The Cirneco dell'Etna[a] (Sicilian: Cirnecu) is an Italian breed of hunting dog from the Mediterranean island of Sicily.

[5] The second part of the name of the breed relates to the area of the Etna volcano in Sicily, where it originated.

[3] Genetic studies of the relationship of the Cirneco to other breeds have yielded conflicting results: one confirmed it to be close to the Kelb tal-Fenek of Malta and the Podenco Ibicenco of the Balearic Islands, but also linked it to the Pyrenean Mountain Dog;[6] another found evidence of gene flow from the Podenco Canario of the Canary Islands;[7] a genomic study in 2021 found it to be most closely related to the Kelb tal-Fenek and the Segugio Italiano.

[3][4][9][5][10] The earliest written description of the modern breed was by Maurizio Migneco, a veterinary surgeon from Adrano on the slopes of Etna, who published an account in Il Cacciatore Italiano in 1932.

This was seen by a Sicilian noblewoman, Agata Paternó Castello, who bought some of the dogs and in 1934 started breeding them.