[2] Luigi Pochini (1900, 1905) recommends the Valdarno breed above all others as suitable for both small- and large-scale rearing, for its rapid growth and the maternal instinct of the hens, but notes that it requires space and does not adapt well to close confinement.

In the following years the Valdarnese became the subject of extended and heated discussion of its authenticity, with critics maintaining that its high productivity was due to hybrid vigour.

Studies of the Valdarnese by Raffaello Quilici, director of the Stazione Sperimentale di Pollicoltura (experimental poultry-breeding station) of Rovigo from 1957, led to the first scientific description.

The breed association closed in 1964, and the Valdarnese continued to decline through the later twentieth century until it had virtually disappeared.

This stock formed the basis for a project for the recovery and protection of the breed launched by the Agenzia Regionale per lo Sviluppo e l'Innovazione nel Settore Agricolo-Forestale, a part of the Tuscan regional administration for agriculture.

The eggs are white and should weigh 58–70 g.[6] The Valdarnese is raised principally for its meat, which is firm and tasty, and notably different from that produced by intensive farming methods.