Parise's Method is Rejected

As mentioned in my previous article, on the 11th June 1889 Lo Sport Illustrato reported on the verdict of a commission headed by the Duke of Aosta, Prince Amedeo I, who was at the time Inspector General of the Cavalry. Here is the brief article in question:

"Cav. Masaniello Parise, winner of the competition announced by the Ministry of War in 1882 and Director of Scuola Magistrale Militare in Rome, presented as a practical application of his treatise an instruction in the handling of the sabre for the cavalry.
The Commission presided over by HRH the Duke of Aosta, Inspector General of the Cavalry, has voted against Cav. Parise's instruction, declaring itself in favour of keeping that which is in force, which is informed by Radaellian principles.
We will now see how the maestri of the cavalry and artillery regiments will act, given that at the Scuola Magistrale in Rome they officially teach a sabre system which cannot be implemented in practice in the army."

Thus we have yet more evidence that Radaelli's method was not only still in force in the cavalry in 1889, five years after Parise's sabre method became regulation, but that it was explicitly endorsed by Prince Amedeo, the Inspector General of the Cavalry.

As we will see in a future article, however, Parise did not give up on trying to implement his sabre method in the cavalry despite the fact that his implementations had been rejected multiple times.

Translation - Italian Fencing in the Army by Jacopo Gelli

One of Radaelli's most ardent defenders, Jacopo Gelli, wrote many articles throughout his career in defence of Radaellian principles. Here is one such article from 1890 entitled La scherma italiana nell'esercito ('Italian fencing in the army'), first published in the Florentine newspaper Esercito e Armata. The article was published over 6 issues, the first being on the 30th March, and the last on the 28th April.

***Click here to read the full translation***

Unlike Resurrectio, this article is not in response to anyone in particular, but more his attempt to take a critical stance against Parise's method being taught to those who may have to use their sabre in combat, namely the cavalry. He deems it flawed in almost every way, and not conducive to making cavalrymen 'masters of their weapon', as the Radaelli method supposedly does. He takes particular issue with a (paraphrased) quote from Parise's treatise saying that 'force is the prime enemy of fencing', which he believes to be a detrimental attitude for the cavalryman.

In classic Gelli fashion, he reaches a fervent climax towards the end where he describes the spectacle of the 1889 national fencing tournament in Rome, commenting on the ridiculousness of seeing all the promising young fencers having to bind the weapon to their hand in the Neapolitan style just to be able to use it:

Do you not think that in war or on the ground in a fight (there are many cases in life!), if you do not have the hand ready to grip the weapon—to control it, to guide it powerfully in offence and in defence—you will succumb?!…
Do you not think?…Do you not feel your cheeks flush with embarrassment when, in the presence of an…indulgent audience, you ask the opponent for time to secure the sabre to your hand?!…Do you not blush?!…I feel sorry for you poor young men, but I do not condemn you!

Another point of interest is Gelli mentioning an article from an 1889 issue of the magazine Lo Sport Illustrato which talks of an official commission repudiating Parise's sabre method and endorsing Radaelli's. I hope to acquire this article and present it to you in the near future.

Thanks to Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze for providing me with the scans of the article.

The 1891 Fencing Exhibition in Trieste

I present to you here a translation of an article published on the 6th January 1891 in the Trieste newspaper L'Indipendente, reporting on a grand fencing exhibition in the city. The Radaellian maestro Poggio Vannucchi prominently featured at the event, but perhaps more interestingly was an exhibition bout between two fencers equipped with an Arista model sword. Arista first wrote about this unique weapon of his in the year prior, and the author of this article states that there had been a lot of talk about it ever since. The author correctly predicts, however, that it will not catch on in Italy.

