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Chapter 1

A Look at the History of Fencing in Italy

Possible Influences on the Weapon Schools of Southern Italy

“And, above all matters, one thing you should mark well and know, is that only one Art is the Sword, and though it may have been invented and devised some hundreds of years ago, that it is the basic core of all the arts of fencing.”

Anonymous around 1390 (Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg)

Foreword

First things first: If you have not yet been interested in the history of historical fencing, take some time to study the fencing tradition of Italy, the mother of all subsequent regional interpretations in the Mediterranean Peninsula, and also of modern Olympic fencing. It’s worth it; for the development of fencing in Italy is, firstly, part of the cultural identity of Europe (the development of the German fencing school and that of Italian fencing were closely connected), and secondly, the schools and systems of the folk knife are based on the principles that were discovered and perfected throughout the history of Italian fencing.

Historical fencing, which is very well documented in contrast to the folk arts, can therefore be considered as the cultural and spiritual source of our folk traditions. Whether the influences were derived directly or whether they had an indirect influence on the folk knife schools as a cultural component of a fighting style cannot be clearly understood. What counts is that these influences can be found in the folk traditions with stick and knife almost one to one. So in order to better understand what pillars our traditions may be based on, it is worth looking at these few leads.

1.1 Introduction

Scherma, the Italian word for fencing, is actually a term of German or at least Germanic descent. In the early Middle Ages, one said schirmen instead of fencing. The Italians, Frenchmen, Spaniards, and Portuguese adopted this idea, which referred in this context to the shielding, the guarding, or the protecting of one’s own body, and formed the term schermire. A Meister des Schirmens (Master of the Shield[ing]) was therefore a man who knew how to protect himself with a weapon. Thus, the term schirmen or schermire was less concerned with an ability to attack. All Italian folk traditions of the knife also consider self-protection as the maxim of their approach. This and other tactical considerations, as well as a visual relationship, may combine these two lines of weaponry, the historical fencing arts with those of the Italian folk knife and stick fight.

In the southern Italian art of fencing with the knife there are schools of the two circles. One can therefore run around the opponent or hold their position. Mostly the thrust is used as a lethal action, while the slash takes on other tactical roles. Also, one speaks of school, not of system¹. Furthermore, these traditions – in the truest sense of the word – are very figurative. They mainly live on elegant sequences of movements and guards or pose/piante², all of which have one or more tactical ideas behind them. The didactics of these schools are based on the practice of precisely specified pathways, or routines, whose individual elements are also literally called figures or lessons³, depending on the region. These figures or lessons are initially divided into individual intermediate steps in order to then gradually put the steps back together.

One finds that similar didactic, tactical, and technical characteristics to related Italian systems, or to the various weapon types that were in use regionally, are already partially found in antiquity, certainly in the Middle Ages, but especially in the Renaissance and the Baroque. This chapter focuses its attention on demonstrating these common patterns and thereby stimulating the reader to get a better picture of the extent to which the folk schools of southern Italy are a cultural continuation of these older, ancestral traditions. The objective of this first chapter is therefore to try to explain how, or in what way, this elegant game of figures, which corresponds to a movement ideal and a mentality of bygone days⁴, may have perhaps been influenced by the historical fencers. Other influences, mainly cultural, I discuss in Chapter 2. I want to start with a little excursion into antiquity. Into an era that might have laid the first steps towards developing a southern Italian fencing identity.

But first, it should be noted that this chapter provides only a very crude representation of developments in historical fencing, as well as artistic and spiritual-philosophical developments, from antiquity to the Middle Ages, through the Renaissance and to the beginnings of the Baroque period, so that with mental clarity, they were able to reduce all information available down to only the necessary information required. Although the ultimate compelling evidence of a consistently trained tradition is not available, the presence of strikingly similar patterns within the region indicates that a conceptual and technical predecessor of folk traditions with knife and stick might have existed. If you want to look more deeply into the history of the Renaissance, I recommend the book The Renaissance in Italy: Social History of a Culture between Tradition and Invention by Peter Burke. All those who would like to deal primarily with the fencing history and technique of Italy, especially those of the late Middle Ages, the Renaissance, or the Baroque period, I refer to specialized works, such as those personally known to me and by renowned authors in the field⁵.

1.2 Gladiators

It is said that the gladiatorial fights sprang from the dead. In the XXIII song of the Iliad, Homer already describes fighting games in honor of Patroklos, slain by Hektor:

“Achilles with his companions approached Patroclus, wailing and mourning, and called to throw Hector on his face at the funeral camp. That night, Patroclus appeared to him and asked for burial. In the morning the Achaeans brought wood for the pyre. Patroclus was carried out, with his hair curls in heaps, and burned with the other dead victims. Boreas and Zephyros fed the fire. The next morning, Patroclus’ bones were placed in an urn and buried, until such time as Achilles’ bones can be added, in a Provisional Hill of Honor on the site of the pyre. Gambling games were then held in honor of the dead; Chariot races, boxing, wrestling, running, weapons fights, ball throwing, archery, and javelin throwing.”

If one follows the work of Maurus Servius Honoratius (short Servius), a late Roman grammarian, who was known among other things for his comments on Virgil, the gladiatorial games served as a substitute for human sacrifices at funeral ceremonies:

“It was custom to sacrifice prisoners on the tombs of brave warriors. When the cruelty of this custom was evident to all, it was decided to let gladiators fight in front of the tombs […]”

At this point I do not want to work up the story of the gladiators. Also, specialist literature already exists that deals with this regard. I recommend the books Gladiators, Life and Death Fighting Games by Alan Baker; Gladiators by Stephen Wisdom and Nic Fields, and Gladiators: The Game of Death by Marcus Junkelmann. Rather, I would like to draw attention to a few parallels between the culture of the gladiators and that of the folk knife schools. Since we lack a continuous history of tradition, this is a legitimate and useful way in which to study the phenomenon of the fencing art, to show some significant patterns that have been often repeated in this region in particular. It is only from a broad perspective that possible commonalities and developments can be discovered.

1.2.1 Regional Development

The Gladiators, as well as the families and clans of organized crime and the structured schools of the knife, were particularly flourishing in southern Italy. In terms of gladiators, the well-known schools were in Capua, Pompeii (both Campania), and Rome, that is, in central and southern Italy. The northern school in Ravenna, which had one of the largest gladiator schools, was the exception. The Gladiator used a non-military art to stabbing an opponent, a development that was absolutely impossible to find anywhere else in the world.

1.2.2 Commonalities

What the wooden training knife was for the knife fencer in southern Italy, or even today as the fusto or the paranza is, the rudis (wooden sword) already had been for the Gladiator. However, there is no compelling connection here, as technically, at that time there was hardly any other way to protect yourself from injury than to resort to wooden weapons.

