UN PASTORE ITALIANO -- AN ITALIAN SHEPHERD

People seem to prefer the portrait of the shepherd and the head goat, which I've used as extras. Sigh.

I was clearing out a cupboard when I received an excited telephone call from Himself. He was down in the valley buying new tires for the Piaggio and had seen the shepherd and his flock of sheep who is occasionally seen there. It is so rare to see any animal other than a cat or a dog that I grabbed the camera and was out of the house in a flash.

The sheep were in the distance when we arrived and the shepherd was chatting with another man under his umbrella. It was raining steadily. I took some pics of the sheep, which turned out to be goats, in the distance. We asked if I could take pictures and he instantly sent his dog, Argo, off to fetch them. Argo was no less efficient than his British counterparts and he soon had them rounded up and posing perfectly. The goats all wear collars with bells on them.

The shepherd's name is Vittorio and he lives up in the mountains. He comes from a long line of shepherds. The black and white goats descend from his grandfather's herd and perhaps even his great grandfather's herd. He and his wife milk the goats by hand, make cheese and butter (I didn't know there was such a thing as goat butter) and supply a local restaurant with it. The demand for his cheese is so great he can't keep up.

I don't expect anybody to look at all these but here they are for those who have an interest in pastoral matters.

The best picture of the lot was of the head goat. Leader of the Herd

This is Argo with his charges under control: Under Control.

And this is a close-up of the shepherd: Vittorio