Alfieri plates as a screensaver. Click on the picture to download (zip file).
(c) The School of the Sword 2009 : The School of the Sword is a Western Martial Arts school providing lessons in sword fighting and Historical European martial arts in Berkshire/Surrey UK
The School of the Sword is proud to announce the forthcoming publication of:
La Scherma (The Art of Fencing) by Francesco Ferdinando Alfieri (1640)
Translated by Caroline Stewart, Phil Marshall and Piermarco Terminiello
Published in conjunction with The Pike and Shot Society, this is the first published English translation of Francesco Alfieri’s fencing treatise: “La Scherma”, originally published in Padua in 1640. This work is a fascinating insight into the use of the rapier in the mid 17th Century.
Throughout the book Alfieri maintains the concept of a balanced fight, not only in technique, but in measure with his definition of Misura Perfetta, in posture by eschewing the more extreme forward or rearward leanings of his predecessors, and in his introduction of the Guardia Mista, the guard ”newly found” from which the whole of his system is effectively based.
La Scherma is a concise work, with Book 2 devoting a chapter and plate to every “standard” eventuality, deploying a consistent set of responses in a structured fashion; each set of possible responses is clearly shown in both text and illustration.
The SotS translation of Alfieri’s ‘La Scherma’ is now available: £25 for the paperback, £70 hardback.
