LIBRERIA PELLEGRINI SRL, Pisa - HIS PRACTISE. IN TWO BOOKES. THE FIRST INTREATING OF THE USE OF THE RAPIER AND D di SAVIOLO VINCENTIO; ACCADEMIA NAZIONALE DI SCHERMA (CUR.)

<DescrizioneEstesa>Vincentio Saviolo was a gentleman born in Padua in the middle of the XVI century. He belonged to an influential family of the city, whose members were involved in its administration or devoted themselves to military career. Saviolo was an elite soldier (a mounted arquebusier), fighting in some of the most cruel wars of his time, first against the Turks, both under the Venetian Republic and the Holy Roman Empire, then in the French Wars of Religion. He moved to England, where, being a foreign fencing master, he was likely involved in intelligence activities during the last years of the reign of Elizabeth I, as Rocco Bonetti before him. In 1595 he published the first ever English fencing treatise, perhaps written together with the umanist John Florio. "His Practise. In two Bookes. The first intreating of the use of the Rapier and Dagger. The second, of Honor and honorable Quarrels" is a dissertation on Italian rapier fencing and honour code of conduct, which had a great impact on the Elizabethan era, influencing authors like Shakespeare, Johnson and others.