The rudis, the wooden replica of legionnaires and gladiators.

The gladius itself, the short sword that gave the gladiator its name, is another possible bridge, since it was so not unlike a long dueling knife of the 19th century in length and shape. But even here I see no compelling cultural proximity to a knife. The affinity for the short blade becomes clearer through the pugio, the dagger, which was used by the Retiarius (as a secondary weapon), but especially by the Dimachaerus. The latter fought either with two swords or two daggers at the same time. A similar development has existed since the mid-19th century in the area around Salerno, where the simultaneous use of two knives was part of the tradition.

The gladius, the sword of legionnaires and gladiators.

In a troop of gladiators one spoke of a familia, a family, as is still the case today in organized crime or in certain Southern Italian knife schools. It should be noted, however, that this is more due to the culture of the language rather than to common fencing roots. Gladiators did not speak of a training ground or hall, but rather used the word ludus, meaning school. The knife and stick traditions from Rome to Sicily still use the word “school” today⁶. This is not only for the system, but it also describes the place where the lessons take place. Yet, in the north of Italy, in former Cisalpine Gaul, the still existing folk fencing traditions do not use this term anymore. But, all of this may still be pure coincidence.

However, in the end, in my view, the most important indication, together with the commonality of regional distribution, is the great cultural parallel. And here I would like to quote directly from Alan Baker’s recommended book⁷:

“[…] The training was in precise, almost scientific pathways and included the learning of a series of figures divided into individual phases. However, a gladiator had to take care not to follow the trained movements too closely, because the audience easily recognized this and would complain that his fighting was too “by the book" without showing a style of his own.”

This strict form of instruction can still be found today, to my knowledge, mainly within the knife and stick schools of southern Italy. It testifies to a striking fencing-cultural closeness, at least with regard to didactics. Although such striking similarities are not clear evidence of a kind of multi-era spanning fencing identity, they nevertheless, together with their geographic proximity, provide clues for a certain interrelation⁸.

1.3 The Newly Kindled Spirit

Some souls revered antiquity and made every effort to revive or “resurrect” it. It was the birth of the Renaissance or, as it should rightly be called, the Rinascimento; a development that flourished in Florence and Rome. Many of the French expressions used today in modern fencing, as well as in colloquial language, were only introduced into the language at the beginning of the 19th century. Previously, Italian was the language of the educated, and it is still used today in musical terminology and even in the accounting field, among others.

The immediate forerunners for the Italian schools of the knife fight, however, may originate from the 15th to the 18th century. The intellectual framework, which the fencers were once moved to rethink, perhaps had its beginning in Italy of the 15th century, wherein, as I said, the exact chronology, in the absence of documentation must remain speculative.

The straight-ahead path, (that of the accurate thrust), was already present on the peninsula even in ancient times. One finds its traces mainly in the Roman army. For example, in the first century BC, Caesar was already demonstrably training the Legionnaires in weapons craft. Vegetius described in the 5th century AD, the training of recruits in dealing with the gladius9. Here it must be remembered that Vegetius’ Epitoma rei militarii is not a factual report. He writes it, reminiscing of the “good old days”. Whether the Legionaries were actually drilled to use only the thrust, we do not know for sure. It is rather unlikely though, because in the fray, once a formation is dissolved, the slash gains quite a tactical advantage; and the Romans were the best military tacticians and practitioners of their time. At the time of Augustus, the considerably longer spatha, the battle sword of the Romans, was introduced. This name has since continued in Italy as spada, to the present day.

1.3.1 Art and Literature

Rinascimento is an Italian term used by artist biographer Giorgio Vasari for the first time in 1550. The origins of the Renaissance¹⁰ probably date back to the late 14th century in Siena, northern Italy. However, Siena had to surrender to Florence after a devastating plague epidemic. The Florentines revived the Renaissance until the focal point finally moved to Rome, the Eternal City. The 15th and 16th centuries are considered to be the main phases of this era. The end of the Renaissance is largely the beginning of the 17th century. The period onward is referred to as the era of the Baroque. A whole generation of painters and sculptors were children of the Renaissance, such as: Donatello (1386-1466), Da Vinci (1452-1519), Raphael (da Urbino, 1483-1520), Titian (14(?)-1576), and in the heyday of the Renaissance, the Mannerism, Michelangelo (di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, 1475-1564).

Potrait of Michelangelo by Baccio Bandinelli

Probably the most impressive works of art were created in this period, especially during the High Renaissance: The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa (da Vinci); the Sistine Madonna (Raphael); the Pietà, the Moses, the David, and also the world famous ceiling fresco in the Sistine Chapel (all Michelangelo), and many more. But also outside Italy, the Renaissance brought to light important artists, such as the great German painter Albrecht Dürer. Dürer was responsible, among other things, for a treatise on fencing. While his Oplodidaskalia immersive armorum trac tand orum meditation is basically just a copy of the Codex Wallerstein, the artistic development of the High Renaissance finally culminates with the Mannerism movement, where the sense of form of the High Renaissance was simply portrayed disproportionately¹¹. This was followed by the Baroque, which was very magnificent under the influence of Absolutism.

David by Michelangelo, photograph from Romain Rolland’s “Michelangelo”, 1912

The main artistic difference between antiquity and the Middle Ages was the fact that the artists of the Renaissance oriented themselves away from the mosaic towards the fresco, but were also increasingly dedicated to altar paintings. Art found its way back to purity and the classic, stylish lines of Hellenic ideals of beauty.

Also architecture developed in the direction of former glory and proportions, and found this to be a new blossoming. Architectural lines became clearer. The sky-scraping proportions of the High Middle Ages were now perceived as irrational, even barbaric, or in the words of Giorgio Vasari, architect and court painter of the Medici, as “gothic”.

Largely simple geometric figures, such as circles or squares, were used. Pilasters and columns were reintroduced. One of the main goals was to unite several buildings into an overall aesthetic whole. Filippo Brunelleschi, one of the most important architects and sculptors of this era, is regarded as the discoverer of the mathematically constructible perspective.

This created the possibility of examining architectural designs in the context of the corresponding spatial perspective, which actually enabled the composition of building ensembles or even an entire piazza. And in addition to Lorenzo Ghiberti and Donatello, he was responsible for these new developments within the arts.

Especially the fencing art owes a lot of its inspiration to rational mathematical penetration, the idea of perspective, and the principle of spatial composition, as for example in Agrippa¹².

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, 1307 – 1321, Venice.

