Its development traces to 1860 and continued through the late 19th and early 20th centuries as breeders utilized a mix of foundation bloodstock that included native Italian stock and imported horses, all mainly of draft type.

Breeding programs suffered during the war, and despite care afterward, population numbers continued to dwindle as increasing mechanization decreased the need for draft horses.

In the 1970s, selective breeding goals were changed to produce a horse suitable for meat production, which today remains the primary use of the Italian Heavy Draft.

The head is light for a draft breed, with a straight or slightly convex profile, and it is set on a short, broad and muscular neck.

[4] Selection for what eventually became the Italian Heavy Draft was begun in 1860 at the Deposito Cavalli Stalloni (military stud) of Ferrara, Italy.

However, the resulting horse was still not exactly what its creators were looking for, and in the 19th century they added more Breton blood to the mix, bringing the breed to its current conformation and gaits.

[5] The main breeding areas for the Italian Heavy Draft are in the plains and hills around Verona, Padova, Vicenza, Venice, Treviso and Udine.

No modern trace remains of the slower Italian Slow Heavy Draft Horse, the Cavallo Italiano da Tiro Pesante Lento, subject of a biometric and morphological study in 1939.