The fencing exhibition at the Music Society. It is a peculiarity of Trieste. This tireless and strong worker, who amasses in its immense warehouses loads of hundreds of ships, who rings out its powerful arsenals of thousands of workers, who from morning to night witnesses the spectacle of the largest and most obstinate activity, Trieste always finds in its inexhaustible energy an impulse towards all that is the finest manifestation of social life.
Thus, for example, that complex of exercises which require strength and skill and are wreathed with a halo of elegance, all this, in a word, belongs to sport, which finds numerous and passionate enthusiasts in our city. First in line we have our strong Gymnastics, which spreads its activity in every field there is to increase strength and courage in the youth; we have numerous nautical clubs, two very active velocipedist associations, an elegant equestrian society, and a flourishing hunting circle; we have one of the most sophisticated societies in the country, in which the most noble art of fencing finds intelligent and tireless adoration.
The fencing society frequently opens its halls for shows, pools, and exhibitions; this time, with great thought, the diligent management requested and obtained by the courtesy of the Music Society the vast and beautiful hall of this association and offers to members of the two societies a perfectly successful show.
The honours of hosting had been done with exquisite kindness by the two managements; the audience, very numerous, presented the note of beauty and elegance with a splendid gathering of gentlemen and ladies, the note of intelligence in the matter with the people of the best of our fencing amateurs. We have also had the pleasure last night of shaking the hand of that formidable champion of the Neapolitan school that is Enrico Casella. The smarra was held with the grace and courtesy of a perfect gentleman by the vice-president of the fencing society, Mr. Emanuele Coen.
First to present themselves on the wide platform erected in the middle of the hall were maestro Garagnani and his young student M. Ascoli.
Greeted by lively applause, the maestro presented the young man in a sword lesson, which did justice to displaying both the excellent teaching method of one and the rare aptitudes of the other.
A sabre bout followed between the gentlemen Giuseppe Comas and Giuseppe Janesich. The former of a fully southern mobility, fast and lively in the attack, the latter firmly planted on guard, prompt and strong in the riposte.
A young fencer, full of promise, from his elegant and correct pose, Mr. Umberto Posar, was pitted in the sword against Mr. I. Salom, who also did his best. So much so that the bout received much applause.
We come now to one of the most important points of the program: the sword bout between the maestri Mari and Garagnani.
Mari is a fencer equipped with beautiful movements; tall, well planted on guard, he displayed beautiful straight thrusts on the opponent’s invitations. Maestro Garagnani asserted his profound knowledge of the art which, together with rapid and strong execution, emerged particularly in the parries and ripostes. The audience followed the beautiful bout with the most vivid interest and saluted the two maestri with prolonged applause.
After a musical piece, performed as an interlude, the second part commenced with a sword bout between Mr. N. Cozzi, equipped with extraordinary aptitudes and particularly a powerful leap, and Mr. Giuseppe Rovis, an elegant and correct fencer.
There was great applause. There was also great applause for the bout between Count. F. Sordina, a strong sabre fencer who has remarkable physical advantages, and Mr. Giuseppe Ianesich whom we spoke of earlier.
Welcomed with thunderous applause, the maestri Vannucchi and Angelini appeared on the piste.
Vannucchi is a fencer of marvellous speed, lively in the attack, sure in the riposte; in a word: a strong blade. Our Angelini fully confirmed his reputation as a skilful fencer, equipped with uncommon flexibility which allows him to lunge an absolutely surprising distance. The bout, performed by both with valour equal to the cavalry, was a great success.
Another musical interlude and then a bout by the gentlemen Ventura and Garavini with a unique weapon, the Arista model.
The unique weapon is a fencing application of the Verdian motto: Let’s turn to the past! It is a return to the past for technique and also for the form of the weapon, which resembles one of those powerful rapiers that Dante da Castiglione boldly wielded.
Much has been said in fencing circles, much was written in newspapers interested in this game regarding this unique weapon.
We are too great admirers of Salvatore Arista’s fencing ability to be able to declare ourselves absolutely adverse to a weapon that he finds good. However on the other hand we are too great friends of the truth to admit that with the unique weapon one can always do everything that one can do with the sword. It is also very natural, for physical reasons; in fact a flat blade will never offer that contact which the edges of a rectangular blade present, nor with this can one do the legamenti and changes as with a foil blade. Arista’s exceptionally powerful hand will certainly be able to overcome many of these difficulties; but will we find many who don’t know how to and cannot do the same?
That is the question; and since we do not hesitate to answer it in the negative sense, it seems to us that for this reason alone the unique weapon will not be able to become a weapon in general use.
In any case the audience’s interest was excited and the bout between the gentlemen Ventura and Garavini was met very favourably. Mainly they did sabre play, and both showed to be remarkably strong fencers. Ventura possesses firm fencing knowledge which manifests itself in a great variety of play and which makes a formidable fencer; he parries well and ripostes better. Garavini has a plastic and correct guard, a sudden energy and a powerful hand and arm which render his attacks difficult to mend.
The bout was greatly applauded. Mr. N. Cozzi was then introduced again onto the piste, measuring himself with the sword against the young student Mr. Minas, a fencer of magnificent disposition, agile and powerful, who promises to become an excellent blade.
The last two numbers of the program were of great interest.
Greeted by a standing ovation, our two distinguished and pleasant maestri Angelini and Garagnani were introduced and they performed a sabre bout displaying such energy and speed to truly arouse admiration. The blows were fast, sure, pressing, the parries solid and robust, the ripostes rapid.
We noted a stupendous traversone in tempo and a powerful arrest given by maestro Angelini; we admired a traversone thrown by maestro Garagnani with great speed, also carrying the sabre in a marvellous manner; also a beautiful thrust over.
At the conclusion of this bout the audience prolonged their applause in such a way that the two talented maestri had to present themselves again onto the piste and exchange a final blow.
To conclude the show was a beautiful and applaudable sabre bout between the maestri Vannucchi and Mari, who once again deployed all their beautiful fencing talents.
Mari, sturdy and plastic in his guard, struck with beautiful rising blows; Vannucchi, who carries the sabre in an astonishing way, performed the most difficult blows, passing, for example, from parry second, after having quickly signalled a feint to the face, to strike a traversone.
The two talented maestri may be certain of having left their best impression on the audience; and at the friendly banquet that followed the exhibition the bond of affection which united them with our fencers was tightened even more.
The banquet took place in a hall on the first floor of Restaurant Centrale; the champagne was raised in a warm toast to the three distinguished guests, Casella, Mari, and Vannucchi, to the Management of the Fencing Society, and to the prosperous future of the Society.
It was a truly friendly convention, full of life and vivacity; a pleasant and grateful memory for those who attended.

