The history of Italy, with its famous boot shape projecting down toward the center of the Mediterranean Sea, includes a vast crossroads culture. It has served as a stopover and trading site for international movement and commerce since prehistoric times, scientists have learned. That “crossroads culture” brought with it a rich and diversified history of horse culture, as well.

But thousands of years have faded out the stories that tell the origins of Italy’s horses. Today, modern genomics technology has allowed researchers to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding the development of Italy’s primary native breeds. And it confirms that these horses aren’t unlike their country’s culture: the product of massive diversity coming from across the Old World—Europe, Asia, and northern Africa.

“Despite the fact that Italy has always been a small country, it used to be a real melting pot of ancient migrations across the Mediterranean Sea,” said Alessandro Achilli, PhD, assistant professor of genetics in the Department of Biology and Biotechnology “L. Spallanzani” at the University of Pavia, in Italy.

When comparing their genomic results to those of horses across Europe and Asia, researchers found “a clear geographic pattern” in modern-day horses’ genetic makeup—with a focal point of “closely related intermediate breeds” in the heart of the Italian peninsula, said Irene Cardinali, a PhD candidate at the University of Perugia, also in Italy