The 'Vreccale' or 'Roccale', as they are called today, is a collar made of iron with pins sticking out. The pins are to make sure that an attacker can not grap the throat of the dog.  
In the time of Marco Terenzio Varrone (116-26 AD) the working Maremma wore ‘melli’, big leather collars equipped with nails that sticked out, to protect the throat of the dog against attacks of wolves.  
Nowadays these collars are called ‘vreccale’ or 'roccale'. They are fairly rare and I am very proud to possess two of these handmade 'roccali', thanks to Freddy Barbarossa who was kind enough to provide me with them. 

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