Metodo per la scherma di sciabola by Pietro Duelli

In this third instalment of non-Radaellian treatises I present Metodo per la scherma di sciabola ("Method for sabre fencing") by Pietro Duelli, published in Pavia in 1875.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mDPBFo8gOQbCyMhdrOyn2Xsl2_MHZGZr

I have not yet been able to find much information about Duelli other than the fact that by 1881 he had moved from Pavia to Milan.

His system seems to reflect the trend in Northern Italian fencing at the time of using guard of 2nd, perhaps due to Radaelli's influence.

The treatise is 38 pages long with just 4 (mediocre) illustrations.

Special thanks to Michigan State University Library for providing the scans.

Breve trattato sul maneggio della sciabola by Giovanni Battista Ferrero

Continuing on from last month's non-Radaellian treatise, this week I present a short work published in Turin in 1868 by Giovanni Battista Ferrero entitled Breve trattato sul maneggio della sciabola ("Brief treatise on the handling of the sabre").

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TkI0Vi_4ldH8wBVjhYcSD4uaKPev1HCd?usp=sharing

UPDATE: High resolution scans of this treatise are now also available here via the Corble collection.

Unfortunately I have yet to find any information on Ferrero aside from what he says about himself in his introduction:

"Being disposed towards fencing as a child, I applied myself to it with a zeal and attachment that I myself never could explain; I did my first exercises under talented maestri, like Galletti, Torriani, Speirani Snr, Merlino, and Raffin, and I was breveted from 1858, and as much as was possible I immediately gave myself to the teaching of this art."

Ferrero's stated purpose for this treatise is succinctness and comprehensibility, as opposed to the large, verbose treatises that were common up until then. Despite the treatise being only 30 pages long, it has 19 beautiful illustrations.

Fig. XIX. Rising blow to the external arm

Ferrero gives two guard positions: the "common or Italian guard", which is a semi-extended guard of 3rd, and the "high or French guard", which is a high hanging guard.

Left: Fig. IV. High or French Guard
Right: Fig. V. Common or Italian Guard

This treatise is also somewhat special in that it includes blows to the leg, which is quite rare for Italian sabre treatises from this time.

Special thanks to Biblioteca civica centrale di Torino for providing the photos.

