classical fencing? itallian school?

[sabrefencer93]

anyone know anything about classical and historical fencing, im doing a lot of studying and practicing of the spanish school of rapier and the french smallsword. That is going okay, but my work with the itallian school seems to be very confusing!

[chase]

try midieval times or a renaissance fair. we are athletes here.

[migopod]

You can also try here http://forums.swordforum.com/
There are fora covering a broader "slice" of the world of swordsmanship, including at least one subforum dedicated to classical fencing.

[migopod]

After a quick peek at the classical forum on swordforum I found this link in a poster's signature that you might find useful as a starting point:

http://www.viahup.com/index.php?title=Main_Page

It is the self-described Italian Swordplay Wiki. I would guess that like all wikis, its accuracy may be variable, but hopefully will have citations for more authoritative source material.

[Inquartata]

Some of us are both, Chase. And it's not a matter of either/or. I have had some success against certain opponents by using the old Italian sabre style.

Anyway, OP, try looking for anything by Luigi Barbasetti for the Italian school. For your purposes, you are looking for "The Art of the Sabre and the Epee". The book is out of print and somewhat rare, unlike his "The Art of the Foil", which Barnes and Noble reprinted and can be had cheaply. Therefore it will be expensive. But maybe you can find it in a library.

Of course, it's far from ideal trying to learn it from a book, but what can't be cured must be endured; I don't know of any living teachers of the method.

I hope this was of some help. And now for my price: Read and heed my signature!

[jeff]

And now for my price: Read and heed my signature!

The cruellist cut!

[sabrefencer93]

thanks guys, for the spanish school i have been studying the articles writen by maestro ramon martinez, and to chase's comment: my coach is an amazing saberur but said he would only train me if i agreed to learn historical fencing as well seeing as he studied under ramon martinez for two weeks. I have also noticed that his studies of the smallsword have actually come in handy during a bout or two.

[DangerMouse]

You could also contact Sean Hayes at Northwest Academy of Arms. He's a good guy and knows a lot about classical Italian martial arts and fencing.

http://www.northwestacademyofarms.com/

[Wetmelon]

Of course, it's far from ideal trying to learn it from a book, but what can't be cured must be endured; I don't know of any living teachers of the method

I know that a guy "Bernie" in Asheville, NC still only teaches and fences classic Italian style sabre. He's even reffed sport fencing matches as though they were classical Italian xD Go USFA for letting that one happen :P

[Sildar]

Hi sabrefencer,

What part of the US are you in? I might be able to direct you toward some resources...

[sabrefencer93]

Hi sabrefencer,

What part of the US are you in? I might be able to direct you toward some resources...

im in nc

[gladius]

anyone know anything about classical and historical fencing ... my work with the itallian school seems to be very confusing!

In Italy, the FIS (our USFA) is in charge of all forms of fencing, including historical fencing. Competitions of historical fencing are part of "storicombat." This is a a new discipline which offers the opportunity to fight with safe offensive and defensive weapons according to rules which have been studied to reproduce as faithfully as possible the dynamics of a blade sport related to the primary periods of the history of fencing, namely:

• Schermacombat which embraces the medieval style (sword and shield),
• Renaissance style (sword and dagger or cape), and
• Classical style (duelling epee and saber "da terreno").

In Italy a club of historic fencing, can be affiliated to the FIS and the FIS has put together a calendar of competitions for this specialty.

They have established rules about protective gear (FIE uniform with additional protections), to bring closer the two worlds of historical and sport fencing.

The FIS FOC has a number of referees which have been certified for storicombat. This is a rather new system even for historic fencing where up to now individuals interested in the subject handled, practiced, and experimented techniques on their own originating discussions and developing theories and/or interpretations of the classic texts but without real "matches" for the obvious problems related to safety.

For more specific information contact Giovanni Rapisardi at segreteria@accademiacavalleresca.it. Giovanni will be glad to answer any question you may have.

http://www.accademiacavalleresca.it/

[Inquartata]

And Italy is ahead of us once again.

Or maybe that should be .

[johnnyrapier]

Ciao a tutti,

My name is Giovanni Rapisardi, I'm a fencing coach (Istruttore Nazionale alle tre armi) and I teach mainly historical fencing upon the rules of Italian Fencing Federation.

The different ways to practice fencing as traditional martial art all over the world created a lot of terms sometimes used with different meanings.

In the rules for historical fencing by FIS, the term classical fencing is used as a time cathegory of historical fencing, in particular the period of XVIII, XIX, and early XX century.

In fact, also all kind of classical sport fencing practiced with rules no more used by FIE is historical fencing: for exemple, a match with sport foil o sabre or epee without the electric score machine.

Another exemple, in original rules for championships of scherma da terreno (duel fencing) the weapons used were epee and sabre, without ROW (I hope the term is correct), all the body valid target and one-hit match, with the evenience of double defeat (in case of coup double) (see Masaniello Parise - Scherma da Terreno - 1904)

Just to answer directly to sabrefencer93, the actual program of Istruttore Nazionale and Maestro di Scherma is in fact the italian classical fencing school (the FIS treatises have been written in 1970), with some differences due to the transformations of the competition rules.

I know that Maestro Gaugler has a didactical program for italian school fencing in San José (CA) aknowledged by AIMS and Accademia Nazionale di Scherma.

A presto

GR

[sabrefencer93]

Ciao a tutti,

My name is Giovanni Rapisardi, I'm a fencing coach (Istruttore Nazionale alle tre armi) and I teach mainly historical fencing upon the rules of Italian Fencing Federation.

The different ways to practice fencing as traditional martial art all over the world created a lot of terms sometimes used with different meanings.

In the rules for historical fencing by FIS, the term classical fencing is used as a time cathegory of historical fencing, in particular the period of XVIII, XIX, and early XX century.

In fact, also all kind of classical sport fencing practiced with rules no more used by FIE is historical fencing: for exemple, a match with sport foil o sabre or epee without the electric score machine.

Another exemple, in original rules for championships of scherma da terreno (duel fencing) the weapons used were epee and sabre, without ROW (I hope the term is correct), all the body valid target and one-hit match, with the evenience of double defeat (in case of coup double) (see Masaniello Parise - Scherma da Terreno - 1904)

Just to answer directly to sabrefencer93, the actual program of Istruttore Nazionale and Maestro di Scherma is in fact the italian classical fencing school (the FIS treatises have been written in 1970), with some differences due to the transformations of the competition rules.

I know that Maestro Gaugler has a didactical program for italian school fencing in San José (CA) aknowledged by AIMS and Accademia Nazionale di Scherma.

A presto

GR

Thank you this was extremly helpful. Im just starting to learn about the itallian school, im already learning about the spanish school of rapier fencing, which is rather difficult, considering the geometric standards of it, and it is rather difficult for me to grasp the concept of the circle.