A Short History of the Italian Foil
By Maestro Ramon Martinez
The term fioretto, which translates to “little flower,” has been used in Italy at least as far back as the end of the 16th century to denote a practice weapon for the rapier. The term can be found in John Florio’s Italian-English Dictionary, A Worlde of Wordes (1598), which describes the fioretti as “foiles to play at rapier and dagger with.”
During the last few weeks I have been re-reading several texts on classical Italian fencing. Mainly due to it being referenced in The Art of Foil by Maestro Luigi Barbasetti, I also found myself re-reading Secrets Of The Sword by Baron César De Bazancourt.
In my previous blog Coming to Grips I, I described the proper methods of gripping and securing the Italian weapon to the wrist. Today I wish to address my concern with binding the weapon to the wrist. This concern is not in its use but with the incorrect or misuse of this aid to the hand. From here on the binding device will be referred to as the “wrist-strap”.
Having been trained in both the classical French and Italian schools of fencing. I want to make it perfectly clear that I do not owe allegiance to any one school of fencing.
My allegiance is to the truth, to what is functional and martially sound in its adherence to universal fencing theory, which is irrefutable. No country, school or system has sole proprietorship of the art and science of fencing.
