The Parise-Pecoraro Method (Part 3)

In parts one and two of this series we looked at the political background of Masaniello Parise's sabre method in the army and how there was mounting pressure from within the Ministry of War for reforming it. This reform took place over several years and the resulting method was eventually accepted in 1891 thanks to the assistance of the Radaellian master Salvatore Pecoraro.

To determine how this new method differed from both the previous Radaellian and Parise's method (as detailed in his 1884 treatise), here we will examine the sabre method as detailed in the cavalry regulations published in January 1896.¹ The original scans of volume one, containing the sabre instruction, may be viewed here. A translation of the relevant sabre section may be found in the link below.

Translation: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jEIYPVNR6_JfjJvi3WEQq5uFwm0qdytr/view?usp=sharing

For those who have read the 1873 cavalry regulations, the new material will appear noticeably simpler, with the general on-foot fencing instruction having been removed, leaving only the come a cavallo or 'as if on horseback' instruction. For the sabre, the traditional Radaellian exercise molinelli and coupés are completely absent, and the parries have been reduced in number and most are renamed.

While the new cutting mechanics in these regulations are a departure from the Radaellian method, they do on the other hand closely resemble Parise's revised molinelli as detailed in the fifth edition of his treatise, which was not published until 1904.²

Unlike in the first edition from 1884, where the molinelli were based almost entirely on wrist rotation, keeping the arm extended, the fifth edition gives starting positions for the molinelli with an almost fully bent arm. The resulting cuts are therefore a much wider, more sweeping action than Parise's first conception of the molinelli, but still not quite what the Radaellians were advocating—more an amalgamation of the two methods.

For example, the 'blow to the head from the right' is described in the following manner:

Blow to the head—FROM THE RIGHT (3 tempi)

1. Raise the sabre and bring the hand to the height and a palm away from the right temple with the blade diagonally to the rear and the edge turned up.

2. Extending the arm, violently give a cut in a diagonal direction from one's own right shoulder to the left flank, with the body accompanying the movement of the arm, letting the blade continue its path until its rotation is complete and the hand ends up about a palm away from the left temple with the blade diagonally to the rear, edge up.

3. Retake the guard position.³

Comparing this to the 1904 version of Parise's descending molinello from the right, the similarity is immediately obvious:

The descending molinello from the right is performed in two movements:
First, from guard of third the sabre is raised, carrying the hand, turned to third-in-fourth, up to the height of the right temple and about a palm away, with the blade diagonally to the rear;
Second, keeping the same hand position, the cut is given violently in a diagonal direction, and then by turning the hand into second-in-third the sabre is brought back, passing close to the left shoulder, describing a circular arc with the point to come back on guard.⁴

The resulting cut ends up like a combination of Radaelli's coupé and the recovery molinello used in Parise's original sabre method. The blows to the face bear more resemblance to Radaelli's molinelli to the face, but with the same Parise-style recovery motion to come back to the guard position.

Due to the extreme similarities between the descending and horizontal molinelli in the fifth edition of Parise's treatise and the cutting exercises in the 1896 cavalry regulations, as well as the fact that the changes detailed in these regulations were supposedly introduced to the whole army by early 1892 (see part 2), it seems rather safe to assume that the new molinelli exercises were being taught at the fencing master's school as part of the revised system for at least 12 years before the publication of the fifth edition of Parise's treatise in 1904, and that at least some of the changes shown in it were reflective of Pecoraro's influence (and the influence of other the Radaellians employed at the school at various points in time) on the sabre method practised at the school.

As mentioned above, there are two fewer parries than in the 1873 and 1885 regulations, removing the regular extended parries of 3rd and 4th in favour of keeping only the low versions. In addition to the 'semicircle' parries, which are unchanged, the remaining parries now have descriptive names instead of the traditional numbering:

• Forward (analogous to parry of 1st)
• To the right (low 3rd)
• To the left (low 4th)
• High right (5th)
• High left (6th)

The theoretical and tactical foundation of the method is still wholly that of the preceding Radaellian method, echoing the main requirements of the blow as power, length, and direction. The last part of the sabre instruction contains the following tactical advice for the soldier:

Attack instead of defending;

Favour blows with the point, because they are more effective and more difficult to parry;

As much as possible direct the cuts to the face and the left hand;

Attacking from the front, try to always have the opponent to the right;

Do not let them gain you on your left side;

When following a cavalryman, place yourself to his left.

The first point, that being to focus on attacking rather than defending, is something that was heavily criticised by Achille Angelini in his critique of the Radaelli method, and was even mentioned in the report of the commission which decided in 1883 that Parise's treatise would become the new official method for the Italian army.⁵ It seems that despite this criticism, cavalry commanders still considered it sound advice to teach to the troops.

The 1896 cavalry regulations may not have been the full triumphant return of Radaelli's method that his disciples had hoped for, but it is a clear indication that the original Parise sabre method was considered insufficient by those in the cavalry, who were by this point the only arm that were expected to use their sabres on the battlefield. Just like how pressure from the Neapolitan school of fencing had overcome the incumbent Radaelli method in the early 1880s, the same change had now been experienced in the opposite direction, albeit to a lesser degree and with no fanfare.

1 Ministero della Guerra, Regolamento di esercizi per la cavalleria, vol. 1 (Rome: Voghera Enrico, 1896).^↩
2 Masaniello Parise, Trattato teorico pratico della scherma di spada e sciabola: preceduto da un cenno storico sulla scherma e sul duello (Turin: Casa Editrice Nazionale Roux e Viarengo, 1904), pp. 284–6.^↩
3 Ministero della Guerra, 30–1.^↩
4 Parise, Trattato teorico pratico, 285.^↩
5 Paulo Fambri, "Relazione" in Parise, Trattato teorico pratico, 27.^↩