The early history of the Polverara breed is unclear, as is its relationship to the Padovana.

[1] Two sources provide evidence of crested chickens in Europe in Roman times: the two marble statuettes of crested chickens noticed in the Sala degli Animali ("animal hall") of the Vatican Museums in 1927 by Alessandro Ghigi date from the 1st or 2nd century AD;[2] a chicken skull excavated at West Hill, Uley, Gloucestershire in England shows the typical cerebral hernia of the crested breeds and dates from the 4th century.

[4] Alessandro Tassoni (1565–1635), in his mock-heroic poem La Secchia Rapita ("The Stolen Bucket", 1622) speaks of "... Polverara, which is the kingdom of cocks".

[5] A painting by Giovanni Agostino Cassana (1658–1720) in the Musei Civici degli Eremitani, the city museums of Padova, shows a woman spinning thread in a rural landscape, surrounded by a number of domestic animals, including a crested white hen that closely resembles the Polverara breed.

[6] By the late 19th century a decline in the breed, attributed to inter-breeding with other chickens, was already apparent.

A rustic breed that adapted poorly to intensive farming, its numbers fell until only seven remained.