The Renaissance was initiated by poets like Dante Alighieri¹³ and Petrarch. A description of the typical Renaissance man, the so-called gentiluomo¹⁴, the scholarly man of the court as a social model of this era, is provided by Baldassare Castiglione in his work Il libro del Cortegiano (1528). Many other great writers join the list, with the genius of William Shakespeare representing the literary zenith and historical end of this era. It was the time of great men for all seasons who were blessed with talent in different areas. A sculptor was also sometimes a painter, architect, alchemist, and mathematician. The ideal man of the Renaissance was the uomo universale, the universal man. He endeavored to question things critically, to structure them. He was independent, educated, well-versed in the muses as well as in the sciences, creative, and as far as possible, self-determined.

The flourishing of this era was brought about by, among other things, the influence of the Arabs, through the Reconquista15, and by the fall of Byzantium¹⁶, paving the way for Christian scholars to access libraries and works that had great impact after the collapse of Western Rome, and that had been kept in the Arab culture, as well as in the libraries of Byzantium. One of the pioneers of this development might have been the aforementioned poet Francesco Petrarca, whose focus, in the 14th century, was to the collection and study of ancient writings. He also promulgated a humanistic education, away from the theocentric mentality of the Middle Ages and away from scholastic-Aristotelian thinking¹⁷. Cicero and Plato, whose writings had all been translated into Latin, came to the fore.

In particular, the Renaissance turned against the excesses that gave authority absolute priority over facts. This was primarily the result of the spread of the practical sciences, which, through the Renaissance, had achieved a tremendous upturn, and indeed their final breakthrough. One of these practical sciences was the art of fencing, which was also flourishing. At that time, unlike today, the art’s representatives and illustrators included a crème of artists and scientists.

1.3.2 The City-States

The political structure of Italy at that time also contributed to this development, especially with regard to art and philosophy. Italy was not a unified country, but rather consisted of many city-states, so-called republics, as well as duchies, which were in constant competition with each other. This political autonomy may have enabled an individual development in terms of art, philosophy, science, and economics¹⁸. Ultimately, the peninsula’s position also supports an exchange with other cultures, mainly through trade routes to the sea, but also over the Alps. Many Renaissance scholars were followers of humanism. Famous representatives of this mentality, for example, were the analyst Niccolò Machiavelli and, in matters of morality, Erasmus of Rotterdam. And precisely this mental clarity, this endeavor to put things rationally and get “to the point”¹⁹, may have been partly responsible for the further development of fencing at this time of upheaval or restructuring of natural predispositions.

And so there was also a drastic change in the art of fencing at this time – the uomo universale was supposed to be able to defend himself according to all the rules of art – which may have had its beginnings in the Renaissance, but flourished in the Baroque period.

1.4 With Sword and Dagger

Since the Renaissance, the fencing art has been part of the artes liberales (the noble or free arts), whereas previously, in the Middle Ages, it had been considered part of the artes mechanicae (the practical arts), of the military sort, to be precise. Art, ars, was only considered liberale (decent, noble, or free) if it was worthy of a man who could call himself free. In the Renaissance, art was also regarded as a talent which, when it appeared, indicated creativity, and so led to inventions. In the context of this new perspective or approach, the first literary works characteristic of the Italian school were produced. They arose from the wellspring of Master Fiore dei Liberi²⁰ and also Filippo Vadi²¹.

1.4.1 Fiore dei Liberi

At this point, I would like to take the opportunity to emphasize the work of the Fencing Master Fiore dei Liberi, the Flos Duellatorum, as it was the first work on fencing in the Italian language. There are probably three manuscripts comprising the work, but only two seem to exist. Apparently, the most extensive manuscript, the Pisani-Dossi-Codex, can no longer be found. The manuscripts were written in the Venetian dialect and in verse form. In the preface, the master also mentions that he was apprenticed to the Swabian Fencing Master Johannes during his travels in Germany. Even if it is not clear who this Johannes exactly was, the report at least shows how much the German and the Italian fencing school were connected. Fiore also mentions that he not only knows how to write, but also how to draw. And thus he draws attention to the fact that a precise view of the drawn plates was essential. He also generally indicates – perhaps unintentionally – how important it is to approach the subject of fencing with a keen mind and gaze.

The Flos Duellatorum provides a comprehensive look into how to handle the weapons of its time. The sword, one or two-handed, was not considered a focal point for Fiore²². And accordingly, the master equally gives instructions in his work on wrestling, which he calls abrazare²³.

In addition to the unarmed defense against a dagger-armed attacker, there are also technical representations of dagger to dagger fights, which are technically the same as the aforementioned ring techniques of abrazare. In Fiore’s time, as a general rule, a man was never completely unarmed. As such, there was no great difference between wrestling and fighting with a dagger.

There are also instructions for dagger fighting, as such. On pages 1-7 in the ninth chapter of the same work, the first technical studies on the handling of the dagger are shown. The same applies to the bastoncello, the pointing stick; for the sword in the scabbard; for spear against spear; for spear against the mace; for the battle ax; for the fight in armor; as well as for mounted combat. Thus, it is the work of a time that was largely devoted to combat on the battlefield.

In Fiore one reads for the first time, the distinction between the long or wide game, zogho largo, and the close or narrow game, zogho stretto. Some experts still argue today regarding the terms largo and stretto, long and narrow. Some are of the opinion that the terms are based on the distance of the fencers relative to each other. While others think that these terms refer to the space available for the actions of one’s own sword.

In the folk schools of southern Italy, especially in the schools of the shepherd’s cane, there are two figures, lessons or postures that also follow these terms: the narrow corridor (corridoio stretto) and the wide corridor (corridoio largo). The terms narrow and long, in this case definitely refer to the space that the weapon has available. In the narrow corridor, one imagines that one has to guide the weapons close to one’s own anatomy, because one has to move in a narrow corridor. In the wide corridor, on the other hand, there is room for hitting far to the left and right (in a very simplified way). The same applies to the figures and lessons of the knife, the narrow and the wide knife (coltello stretto and coltello largo). From the point of view of a native Italian speaker and folk stick and knife fighter, there is no real contradiction in the interpretations; both interpretations make sense.

1.5 The Rapier and the Fencing School

From the 16th century onwards, the sword gradually developed away from the battlefield to a duel weapon or weapon for self-defense. During this era, the simultaneous use of a second weapon became increasingly common. In the 16th century, or even at the beginning of the 17th century, the so-called “left-hand dagger²⁴” became commonplace, or one could use a cloak wrapped around the free arm. The latter methodology especially, has relevance in folk knife fencing to this day. Incidentally, Lorenzo de' Medici had already used this combination when he and his brother Giuliano were attacked, on April 26, 1478; well before the 16th century. Or consider the Royal Armouries Ms. I.33 manuscript. It is the earliest known surviving European fechtbuch (combat manual) and one of the oldest surviving martial arts manuals dealing with armed combat worldwide. I.33 is also known as the “Walpurgis Manuscript”, after a figure named Walpurgis, shown in the last sequence of the manuscript, and the “Tower Manuscript”, because it was kept in the Tower of London from 1950 to 1996. It is also referred to as British Museum – No. 14 E iii, No. 20, D. vi.

