buttero

thumb|I Butteri, Giovanni Fattori (1893) thumb|"Driving wild cattle in the Maremma", illustration from The Penny Magazine, 1832 A buttero (, plural butteri) or cavalcante is a mounted herder, usually of horses, of cattle, or of buffaloes, in Italy, predominantly in the Maremma region, in the Roman Marshes or in the Pontine Marshes.

==History== thumb|Buttero in the Campagna Romana, [[cyanotype from 1899]] The buttero habitually rides a horse of one of the working breeds of the Maremma and the Roman Campagna – the Cavallo Romano della Maremma Laziale, the Maremmano, and the Tolfetano. He tends livestock, usually cattle (such as the native Maremmana breed), horses or buffaloes. Two saddles are in common use: the scafarda is the standard saddle in the Tuscan Maremma, while in Lazio the bardella is the saddle of choice; an older saddle, the sella col pallino, is no longer in common use. The buttero's attire consists of coarse cotton pants, leggings, a velvet jacket and a black hat. He protects himself from the rain with a large mantle called the pastràno. He carries the mazzarella, a stick employed for herding oxen and horses.