The Persano is a horse breed

Horse breed

Horse breed is a broad term with no clear consensus as to definition, but most commonly refers to selectively bred populations of domesticated horses, often with pedigrees recorded in a breed registry. However, the term is sometimes used in a very broad sense to define landrace animals, or...

 created at the Royal Stud of Persano near Serre in the Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 province of Salerno

Province of Salerno

The Province of Salerno is a province in the Campania region of Italy.-Geography:The largest towns in the province are: Salerno, the capital, which has a population of 139,579; Cava de' Tirreni with a population of 53,488; Battipaglia with a population of 51,115; and Nocera Inferiore which has a...

. It is similar in appearance to an Anglo Arabian and was created by crossing Andalusians

Andalusian horse

The Andalusian, also known as the Pure Spanish Horse or PRE , is a horse breed developed in the Iberian Peninsula. Its ancestors have been present on the Iberian Peninsula for thousands of years. The Andalusian has been recognized as an individual breed since the 15th century, and its conformation...

, Arabians

Arabian horse

The Arabian or Arab horse is a breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses...

, Persians

Turkoman Horse

The Turkoman horse, or Turkmene, was an Oriental horse breed from the steppes of Central Asia, now extinct. Modern descendants include the Akhal-Teke and the Yamud horse breeds. Horses bred in Turkmenistan are still referred to as Turkoman, and have similar characteristics...

 and Mecklenburger

Mecklenburger

The Mecklenburger is a warmblood horse bred in the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern region of north-eastern Germany. The breeding of these horses has been closely linked to the State Stud of Redefin....

s.

The original breeding herd

Foundation bloodstock

Foundation bloodstock or foundation stock are horses that are the progenitor, or foundation, of a new horse breed or a given bloodline within a breed. The term is also used in a similar manner when discussing purebred dogs...

 was dispersed, but was later reconstituted by crossbreeding the horses still available with Purosangue Orientale

Purosangue Orientale

The Purosangue Orientale or Puro Sangue Orientale , is a horse breed developed in the Kingdom of Italy by Royal Decree n° 2690 of 19 September 1875, which created a stud book dedicated to the breed...

, Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 and a new group of stallion

Stallion

A Stallion is a male horse.Stallion may also refer to:* Stallion , an American pop rock group* Stallion , a figure in the Gobot toyline* Stallion , a character in the console role-playing game series...

s freshly imported from Syria. The process was driven by the needs of the Italian Cavalry. After the second world war

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 the breed was reduced to only about 50 heads, most of which were transferred to the Grosseto Army Remount Station. Some horses however are still in the hands of private owners. The status of the Persano was listed in 2007 as critical by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

The Persano were developed for use as cavalry

Cavalry

Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

 horses, and are used today by the mounted Carabinieri

Carabinieri

The Carabinieri is the national gendarmerie of Italy, policing both military and civilian populations, and is a branch of the armed forces.-Early history:...

 Regiments.. Horses of this breed were amongst the protagonists of the last successful classical cavalry charge in history in August 1942 near Isbushensky on the Don

Don River (Russia)

The Don River is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 kilometres southeast from Tula, southeast of Moscow, and flows for a distance of about 1,950 kilometres to the Sea of Azov....

 river by a cavalry unit of the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia

Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia

During World War II, the Italian Expeditionary Corps in Russia was a corps-sized expeditionary unit of the Regio Esercito that fought on the Eastern Front...

 (Corpo di Spedizione Italiano in Russia, or CSIR) on the Eastern Front

Eastern Front (World War II)

The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...

. The 2nd squadron of the 3rd Dragoons Savoia Cavalleria Regiment of the Prince Amedeo Duke of Aosta Fast (Celere) Division, armed with sabres and hand grenades, outflanked an estimated 2,000 Soviet infantry while the remainder of the regiment took Isbushensky in a dismounted attack ,. The Persano proved to be tough enough for the conditions encountered in the Russian steppe, a claim which few foreign horses can make.