This manuscript, whose genesis was estimated around 1300-1320, describes using the “fist shield,”²⁵ or buckler, in a conventional duel and also as part of the skills of the simple soldier on the battlefield. Principles and techniques that correspond to the use of the buckler can be found particularly within the (circling) knife school (“scuola ruotata”) from Riposto, Sicily²⁶.

Fencing developed at that time from the manifestation of new indepth scientific research. Masters like Achille Marozzo or Antonio Manciolino took the first steps. And Italy was, over time, becoming the focal point, the mecca of this movement. In the course of this evolution, the increasing use of the thrust, as faster and more deadly, replaced the school of slash. The paradigm shift of this technical advance resulted in the birth of a new sword type: the spada, sometimes called striscia (strip/streak)²⁷.

Eventually, at the beginning of the 19th century, when French, as mentioned, became a world language, this weapon was simply named Rapier²⁸. The name was derived from the legend of the Spanish espada ropera²⁹. However, these assumptions are unproven. And in the founding country of Italy, neither name is used accordingly. The rapier was or is a sword with a long and fine blade, which allowed quick thrusts in tempo³⁰. Consideration should be given to the armor-piercing-sword. This weapon could have been an intellectual predecessor of the rapier.

The Italian school of fencing predominantly prefers combat with wider distances and forward postures. Every action, whether offensive or defensive, was accompanied by an almost obligatory change in measure without bending the weapon-arm too much. Feints were predominantly body-feints, just like the appell later, a light step forward or in place with the forward foot in order to hide with the sound that the lunge is still continuing forward. And, if the opponent reacts too much to the appell, you were a tempo ahead of him.

The Italian manner also tried to clear the opponents weapon out of the way with a quick battuta, a beat³¹. It was an athletic and aggressive form of dueling. There were likely even more masters in that era, which represents a flowing transition from the high or rather late Renaissance (Mannerism) to the early Baroque, than there are literary works, of which we have a large number. For example, the following authors, and many others, were just some of the most renowned Italian representatives of this development:

Camillo Agrippa, Trattato di Scientia d'Arme con un Dialogo di Filosofia, 1553

Giacomo di Grassi, Ragion di Adoprar Sicuramente l'Arme si da Offesa, come da Difesa, 1570

Angelo Viaggiani, Lo Schermo, 1575

Nicoletto Giganti, Scola overo Teatro, 1606;

Salvatore Fabris, Lo Schermo, ovvero Scienza d'Arme, 1606

Ridolfo Capoferro, Gran Simulacro dell'Arte e dell'Uso della Scherma, 1610

Francesco Alfieri, La Scherma di Francesco Alfieri, 1640

Of course, at that time there were great Fencing Masters of the sword outside of Italy, such as the German Renaissance Fencing Master Joachim Meyer³² or the gentleman George Silver³³, who is still a force to be reckoned with in the late Renaissance. According to his own statements, Joachim Meyer was influenced by Italian fencing methods. George Silver’s work, on the other hand, was a pamphlet against Italian duel fencing, which he considered absolutely unfit for either battlefield or self-defense, due to the length of the sword, among other things. In his work he mainly attacks the Italian Fencing Masters Rocco Bonetti and Vincentio Saviolo³⁴. Whatever one may have thought about the fencing schools of the Italian maestri of those eras, Italy had been the destination for ambitious fencing students from half of Europe for centuries and still remained so.

At this point, I cannot get into all the masters of the Italian fencing schools, but I would like to name at least a few that, in my opinion, provide a clear technical and tactical connection to the folk knife schools of the 19th century.

Title picture of Opera Nova by Marozzo.

1.5.1 Achille Marozzo

In 1536, in his work, Opera Nova de Achille Marozzo, Bolognese, Maestro Generale, de l'Arte de l'Armi, the Maestro, considered the greatest and most successful Fencing Master of his time, gives an extensive insight into all major weapons genres. He does so in five books with a total of 273 chapters. And as artistic innovation, he placed a cover picture at the beginning of his work. This sophisticated woodcut shows, among other things, the Master himself, who points to a secret code, which only reveals itself to the initiated. As we will see in the third chapter, the secret languages, or the symbolism associated with the art, had an ongoing connection to the culture of Italy, and especially to the traditions of the folk Italian schools of the knife.

For the context of this book, it is interesting to note that Marozzo utilized a methodical classification of numerous fencing positions, which served among other things to get into the right distance for assault and movement by changing or shifting from one position to another. These changes or offset footwork patterns were advantageous for fencing in his time, because the feint, in the classical sense had not yet matured. Additionally, the weapons used were comparatively still very heavy and therefore not suitable for every feint. Marozzo’s position changes were the precursors of the feint, because they allowed one to pretend to be where they really were not.

In addition, one has to bear in mind that motion and time were interrelated in that era. Inspired by the teachings of Aristotle, it was concluded that time was the yardstick for measuring the movement between two moments of standstill. From the perspective of a Fencing Master of the Renaissance, or the early Baroque, advantageous actions could only be taken during the time required for the opponent to transition from one position to another. And precisely this Game of Offset, or misalignment, is still an essential feature of many Italian knife schools. Allow me to take a brief excursion into the work of Fencing Master Angelo Viaggiani, Lo Schermo, 1575, in which the “tempo”, on page 63, is described as follows:

“[…] Aluigi Conzaga (alias Rodomonte): I realize that the Count35 does not understand this well, but perhaps I'll politely explain that to him, saying: ‘Listen, Count, these philosophers have proven that a body is at a halt before it moves and (that it is) again at a halt after completing the movement; such that any movement, assuming it is a single one, lies between two standstills.’

Ludovico Boccadiferro Bolonese: ‘In the seventh and eighth (book) of his ‘Physics’, Aristotle has proven this36: You speak the truth, Rodomonte”’

But let us return to Marozzo:

In the end, Marozzo was also the first to discuss the theory of the circle. He describes (and he also depicts this in his work) an imaginary circle, with lines drawn through the circle in a star pattern as a geometric tool. At this point, allow me to quote the Master first personally³⁷:

“[…] this is the sign on which you will make your disciples walk (from) step to step, (like so) forward and backward, with the weapons in their hands, around (and) around, placing their feet on those lines that cross the circle.”

Thus, Marozzo literally describes circular walking as “attorno, attorno”, which means “around (and) around”. Nowadays, in the North Apulian Knife School³⁸, one still uses a similar expression “girando, girando” which means roughly “circling (and again) circling”. This document is very important! It shows that the circular walk, as it is still found today in almost all Italian knife schools, may be attributed to the Italian Fencing Masters of the Renaissance.

