With its fur covering only the top part of its body, the scrofa semilanuta (half-woolen female boar) is a mythological creature and a symbol of good luck in the Celtic tradition.
The legend tells that Belloveso, a Gaul prince in search of new lands, met an animal in a dream, and the creature appeared to him in real life, in the point where he decided to found Mediolanum, meaning half-woolen: the original name of Milan.
The special boar thus became the symbol of Milan, before being replaced by the less pagan Saint Ambrose. The image of the animal representing the foundation of the Lombard capital is still visible in the coat of arms present in the inner court of Palazzo Marino.
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