While we admired the French breeds of chickens which are used in the Label Rouge program, we were hesistant due to the smaller size of the chicken. We knew we wanted a hearty, healthy, slow growing, resistant but slightly bigger chicken. One of the Pollo Rosso partners discovered the perfect chicken one day in Ostia Antica, the port city of Ancient Rome. These magnificent red feathered artisan breeding lines were bred from ancient stocks to grow slowly outdoors with exquisite taste and texture. The partner was blown away. He had found the Holy Grail, the perfect chicken! A deal was struck. Two years ago the Italian Heritage lines were brought to the United States and in honor of their striking red plumage renamed Pollo Rosso.