This handsome guy, ladies and gentlemen, is the Maremmano Sheepdog, indigenous to the Maremma region of Tuscany and the mountains of Abruzzo. They’re livestock guard dogs, distinctively white, and they’re big, strong, smart, and fearless. They’re still used widely by farmers and shepherds in Abruzzo where sheep herding is still a vital industry, and wolves are active and protected by law. So these dogs battle wolves.

There is very little sheep farming in modern Maremma, but these brave dogs were used by the ancient Romans, written about in literature as far back as the 2nd century BC. There are two large statues of them in Rome (one owned by the Vatican), and numerous depictions of them throughout history, including medieval frescos, religious artworks, literature, and illustrations. Famously, they were used in France in 1764-6 by Louis XV during the hunt for the Beast of Gvaudan, possibly a huge wolf, which was responsible for an estimated 200 brutal attacks on men, women, and children resulting in more than 100 deaths and many injuries.