Terenziano Ceresa

Terenziano Ceresa
Born	Parma
Pseudonym	The Hermit
Occupation	Fencing master
Patron	Tommaso Palunci
Influences	Salvator Fabris Ridolfo Capoferro
Genres	Fencing manual
Language	Italian
Notable work(s)	L'Esercizio della spada regolato con la perfetta idea della scherma (1641)

Terenziano Ceresa was a 17th century Italian fencing master. Little is known about his life, although he describes himself as a native of Parma, and was nicknamed “The Hermit”, apparently due to his disdain for social contact. He appears to have been active in Ancona, where his treatise was published and where his patron resided.

In 1641, he published a treatise on fencing “more from the insistence of patrons than the impulse of my nature, inimical to the presses” entitled L'Esercizio della spada regolato con la perfetta idea della scherma ("The Practice of the Sword Governed by the Perfect Conception of Fencing"), dedicated to his patron and student Tommaso Palunci, a nobleman from Ancona.

The treatise discusses the sword alone and the sword and dagger, and appears to develop the ideas presented by Salvator Fabris and Ridolfo Capoferro. Specifically: Ceresa describes a passing play from out of measure, reminiscent of the andare di risolutione from Fabris’ Book II, although Ceresa employs quarta as opposed to the terza preferred by Fabris; and Ceresa nominates a fifth and sixth guard (in addition to the usual four) which appear to correspond to these guards as presented by Capoferro.

Additional Resources

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None.