It’s not the missing link, but if there is an intermediate dog between the sighthound and scenthound in Italy, it could well be the Segugio Italiano. The breed has been trailing wild boar for at least the last 2,000 years, and the infamous Emperor Caligula was known to hunt with a pack of them, but don’t hold that against the breed. Remember, instead, that the Segugio was often depicted in statues of Diana, the Goddess of Hunting which are on display in museums of Naples (“Diane the huntress”), the Vatican (“Diane with bow and arrow”), and elsewhere around the world. All these years later, and Segugios remain a very popular breed in its homeland.

Breed type was fixed during the Renaissance, and if you were a nobleman at the time, it was de rigueur to hunt with with smartly appointed horses and huge packs of up to several hundred dogs. Segugios were superb at tracking prey,  and they had no trouble with capturing or killing the prey in the hunter’s absence. Once grand hunts ended, so did interest in the breed, but happily, interest was renewed in the 20th century.

Image: Diana – Marble. 2nd century Inv. No. 1841.