Trattato teorico-pratico di scherma della sciabola by Federico Cesarano

In the past few months I have had an increasing interest in non-Radaellian sabre treatises published around Radaelli's time. The main reason for this is in order to get a better contextual idea of what sabre fencing looked like in Italy before Radaelli and Parise's methods became so dominant. The book that I am sharing today is of one such treatise from 1874, entitled Trattato teorico-pratico di scherma della sciabola ('Theoretical-practical treatise of sabre fencing').

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zOUplLliWTzhnvi1XlQvJxM0GCGSUVzl

Although this text was published in Milan, it details the method of the Neapolitan maestro Federico Cesarano, who ran a fencing hall in Padua. He makes no effort to hide his Neapolitan pride, following in the footsteps of Rosaroll-Scorza and Grisetti by quoting Tasso every now and then, and stating that:

Some peoples are favoured by nature through particular skill and agility in the useful art of defending oneself: the Italians are certainly among them, and of these the Neapolitans are recognised as more skilful in fencing both for their more natural disposition, and because in this part of Italy the noble art of fencing was always kept pure without ever hampering it with practices of foreign schools.

It is not unlikely that Cesarano studied under one of the Parises at the Accademia Nazionale di Scherma in Naples, as he specifically recommends the Parise model mask for sabre fencing:

Various models of this mask are made: without hesitation I prefer the model of Maestro Parise of Naples, which is all leather except for the mesh, which is always iron.

Cesarano prefers a (familiar) raised, extended guard of 3rd, which he says is 'the most commonly used'.

He also gives this interesting insight into measurements for typical fencing sabres of the time:

The length of the blade varies from 86.8 to 89 cm and is calculated from the point to the heel; the width varies from 13 to 25 millimetres. The total weight of a fencing sabre is about 640 to 890 g.

The book also contains an appendix detailing some rules to be observed in the fencing hall, and a brief discussion of rules to be observed in a duel.

Lastly, here is Gelli's brief entry on Cesarano from his Bibliografia General della Scherma:

Federico Cesarano, born in Naples on the 18th June 1846, was a volunteer in the Garibaldini Hussars for the 1860 campaign; he then moved into the Lucca Light Cavalry, with which he made the campaign against Austria in 1866.
In 1868 he founded a Fencing and Gymnastics Club in Padua, which he is still the director of.
As a fencer he has appeared in all the tournaments held in Italy, always bringing back the best prizes in works of art and gold medals.
Currently he also presides over the teaching of gymnastics in the municipal schools of Padua.

Thanks to Biblioteca comunale centrale di Milano for providing the scans.

Parries of 1st and 7th - "A little forward"

In his 1876 manual Del Frate describes the parries of 1st and 7th as being the same as the second movements of the molinelli to the head from the left and right, respectively, except with an additional note saying:

“In both of these parries, however, the sabre is held a little forward of the prescribed position for the 2nd movement of the molinello.”

What exactly is “a little forward”? First let us look at how Del Frate describes the second movements of the molinelli to the head.

To the head from the left:

Two — bending the arm the blade is lowered with the point towards the ground, and the sabre is brought alongside the left flank, the edge turned to the left, the grip to the left and at the height of the head, about 20 centimetres ahead; the arm at the height and in the direction of the forehead; the body balanced as in the guard position (fig. 16).

To the head from the right:

Two — raising and bending the arm the blade is lowered with the point towards the ground, and the sabre is brought alongside the right flank with the edge turned to the right, the grip about a palm away from the right temple, such that one's gaze passes between the forearm and the blade, the weight of the body equally distributed on the legs (fig. 19).

And here are the plates showing both parries and their respective second movements of the molinelli:

Although it is unfortunate that the plates for the parries of 1st and 7th show a different perspective to that of their respective second movements of the molinelli, there does not seem to be much of an obvious difference between the two. In the plate showing the parry of 1st it almost appears that the sabre is slightly shorter than in the other plates. This could either be an error on the part of the illustrator, or that the tip of the sabre is pointing slightly more forward (or back), which would not entirely disagree with what Del Frate says.

