In the twentieth century there was substantial intromission of Thoroughbred and Anglo-Arab blood, resulting in a marked increase in average height.
The history of Sicily over the three millennia preceding the Unification of Italy in 1861 is one of repeated conquest and strife, with many different peoples and powers achieving total or partial dominance over the island for a time.
These have included the Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Muslim North Africans, Lombards, Normans, Swabians, Angevins, Aragonese, Spanish and Bourbons.
[5]: 147 From no later than 1925, mares of these types were being bred to Thoroughbred and Arab stallions in the hope of producing offspring with greater size and speed.
[5]: 147 [4]: 503 A breed society, the Associazione Regionale Allevatori del Cavallo Siciliano Indigeno, was formed in the early twenty-first century.