In July 2009 we had the honour to visit Rocco Toscani in Italy. I didn't know it before I visited Rocco, but it seems he belongs to one of the most famous families in Italy! Text to the pictures will be added as soon as possible. Nikolaas Gyselbrecht
Nikolaas G -
27/07/2009
Actually I went on holidays to Tuscany for one week...but when I go somewhere, even on holidays, I always think whether I know a pigeon racer close to where I stay... Now I didn't need to think for a long time, because Rocco Toscani is a young italian pigeon fancier, who bought already many pigeons on PiPa and who already invited me before to come to visit his loft in Tuscany. We had a great time together with Rocco, my wife Jana and my friends Danielle and her boyfriend Sebastian...they are no … [more]
Rocco his profession is being a photographer. He works in the company his world-famous father Oliviero Toscani founded ( Oliviero Toscany is known worldwide as the man who took all the controversial pictures for the 'United Colors of Benetton' Campaign ). Rocco's hobbies are racing pigeons and riding horses, to be precise 'reining horses'. It is a discipline that comes from the United States and it is a little bit like a Dressage but with many differences. The kind of horses they breed are Quar… [more]
When did Rocco start to keep pigeons ? And what is the reason for him to keep pigeons ?
He was working as a photographer in Paris and started breeding canaries...and he promised himself that when he would go back home to Italy he would start keeping pigeons...but he did not know what kind...so he started reading on the internet, and he found racing pigeon auctions and information about racing pigeons...so he started investigating more and more...to the point of understanding that managing racin… [more]
Up until now Rocco raced with 40 cocks and 40 hens in total widowhood, the hens and cocks meet when they get home from the race, which is very difficult here where they race because many get lost during racing season. So starting from next year he will race with 40 cocks and 20 hens.
Rocco has 30 breeding couples and 100 youngsters. Many youngsters are sent to one loft races all over the world competing with the "Italian Team"
URL : www.italian-team.eu
Italy is divided in the middle by a chain of mountains called Appenini, so all the north of Italy race on the Adriatic Coast (East coast) which has very few obstacles generally winds that blow from the sides or from the front, but most of the trip they do not have to cross mountain ridges or difficult passages to get home.
Rocco races on the Tirrenic coast (west coast) which has usually from mid May to the end of racing season head winds. Until south of Rome (250km 300km) the races could be … [more]
In his loft Rocco has original birds from Ludo Claessens, Marcel Sangers, Koopman, Kees Bosua, Louis Van Loon, De Klack, Debusquois, Saya. He also has many good birds from his good friend Hatty Roest (NL) which is his personal "advisor and trainer".
At the same time he is crossing this very important international blood lines with Italian based lines which are very strong in the italian racing conditions. The conditions can be extremely hard with very strong head winds and temperatures going… [more]
The most important title to win in Italy is the National championship, but it is very difficult for smaller groups like where Rocco lives. Since Italy is divided badly for racing pigeons, there are many small groups that race from different directions, so each small section has a very hard championship but most of the times it is difficult to compete with the three or four big groups for the championship, due to the fact that the points are given based on birds in the race and number of fanciers… [more]
A difficult question for Rocco, who are the best pigeon racers in Italy ?
Answer :
Burani( Reggio Emilia)
Michele Alberti (San Vincenzo)
Pietro Celli (Bologna)
Walter Bolondi (Pisa)
Andrea Cheli (Massa Rosa)
… [more]
The domain of the Toscani Family exceeds 130 hectares, it is like a movie scenery. Rocco drove us through their domain with his Fiat Panda 4 x 4... We had the opportunity to take some great pictures.
Something more about Oliviero Toscani ( source : wikipedia )
Oliviero Toscani (born 1942) is an Italian photographer, best-known worldwide for designing controversial advertising campaigns for Italian brand Benetton, from 1982 to 2000. Most of these advertising campaigns were actually instituti… [more]
Oliviero Toscani and his family also produce exclusive wine, price is about 30 euro/bottle. The idea of producing wine came in around the year 2000 when Mr Gaja (very important wine producer in Italy) came to visit the Toscani Family and Mr. Gaja told them the place where they live could be a superb area for producing wines, so they did it and it is working perfectly! The grapes in their wines : 50% Syrah, 35% Cabernet Franc, 15% Petit Verdot.
In the house of Rocco's father Oliviero. Unfortunately at that moment his father was not there...
When we ask Rocco if he likes to be compared with his father, he says that he prefers not to be compared with him, but they work together, and in any case he (Rocco) is used to that...his father is better than Rocco in their work. For now Rocco says ;-)
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