So, in fact, there might be a chain of thought that has been passed on since the thirties of the 16th century until the middle of the 19th century, the peak of folk knife schools in southern Italy.

Opera Nova by Marozzo, chapter 144, Walking the circle.

1.5.2 Camillo Agrippa

The first edition of the work of Fencing Master Camillo Agrippa, Trattato di Scientia d`Arma con un Dialogo di Filosofia di Camillo Agrippa Milanese, appeared in 1553 in Rome. Then two more editions appeared, both in Venice in the years 1568 and 1604. Agrippa was not only a Fencing Master, but he was also a philosopher, architect, and mathematician. Thus he taught fencing through the use of mathematical principles or by the geometric representation of points, lines, and sequences of movements. Agrippa was of the opinion that fencing could best be explained by the addition of imaginary points and point connections. This manner of looking based from a (focal) point was founded, as already described, in the art of the Renaissance (recall the Central Perspective). And you can still find it today in some folk knife schools in Sicily³⁹, where the idea of pinpoint thrusting remains the focus of the training.

Agrippa – Study of reach in case of a thrust with a lunge.

Agrippa was thus the first to realize that the thrust, compared to the slash, had advantages geometrically. He saw that the point-to-point connection is more direct, and thus faster, than the arc that results when you execute a cut. Therefore points, lines, speed, and scale were more important to him than many techniques. He also focused on the advantage of being ahead of the opponent in time.

Thus, he wrote in the first part of his treatise, one should avoid the withdrawal of the arm before the thrust. This would otherwise lead to two disadvantages: first, a loss of time (perdita del tempo) and secondly, it would be easier for the opponent to carry out a counterattack⁴⁰. Agrippa made fencing quicker, which affected the sword itself, becoming more and more a rapier.

By classifying all guards into a mere four hand positions, he impressed Italian fencing with its label of simplicity. Hand positions are the way the hand holds the weapon to provide an optimum of potential threat, protection and transfer of power, depending on necessity. Up to the introduction of the electronic scoring system this was also the basic methodology of Olympic fencing. In the southern Italian knife schools, this foundation still exists today.

Agrippa – four fist/hand positions including the corresponding guards.

By depicting naked fencers⁴¹, which incidentally, was also a piece of artistic novelty for a fencing book, Agrippa was able to present the length of the lunge in better relation to the range achieved by it. Consequently this led to the increasing importance of the lunge.

1.5.3 Nicoletto Giganti

The work of Fencing Master Nicoletto Giganti first appeared in 1606. A second edition appeared in 1608, and a third in 1628. Six years earlier, in 1622, a German translation of the first edition appeared in Frankfurt. The fencers depicted were also naked in the tradition of Agrippa, whereby the artistic rendering in Giganti was already informed by Mannerism. Later, in Capo Ferro’s work, one could admire, in my view, the most expressive copperplate engravings of Mannerism.

Like Agrippa, Giganti was primarily concerned with the scientific approach to fencing. Points, lines, and numbers were also the main focus of his attention. He was also of the opinion that you should straighten out the arm for a lunge in tempo before lunging⁴². Giganti was the first in fencing to deal in detail with basic postures, posture, and their counterparts, the controposture. Even here, parallels to the Italian knife and stick schools are evident, which, in addition to the figures for the circular walk, also have so-called fencing positions and counter-positions⁴³.

Another similarity between Giganti’s fencing school and certain branches of Italian folk knife fencing are Giganti’s so-called volte, rotations. These are body-movements, which, depending on the knife school, can be called quartiature or just as equally volture⁴⁴.

Giganti – the volta

Furthermore, he emphasized recovery from the target zone back into wide measure immediately following the completed thrust. This tactic is followed by almost all Southern Italian knife schools up to the present day. He also taught the cross step (especially when using a second weapon, such as a left-hand dagger), a technique that is also still present in the knife and stick traditions of the south, where it is sometimes called forbice (scissors) or sforbiciata (shearing).

Giganti’s school was also rich in feinting and evasive thrusts, which he, together with the thrust in the opponent’s tempo, always preferred to parries. It was Giganti who almost completely replaced the cut with the thrust.

1.5.4 Salvator Fabris

The Fencing Master from Padua, Salvator Fabris was among the students of the aforementioned Masters Marozzo and Giganti. As a Fencing Master at the court of King Christian IV, his masterpiece on rapier fencing, Lo Schermo overo Scienza d'Arme was published in Copenhagen in the year 1606. In the end, he did not contribute any great innovations to fencing, but he was the one who, through his extensive knowledge of various fencing schools, put together a combination of the best methods of his time for a single school to follow. However, as Achile Marozzo had done before him, Fabris also provided information on battling with the dagger, which to date has not lost its validity within many knife schools from the south of the peninsula or worldwide:

“[…]because among men, who’s honor is whole, unexpected and sudden incidents may occur, which do not leave time to reach for long weapons, you should remember and admonish which techniques may serve a man dagger against dagger. Because the dagger is short, there is the danger that the enemy may be able to grasp the handle of our dagger.

But you may do less than parry. Instead you save yourself quicker with body and feet to one side and to the other, and injure his hands and arms, so that you are safer and keep the enemy away. This way he cannot grab you nor wrestle with you. Furthermore, the one who has understanding of time, measure and footwork will be helped by the items described before. And more will not be said […].”

Ridolfo Capo Ferro, Gran Simulacro dell’Arte e dell’Uso della Scherma di Ridolfo Capo Ferro, 1610.

1.5.5 Ridolfo Capo Ferro

The first edition of the work of the great Italian Fencing Master Ridolfo Capo Ferro, Gran Simulacro dell'Arte e dell'Uso della Scherma di Ridolfo Capo Ferro, was published in the year 1610. It thus represents a fencing book, which also reflects artistically the transition to the Baroque. Even though the fencers are portrayed naked in Capo Ferro’s work, the difference to the engravings in Agrippa’s treatise literally jumps into the eye. The artist Raphael Schiaminossi designed the 43 full-page copperplates. They are shown disproportionally as was the style of Mannerism and therefore have an expressive dynamic that up until that time had not been shown in fencing books. It was therefore primarily a work for the contemporaries of Capo Ferro, who were also interested in art. In his treatise, Capo Ferro argues that first, one must almost simultaneously move the weapon and upper body (so here, he goes one step further than Giganti had before), because one is then even more ahead of the adversary in time and space. He also championed the position that it was advantageous to stand in profile to the opponent, thus offering less hit surface. In many southern Italian knife schools, one can still find this principle. Depending on the region and school, there are different names given to it. In a branch of the tradition of Manfredonia, as I have learned it, one speaks of the so-called chiuse, the closed positions⁴⁵. In the “circling and/or flowery school” from Sicily (Catania region) you also generally stand closed⁴⁶.

