The Rossa Mediterranea is an Italian breed of domestic goat from the Mediterranean island of Sicily, in southern Italy. It derives from the Damascus goat of Syria and the eastern Mediterranean, and is thus also known as the Derivata di Siria. It is raised mainly in Sicily, but also in Basilicata and Calabria in southern mainland Italy.
The Rossa Mediterranea is one of the forty-three autochthonous Italian goat breeds of limited distribution for which a herdbook is kept by the Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia, the Italian national association of sheep- and goat-breeders. Total numbers for the breed were recently estimated at . At the end of 2013 the registered population was reported as .
Use The Rossa Mediterranea is a milk breed. Milk production per lactation for pluriparous nannies is approximately , and may reach . The milk has an average of 4.11% fat and 3.53% protein, and is used predominantly for cheese-making.
References Le razze ovine e caprine in Italia (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Ufficio centrale libri genealogici e registri anagrafici razze ovine e caprine, page 108. Archived 21 September 2013.
Consistenze Provinciali della Razza 48 Rossa Mediterranea Anno 2013 (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia: Banca dati. Accessed June 2014.
Norme tecniche della popolazione caprina "Rossa Mediterranea": standard della razza (in Italian). Associazione Nazionale della Pastorizia. Accessed June 2014.
Barbara Rischkowsky, Dafydd Pilling (editors) (2007). List of breeds documented in the Global Databank for Animal Genetic Resources, annex to: The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Rome: Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. . Archived 23 June 2020.
Daniele Bigi, Alessio Zanon (2008). Atlante delle razze autoctone: Bovini, equini, ovicaprini, suini allevati in Italia (in Italian). Milan: Edagricole. .
Breed data sheet: Rossa Mediterranea/Italy. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed June 2014.
Strutture Zootecniche (Dec. 2009/712/CE - Allegato 2 - Capitolo 2) (in Italian). Ministero delle Politiche Agricole Alimentari e Forestali. Section I (e). Archived 4 May 2014.
Lorenzo Noè, Alessandro Gaviraghi, Andrea D'Angelo, Adriana Bonanno, Adriana Di Trana, Lucia Sepe, Salvatore Claps, Giovanni Annicchiarico, Nicola Bacciu (2005). Le razze caprine d'Italia (in Italian); in: Giuseppe Pulina (2005). L' alimentazione della capra da latte. Bologna: Avenue Media. . Archived 5 October 2014.