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The campino is the expressive and popular personality typically found in the vast Ribatejo meadowland.
He is still considered today to be a representative national figure even though it has unfortunately now become much rarer to see him sitting solidly astride his horse on the distant horizon.

Generally speaking, the campino´s work involves tending and herding the region´s wild bulls. Riding on horseback and armed with his inseparable pampilho (a long wooden stick ending in a point and used for goading the cattle), the campino has the difficult task of dealing with these dangerous animals.

At bullfights, where he performs the task of removing the bulls from the ring, or at festivals and fairs, where he can be seen parading with his lofty demeanour, the campino is to be found dressed in his typical costume: trousers held in place just below the knee with a white metal buckle, a red sash around his waist, a red waistcoat, a tasselled green pom-pom hat with a red hem, a white shirt and socks, embroidered cuffs, black shoes with spurs and the indispensable pampilho.

However, in his day-to-day work, the campino wears a completely different costume.
Generally dressed in a jacket, waistcoat and long trousers with a black belt, his costume is no longer mainly green and red and now has much darker colours, normally grey or black.