In the end, it was Capo Ferro who first felt that one should raise the left arm for the balance. This makes it almost a kind of counterweight to the sword-arm. This idea can still be found in some schools of folk Italian knife fencing, where it is sometimes called bilancia47, the balancing scale. Ultimately, he was the first to describe in detail the thrust with a long lunge and also split the blade of the sword into only two sections, forte and debole, strong and weak, respectively.

Capo Ferro, Thrust with lunge.

Capo Ferro, left arm in the balance/scale.

Alfieri, Counter thrust in seconda.

1.5.6 Ferdinando Alfieri

I would like to mention Ferdinando Alfieri, an Italian Fencing Master of the Early Baroque⁴⁸ from Padua, for literary-scientific reasons. He is responsible for the first fencing caesura in Italy.

His work from 1640, La Scherma di Francesco Alfieri, showed the fencers, in contrast to his predecessors,⁴⁹ no longer classically nude, but rather, in the style of Marozzo, back in the wardrobe of their time. It was Alfieri who was the first to refer to previous Fencing Masters by means of quotations and commentaries. He greatly appreciated Fabris in terms of fencing, while vehemently opposed Marozzo and Capo Ferro in many respects. In this way, he became the first documented exponent of the critique of tradition, in Italy at least. Before Alfieri, the German Heinrich von Gutenrrodt ventured an open and pungent criticism of the German fencing guilds: he sharply criticized the fencing school of the Marx Brothers, while he expressed the views of Joachim Meyer, to put it cautiously, rather positively.

1.5.7 A Summary of the Technical Developments in Fencing

In order to give a better overview of the extent to which the development of the historical Italian fencing style has also influenced the folk knife culture of southern Italy, the following presents the most important stages of development, as far as can actually be documented from the literature:

Fiore dei Liberi, 1410 (circa)

• The first literary work concerning the Italian fencing school.

• The first representations of a fencer’s guards, as they continue to be represented today within various popular fencing schools in southern Italy, whether with knives or stick.

• The first instructions to fight with a short blade, the dagger.

Achille Marozzo, 1536

• The methodical classification of numerous guards (fencing positions) and their associated footwork to reach the desired scale for attack and defense.

• The first representation of the theory of the circle or of circle walking.

Camillo Agrippa, 1553

• Identification of the advantage of the straight-line, carefully targeted thrust in comparison to the arc of the cut.

• The reduction of all poses or fencing positions to only four basic hand positions.

• The relationship of the length of the lunge to the position of the weapon arm for the best possible range of attack.

Nicoletto Giganti, 1606

• The extension of the weapon arm before the actual strike.

• The detailed (technical) examination of the basic fencing posture, including the corresponding counter-part (postura and contropostura).

• The tactical examination of the various combat positions, including their relative counter-positions (guardie and controguardie).

• The immediate withdrawal to a safe distance after a strike.

• The introduction of the cross step.

Salvator Fabris, 1606

• The methodical compilation of tactics, techniques and guard/postures of different schools,⁵⁰ which led to the development of the first systematically created hybrid system in fencing.

Ridolfo Capo Ferro, 1610

• Profiled positioning.

• Simultaneous movement of the arm and upper body before the strike.

• Improvement of balance by raising the left arm (for the right-handed).

Ferdinando Alfieri, 1640

• Introduction of fencing critique (in Italy) regarding other masters. That is, the introduction of a means for a differentiated, analytical confrontation on the subject matter (system critique).

1.6 The Possible Transitions from the Sword to the Knife

1.6.1 The Prohibition to Carry Weapons or rather to Duel, and the Consequent Development of Knife Fencing

At this point it must be mentioned that in the written documentation of fencing development in the Italian folk knife and stick traditions, nearly 200 to 300-years or more, of history is absent or barely detectable. Whether, and how, the folk schools of the knife and the stick evolved from the fencing skills of the aforementioned Italian fencing masters, cannot be proved exactly. The only clue that has a certain amount of evidence, apart from geographical proximity, is the technical-tactical and astonishingly visual similarities in both arts, which become immediately apparent to the trained eye.⁵¹

There are also similarities in didactics. In both cases, historical Italian fencing, as well as some southern Italian schools of the knife and the stick, have defined motion sequences, which can also be described as forms, similar to those of Asian martial arts. These “forms” have been in existence since the Bolognese school⁵², where they were referred to as assalti; attacks or onslaughts. It is important to bear in mind that the absence of a written reference does not imply that there has been no development. It may simply be that there is not enough evidence to reliably reconstruct those references. That suddenly and unexpectedly, in the middle of the 19th century, a fully matured knife fighting system should have arisen is less likely, than the fact that up to the present time we simply lack evidence of a previous development. Every development requires time.

Micro-evolutionary development processes took place, which showed a macro-evolutionary change only after a few decades or even centuries. And since the masters of these fencing schools of the people were neither academics, nor belonged to a cultural group that would have agreed to a publication of these “Inner Affairs”, there were no written records. What some of the witnesses may have seen after the emergence of the criminal syndicates may have in part been macro-evolutionary intermediates of a development that may have originated at the beginnings of the academic fencing schools described above. Some of these arts may also be related to the cavalry sabre originating in Eastern Europe, as may be the case with Genoa walking stick fighting, since the technical similarities are obvious. In the southern Italian traditions, as has already been indicated, a clearly verifiable chain of tradition prior to the 19th century does not really exist.

Indicators that history might offer us – as possible initiators of an evolution towards the stick and knife as a substitute for the sword – were the recurring bans within Italian urban areas to carry swords, long poles, and also long daggers. These bans were already in place in the 15th century⁵³ and reached their peak in the middle of the 19th century. Presumably, the use of the “short” knife with a fixed blade,⁵⁴ and later the folding knife,⁵⁵ was increasingly chosen, as both, especially the folding knife, could be easily concealed while worn. The length of the knives of that time (up to more than 27.5 inches or 70 cm) clearly shows that they were purely weapons that owed their existence to the loopholes in law that legalized folding knives.

By the 18th century, the methods of dagger fencing were already introduced in, among other places, the so-called balli armati56; the Morris dances. The use of single and double knives was differentiated. However, it is unknowable whether these had any influence on the existing schools of the knife. Presumably, another development took place by at least the 19th century, in the villages and the rural areas of Italy. The working population did not have the financial means to purchase or produce high-quality weapons, and so they devoted their attention to everyday objects. The focus was on the knife, which was considered the “Sword of the People,”⁵⁷ especially in the south of the peninsula.

In addition to the short blade, sticks were also used for self-defense. The first traces of this described the two-handed City stick (bastone a due mani)⁵⁸; the Walking stick, or cane (bastone da passeggio)59, which was considered part of the wardrobe from the 18th century onwards, (thus permitted everywhere), and also the club (randello, manganello, or, depending on the dialect, manichetto)⁶⁰. In the countryside, the herdsmen and shepherds used the approximately 43½ – 53 inch (110 – 135 cms) long Shepherd’s cane (bastone, mazza, or lungo) to defend their lives and their goods.

