Venetian Rapier

Perhaps no other weapon represents Renaissance Italian fencing like the rapier. But do we know how it was used and how it was taught? This book takes you to the fencing School, or Salle, of celebrated renaissance rapier Master Nicoletto Giganti of Venice, one among the period teachers leaving instructions on the use of this weapon. More uniquely, his 1606 text The School, or Salle is a veritable training curriculum, with its stepwise lessons and easy-to-follow explanations on the use of the rapier alone and rapier and dagger. This faithful translation of Giganti’s The School by internationally-known rapier teacher Tom Leoni includes the complete text, original illustrations, and an introduction on rapier fencing that will make Giganti’s text easy to follow. If you are a martial artist, a fencer or have an interest in European martial culture, this book belongs on your shelf.

Author Biography

Tom Leoni was born in Switzerland and grew up in Northern Italy. Since an early age, he developed a passion for antique arms and armour and Renaissance-Baroque culture. His meticulous research of Italian swordsmanship treatises helped him become an internationally-known teacher specialising in the Italian styles of the 1500s and 1600s. In 2005, Tom published an English translation of Master Salvator Fabris’ 1606 rapier treatise Scienza d’Armi, one the of the most important fencing works of the late Renaissance. In 2009, he published a translation of Italy’s earliest extant martial-arts treatise, Fiore de’ Liberi’s Fio di Battaglia (circa 1409).