This dog is a type of Spitz in its morphology and character, maximum height 30 cm, unicolor white or red. Its coat has long, straight, glassy, raised hair which wraps around the dog like a muff. It broke away from the common stock of the other European Spitz dogs and has spread throughout Italy since ancient times. It was taken into lordly houses, as well as farms and plebeian quarters, especially in Tuscany and Lazio. It was the dog of Michelangelo. For unexplainable reasons, the numbers of this population declined continuously until it came near extinction. In 1965 the last five subjects were registered in the Breed Book. Then it disappeared until 1984 when the ENCI launched a recovery project for Italian breeds. Then, precisely those dogs that had survived on rural farms, being used to rouse the more powerful watchdogs, were the new progenitors of the modern day selective lines. Today the situation is continuously improving, even though the red variety seems to have disappeared. It has a reactive temperament, morbidly attached to the family, wary of strangers, it has a strong watchdog instinct. Robust and lively, this dog is long-lived.