Sicilian shepherd’s sticks

These types of weapons supposedly existed – especially in Sicily – since the 14th/15th century as part of a coarse fighting method. Here again, a distinction must be made between folk belief, legend, and the probability of historical fact. There is no clear evidence for these claims. Today at best, four to five generations of evidence can be traced. However, almost all the southern folk Italian fencing schools are didactically divided into two stages: one traditionally learns the shepherd’s cane and knife, but in the course of their training, they move on to choose one of the other weapon types.

The free hand balances out the stick.

The shepherd’s cane is essential for some popular fencing schools, because it serves, among other things, as a tool to give the practitioners the necessary structure for the knife. It also promotes the specific physical development of the fencers, since the weight of the weapon trains the muscles of the legs and – especially – those of the shoulders. Furthermore, the handling of the shepherd’s cane enhances the mobility of the upper limbs. In addition to the above mentioned characteristics, in some schools the stick also includes hidden knife techniques that make the difference between a conventional duel and the confrontation on the street. Ultimately, the shepherd’s cane demands balance (bilancia) and coordination from the trainees, as the momentum of the stick has to be slowed down and accelerated again and again, without wavering or exerting too much effort. The art of the shepherd’s cane is particularly related to the fencing schools in Apulia and Sicily⁶¹, described in Chapters 5 and 6.

In my opinion, they also have the clearest fencing relationship with the academic fencing arts of the early to mid 15^th century. Furthermore there were practices for interactions with the axe, the billhook/pruning knife or even the bull pizzle and the belt, with cords or also with stones.⁶²

1.6.2 The Culture of the Common Folk

Therefore, a structured folk culture of struggle existed throughout the 14th/15th centuries.⁶³ This development created, or encouraged, a kind of a cultural pride of the simple people’s class; a unique identity of their own. In order to curb this gain of civilian strength, the governments of the Italian states repeatedly issued the above mentioned prohibitions on weapons. These were simply laws designed to disarm the people in order to make it more difficult to have bloody conflicts within the population.

The era that is of greater interest to this book, as well as the technical peak of these schools, the zenith of their distribution, and the presence of written documentation, can be categorized from the 19th century until the beginning of the 20th century.

These secret schools of self-defense arose in the community, which today we call “popolari”, folksy, but with the connotation: “vulgar”. One possible clue – but not scientific proof – of the existence and popularity of these “Academies of the People” can be found in the work of Basco Florio, La scienza della scherma, Catania 1844:

“Fencing with the knife, the stick, and similar low or non-noble weapons is learned and practiced by vulgar and criminal persons”.

Instead of occurring publicly, the duels, (documentation is only partially possible here), were relegated to the underground until supposedly 1950/1960. Especially in Sicily, the practice and wearing of the knife is a strict offence. The bans are still in effect today. Whether this is due to the effectiveness of the Sicilian systems, the proud mentality of the local population, or that it is simply a political issue cannot be clearly determined.

1.7 The Dagger and the Italian Military, the Arditi

The Arditi were Italian storm troopers, formed by the infantry, which was formally founded on July 29, 1917. And thus that development was “fairly contemporary” to the fencing schools of the people. Presumably, the idea of starting such a storm troop was adopted by the German army. As a storm troop, the Arditi were always on the front, albeit briefly. They were better equipped than the rest of the army. Their raids came abruptly, but were also often accompanied by large losses. After the end of the First World War, the Arditi dissolved, and split in two directions: part of the troop supported the still young Fascist Movement in the 1920s, and another part was devoted to Communism or, in some cases, to the Anarchist Movement.⁶⁴

What made the Arditi military unit largely different from the rest of the armies of their time was the additional and systematic use of the dagger in military operations. They were a fencing trained troop. The fencing method of the Arditi was rather simple compared to the southern Italian systems of duel and defense. Melee in a ditch poses very different requirements for man than a conventional duel in a (fencing) hall, for example.

There was a left and a right lead, and the knife could be held in the saber grip or in the icepick grip (the knife is held with the tip pointing downwards). Since the dagger was attached to the front right side of the belt, it often happened that the Ardito first pulled the dagger in the ice pick grip. In doing so, the soldier was in left guard, while the forearm of his left arm formed a kind of shield in front of his body. Apart from kicks and a few actions on the ground, the core of his training was mainly left-handed parries with obligatory counter-thrusts (also the fencing lunge) – and of course, everything in accordance with a fencer’s footwork. But the tradition also contained fencing elements, such as the passata sotto⁶⁵ and the inquartata,66 which seem very unlikely for trench warfare.

Further historical and/or technical components of this military training would not be in the scope of this book. The Arditi are not really relevant to the history of the southern Italian folk schools. But the presence of such a fencing method even in the military, at least shows clearly how much knives and the dagger were anchored in Italy’s mentality until the beginning of the 20th century. If you would like to delve deeper into the history and methodology of the Arditi, I recommend the book L'arte italiana del maneggio delle lame corte, dal 1350 al 1943, Storia e tecnica67 by Antonio G.G. Merendoni.

1.8 Recapitulation

The fencing arts of Italy and Europe have a common denominator, a teaching doctrine – basic fencing. The schools of Italy are also to be identified by the increased use of the straight-ahead thrust. Now and then this tactic was already found in a systematic developed form in the Roman Italy of antiquity, in the case of short bladed weapons, as it is a matter of course with the spear.

In the knife fencing schools of the Renaissance and the Baroque periods, the straight-ahead thrust was the cornerstone of the Italian masters who developed the concept in Italy. The similarity of ancient and medieval fencing, as well as the subsequent knife fencing schools, to the folk traditions of 19th century Italy could be an indication of a direct influence. However, no reliable or written evidence can be provided.

So what remains here is for us to create our own hypotheses through comparisons and reflection, and to question them critically. We can also continue to research, so to perhaps one day come across sources that can confirm a direct link between both developments. And even if no written evidence appears to be present, the apparent similarities and principles of both lines are so closely related that it seems likely that one tradition may have influenced the other. This is the big question mark that remains.

¹ At least this applies to the fencing traditions that are subject to dueling conventions.

² Fencing positions or guards

³ Ital. figure or lezioni

⁴ One thinks of Chivalry, of the proud Hidalgos, or of the flowery Ballet.

