Leccese

Leccese, also called Moscia Leccese, is a sheep breed from the Salento peninsula of Puglia in southern Italy. It belongs with the rustic Zackel-influenced Mediterranean sheep rather than with heavy northern meat breeds. Leccese sheep are usually white, often with darker markings on the face or skin, and have been kept for milk, lamb, and modest wool in dry, scrubby pastoral country around Lecce.

The breed's practical value is its ability to work in semi-extensive systems where summer heat, sparse pasture, and seasonal forage shape management. Milk is the main product in many flocks, with lambs and ordinary wool adding secondary value. Conservation matters because numbers recorded in formal systems have fallen far below older regional estimates. Breeders should protect local type, sound udders, walking ability, and heat tolerance rather than trying to turn the Leccese into a high-input dairy animal copied from a very different farming system.