached to this section is specifically known as the "horn."
The saddle horn is there to dally a rope. "Dallying" is a specific Western technique for securing a rope. Ropers wrap a rope counter-clockwise around a saddle horn to secure a caught animal without tying a permanent knot. This allows the rider to give slack if needed.
Many of the techniques American cowboys use come from techniques developed by the Spanish vaquero. Their techniques are what directly founded the American cowboy tradition of roping. The Spanish vaquero tradition is centuries old and was exported to the Americas in the 1500s by way of Spain's first colony in Florida. They defined the foundational skills of roping, branding, and ranching for American cowboys.
The Italian butteri are more localized to the coastal marshes of Tuscany. Italian butteri cowboys are very distinctive for their elegant clothing, which is traditionally dark velvet jackets, corduroy trousers, and wide-brimmed fedora-style hats. Their clothing is practical and designed to withstand the thorns of the Maremma scrubland. On the other hand, Spanish vaquero cowboys wear more chaparreras, chaps, to protect their legs. Yes, they definitely influenced American cowboy leather gear.
They operate in the coastal Maremma plains, a historically marshy, wild, and challenging landscape north of Rome. They spend their days in the saddle from dawn until dusk, often managing livestock in remote, difficult terrain. They are known for their typical corduroy and moleskin clothing, vests, and wide-brimmed hats. And rather than a lasso, they use the mazzarella — a hooked wooden staff used for managing cattle and navigating the landscape. Their horses, the Maremmano, are smaller horses known for their strength and suitability to the marshy, wooded, and challenging environment. The Italian "buttero" culture remains a deeply rooted, authentic symbol of the Maremma.
The Italian cowboys from regions like Tuscany and Lazio, are similar to American cowboys in that the butteri (singular: buttero) herd, gather, mark, tame, and manage cattle.
As for the legend of the Italian "Cowboys" who challenged Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Cowboys in 1890?
When Buffalo Bill Wild West Show visited Rome during its European tour, cowboys in his crew were heard boasting of their superiority when it came to dealing with wild horses. Buffalo Bill himself boasted that his cowboys were unmatched. This prompted Italian Prince Onorato Caetani to arrange a challenge against the Maremma butteri. The challenge from the Italians was led by Italian cowboy Augusto Imperiali.
The challenge to Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show cowboys in Rome was a contest of skill. And yes, the competition took place in Prati di Castello, Rome, on March 8, 1890. It featured horse-taming and livestock-handling contests.
The challenge, known as "La Sfida," saw local Italian cowboys break wild horses. The Butteri won when they efficiently captured and saddled wild Italian stallions, a feat the Americans struggled with. In fact, by their account, the Italian cowboys did it faster than the American cowboys.
The expert Italian horsemen used techniques that have been passed down for centuries to famously prove that their ranching skills were superior to those of the American cowboys. The Italian butteri supposedly won when they efficiently captured and saddled wild Italian stallions, something that the American cowboys struggled with.
So yes, the story goes that a group of Italian butteri led by Augusto Imperiali famously defeated Buffalo Bill in a horse-breaking competition in Rome. Supposedly, they "proved their superior ranching skills." However, some American accounts suggest that the outcome was questioned because Buffalo Bill felt they were too slow.
Though there was a bet made between Italian Prince Onorato Caetani and Buffalo Bill as to who had the better horsemen, it's said that Buffalo Bill supposedly refused to pay the 1000 Lire wager because the Italian cowboys were too slow.
According to Italian lore, the butteri easily defeated the American cowboys thanks to "their superior riding skills and a soft-spoken horseman named Augusto Imperiali." And supposedly, even to today, modern-day Italian cowboys still maintain that their ancestors won the bet. Imagine that for a moment, to this day, it's said that modern-day Italian cowboys still claim that they won the event and that Buffalo Bill never paid the 1000 Lire he owed from the original bet in 1890. That's what you call holding on to a point of national honor.
Tom Correa