⁵ Robert N. Charrette, Fiore dei Liberi’s Armizare: The Chivalric Martial Arts System of Il Fior di Battaglia (2012)

Tom Leoni, The Complete Renaissance Swordman (2010)

Tom Leoni, Venetian Rapier: Nicoletto Giganti’s 1606 Rapier Fencing Curriculum (2010)

Tom Leoni, Ridolfo Capoferro’s Art and Practice of Fencing: A Translation for the Modern Swordsman (2012)

Guy Windsor, The Swordsman’s Companion: A Modern Training Manual for the Medieval Swordsman (2002)

Guy Windsor, The Duelist’s Companion: A training manual for 17th c rapier fencing (2005)

Guy Windsor, Mastering the Art of Arms: The Medieval Dagger (2012)

Guy Windsor, The Medieval Longsword: Volume Two (2014)

Luca Porzio und Gregory Mele, Arte Gladiatoria Dimicandi: 15th Century Swordsmanship of Master Fillipo Vadi translated (2010).

Antonio Merendoni G.G. Merendoni and Baravex Manuel, L'arma e il cavaliere. L'arte della scherma medievale (2000).

Antonio Merendoni G.G. Merendoni, Scherma storica: il metodo di spada italiano (2014)

⁶ Ital. scuola

⁷ Gladiators, Life and Death Fighting Games, Chapter III – Living and Dying in the Arena

⁸ For the figures and related didactics refer to section 1.1, in the third paragraph of the introduction of this chapter. You can also compare Chapters 5 and 6.

⁹ See also chapter 4.4 – The One Great Commonality.

¹⁰ For the sake of understanding, we agree on the terminology used today.

¹¹ One might think of the Figura serpentìna by Giovanni da Bologna.

¹² See this chapter, subsection 1.5.2

¹³ The Divine Comedy; 1307-1321

¹⁴ One can compare this to the English term: Gentleman.

¹⁵ The re-conquest of the Iberian Peninsula by the Christian descendants of the Visigoths.

¹⁶ In the course of the conquest of Byzantium by the Turks, Greek scholars increasingly fled to Italy.

¹⁷ Scholastic is literally understood as “school-by-word”. This refers to the scientific method of reasoning, as it was developed and applied in the Latinized world of the Middle Ages among scholars.

¹⁸ For example, the abolition of the medieval interest ban or the bracteates (a kind of coin used at the time), as well as the rise of the banks of the Fugger and the Medici, or even the introduction of a unified language in accounting. This development also caused a financial and social imbalance between urban and rural populations.

¹⁹ The depiction of the central perspective on a canvas also begins with a point.

²⁰ Flos Duellatorum, circa 1410

²¹ De Arte Gladiatoria Dimicandi, circa 1485

²² In Italy at that time the term sword, spada, was the only common one. Nowadays, we might call this type of sword: two-handed, spada a due mani or spadone.

²³ Eng. embrace

²⁴ Ital. daga, daghetta, or pugnale

²⁵ Ital. brocchiero, boccoliere

²⁶ See Chapter 6

²⁷ As already mentioned, the generic name for sword was spada; our ancestors were far from being as selective about the terminology as we are today.

²⁸ Franz. Rapière; epeé

²⁹ Ropera, in the sense of belonging to the wardrobe, is in turn derived from the Spanish word ropa, clothing; and here, one would have referred to the clothes worn at court.

³⁰ In tempo stands for: at the same time as the opponent’s attack or at the time (of the offset).

³¹ This concept of pure preparatory striking is not found, for example, in most Asian schools, where knocks and blows are conceptually designed for impact on the opponent.

³² Gründtliche Beschreibung der Kunst des Fechtens, 1570

³³ Paradoxes of Defence, 1599

³⁴ His ego may have played a bit of a role in Silver’s viewpoint, given that in the England of his time, the Italian art of fencing had displaced the English traditional fencing methods; the marketing skills of the Italian Fencing Master was probably more mature and sophisticated. On the other hand, he was also probably – rightly! – disturbed by the increasing bad faith of dueling almost constantly because of so-called honor violations or contrived defamation.

³⁵ The Count here refers to Conte d'Agomonte.

³⁶ It should be noted that the named work of Aristotle, Physics, is one of the major works of the great philosopher. It’s a treatise consisting of several books. In books eight and nine, Aristotle devotes himself to emptiness and time. He defines time, tempo, as “the number of movements with respect to’ before’ and ’after’”.

³⁷ See Chapter 144 of his work.

³⁸ See Chapter 5

³⁹ See Chapter 6

⁴⁰ Agrippa writes of ease, commodità.

⁴¹ The natural representation of nudity was considered the highest manifestation of freedom in the Renaissance.

⁴² A few years later Capo Ferro went a step further; See Section 1.5.4.

⁴³ Depending on the region, called pose or piante.

⁴⁴ Turns, rotations; see Chapter 7

⁴⁵ See Chapter 5

⁴⁶ See Chapter 6

⁴⁷ See Chapter 5

⁴⁸ The Baroque, too, was an Italian development that evolved from the Late Renaissance and Mannerism. One speaks of the Early Baroque up until the year 1650. Architecturally it still shapes entire regions of Western Europe.

⁴⁹ Agrippa, Giganti, Fabris, and Capo Ferro

⁵⁰ An intellectual development, which was adopted by nearly all Italian knife schools: the adaptation and integration of foreign influences into a separate, “new” school.

⁵¹ Compare the art of the shepherd’s stick from Apulia and Sicily with the medieval sword fighting art of Fiore dei Liberi on certain tablets where there are illustrations, and you can see they are almost identical to those of the southern Italian stick traditions.

⁵² Marozzo

⁵³ For example, in Genoa or Sicily. See also Chapter 6, where some of these prohibitions, at least concerning Sicily, are mentioned.

⁵⁴ One was, for example, the Genoese model (circa 1750), from which the famous Vendetta corsa also developed.

⁵⁵ Ital. serramanico

⁵⁶ Armed dances or weapons dances.

⁵⁷ Conrado Tommasi Crudeli, La Sicilia nel 1871, Florenz ,1871

⁵⁸ about 47¼ – 59 inches (120 – 150 cms)

⁵⁹ approx. 35½ – 39½ inches (90 – 100 cms)

⁶⁰ about 15¾ – 27½ inches (40 – 70 cms)

⁶¹ And, compared to the knife fight, the stick fight is the true knightly art: while the knife is associated with taverns, gambling halls, the crime syndicates and/or prison, the shepherd’s stick is related to the peaceful life in the country, to freedom and thus to defens purposes only.

⁶² Methods of using stones were probably only used simultaneously with a knife.

⁶³ Here I refer to oral, but not historically verifiable, stories about the Sicilian stick fighting from the region of Catania.

⁶⁴ For example, the so-called Arditi del Popolo, a name that was later also used in resistance.

⁶⁵ Passing underneath the opponent’s attack.

⁶⁶ A sideway evasion of the line of attack.

⁶⁷ The Italian Art of Handling the Short Blades from 1350 to 1943. History and Technology.