Filippo Dardi

Filippo di Bartolomeo Dardi
Born	late 1300s
Died	1464
Relative(s)	Bartolomeo Dardi (father)
Occupation	Fencing master Professor
Nationality	Italian
Alma mater	University of Bologna
Movement	Bolognese swordsmanship
Influenced	Guido Antonio di Luca

Filippo Dardi (died 1464) was a 15th century Italian fencing master. He was an expert not only on fencing, but also astrology, astronomy, geometry, and mathematics. The son of Bartolomeo (or Dardo) Dardi, he was probably Bolognese by birth (though records exist of a Spanish Lippo Dardi teaching at the University of Bologna between 1444 and 1453).^{[citation needed]}

In 1412, Dardi was licensed as a fencing master and opened a school in Bologna (in via Pietralata); beginning in 1443, he received an annual stipend of 150 lire from the city in exchange for reducing his fees. In 1434, he seems to have written a treatise on fencing and geometry, and was subsequently given a professorship in geometry at the University of Bologna. Though Dardi's treatise has since been lost, he influenced a great number of prominent 16th century masters, including Antonio Manciolino, Achilles Marozzo, Angelo Viggiani, and Giovanni dall'Agocchie. Dardi is often credited as the founder of the Bolognese school of swordsmanship, though is can't be demonstrated from available information; he may simply be the earliest fencer from Bologna whose name is well-known.

Additional Resources

The following is a list of publications containing scans, transcriptions, and translations relevant to this article, as well as published peer-reviewed research.

• Battistini, Alessandro; Niki Corradetti (2016). "Income and working time of a Fencing Master in Bologna in the 15th and early 16th century." Acta Periodica Duellatorum 4(1): 153-176. doi:10.36950/apd-2016-005.
• Runacres, Rob (2022). "The Bolognese Tradition: Ancient Tradition or Modern Myth?." Acta Periodica Duellatorum 10(1): 1-18. doi:10.36950/apd-2022-002.