These plates indicate that Del Frate’s idea of “a little forward” is perhaps no more than a couple of centimetres. Similarly we see the same depiction of parry of 1st in his 1868 manual:

"Position of Parry of 1st"

"Position of the second movement for the molinello to the head from the left"

Despite the fact that the plates are virtually identical in their depictions (albeit with Fig. 19 incorrectly showing the fencer to be forward-weighted), the description in the 1868 text is slightly different:

“The hand a little higher than the head and about one palm [20 - 25 cm] away, the tip pointing to the ground ahead one palm from the hand, and the edge to the left.”

This brings the point ahead of the grip such that the sabre does not point directly down as it may appear on the plates. Regardless of the reason as to why this was not mentioned in the 1876 text, Del Frate makes no mention in this text to the parry being any further forward than is previously suggested, as the description of the parry does not refer to the second movement of the molinello to the head in this case.

The same can be found in both the 1873 and 1885 editions of the Ministry of War’s cavalry manual Regolamento di esercizi e di evoluzioni per la cavalleria, which contains a distilled version of Radaelli’s system for use in the cavalry. Here we see that the illustration is nearly identical to that seen in Del Frate’s 1868 text, and the description is not far off either:

“To execute parry of first the cavalryman is placed in the position of second or point in line, and then at the command:
FIRST:
Raising the arm and bringing the hand to the left at the height of the forehead, one takes the following position:
The hand a little higher than the head and about one palm away, the point of the sabre turned towards the ground, one palm ahead of the hand, edge to the left (fig. 22).”

As for parry of 7th, in the 1868 text Del Frate does still relate it to the second movement of the molinello to the head from the right:

“... raising the right hand one will take the position very similar to the second movement of the molinello to the head from the right, with the difference that the grip stops about four fingers in front of the head, with the blade nearly parallel to the flank."

Compared to his description of the second movement of the molinello to the head from the right in the same text:

“The point of the sabre is dropped perpendicularly towards the ground raising the hand, bringing it a little higher than the head, and four fingers from the right temple so that the sabre comes to be behind the right shoulder with the edge turned to the right, and the point distant as little as possible from the body, at the same time looking between the forearm and the sabre.”

Parry of 7th as described in this text only ends up being 4 fingers in front of the head as opposed to 4 fingers from the temple in the second movement of the molinello, amounting to merely a few centimetres of difference between the two. Nowhere else in his 1868 text does Del Frate state that a parry is held any further forward than one would assume by reading the text, and even in the cases previously mentioned.

Giordano Rossi (a Radaellian) shows the parries in the same manner as in Del Frate’s 1876 text, except he also shows the distance between the head and the hand in parry of 1st from the side:

Left: "Fig. 38. Parry of 1st."
Right: "Fig. 39. Parry of 7th."

Rossi also states that for the parries of 1st and 7th the grip and the sabre are “a little forward” of the prescribed position for the 2nd movement of the molinelli, yet just like Del Frate, this is not referring to the above illustrations of the parries.

In his 1915 treatise Poggio Vannucchi (another Radaellian) gives two forms of parry of first:

"Parry of angled 1st: blade perpendicular to the ground and to the left of the body, looking under the forearm with the hand in 1st above the head and about 20 centimetres in front of the forehead, forearm bent to form a right angle with the sabre, edge to the left.
Parry of 1st in line: arm extended at the height of the shoulder, edge obliquely to the left, the point a little lower than the hand."

His hand positions are unique to his system, as he gives one for each of the 9 parries, including also separate versions for "angled 1st" and "1st in line":

"The position of 1st in line, back of the hand to the left, edge diagonally up to the left. Position of angled 1st, back of the hand turned to the rear, the point of the sabre perpendicular to the ground, edge to the left."

Thus we see that while his parry of "1st in line" seems closer to Masiello's parry of 1st, his "angled 1st" seems identical to what is described by Del Frate in 1876 and Rossi in 1885.

So what is "a little forward" then? Due to the consistency shown in all the images, particularly those for parry of 1st, it seems one can only conclude that the parries are no more than a few centimetres forward from the 2nd movements of the molinelli to the head. The likeliest explanation in my view is that Del Frate wanted to make sure that fencers were not placing the sabre too close to their bodies when performing the parries, such that they place themselves at risk of having their parry collapse on the opponent's blow and getting hit in the process. When performing the molinelli it is easier for this mistake to occur as the sabre is drawn further back after the 2nd movement, thus a fencer may end up with their sabre closer than is ideal for a parry when performing the 2nd movement of either molinello.