Traditional Italian Martial Arts

Bastone e Coltello Italiano
Traditional stick and knife fighting arts from Italy

This European cultural treasure has been passed on in secret for centuries as a folk tradition and is  barlely known in public ... since a few years, with the rediscovery of the Historic European Martial Arts those methods are becoming more and more popular.

The last keepers of this art were the Italian carters ("carrettieri") who often had to defend their valuable load on the lonely roads in the backlands from thieves ... or the shepherds of Sicily who use a stick to protect their herd from wild dogs , Snakes and "men who were not right".

References to the early forms of this art can be found among farmers and shepherds at the beginning of the Renaissance in the 15th century. They have always fought with the shepherd's stick in the entire Mediterranean region. The techniques and positions with the shepherd's stick are clearly similar to those described in the numerous surviving fencing books of the long sword from the Middle Ages.
 

 

 

 

Giuseppe Riboni 1862

 The "howto" was passed on exclusively orally and was originally more of an imitation and learning-by-doing than a systematized martial art. The techniques were constantly expanded and adapted to the respective circumstances of the time. Systematically taught within the criminal clans and stylized and romanticized for recruitment and advertising, structured didactics emerged from the middle of the 19th century at the latest, strongly influenced by the military stick fighting exercises of the armies and navies of the respective rulers of the much-contested coastal regions of Italy.

 

 Postcard from Naples

 
The schools or styles, as they can still be found today, can often be traced back to the middle of the 19th century and despite bans, specially in the south regions of today's Italy, men proved their courage, skill and "masculinity " in the "duello rustico..la pazziatura ... pazziata .. zumpata .. paranza .. coltellata .. tirata “ at hidden places, backyards and in prisons.

 

Partly hidden in dances but also in clearly structured lessons with their own vocabulary, this art of fighting with a stick and knife, which is deeply rooted in regional culture, has been preserved to this day.