L’arte di ben maneggiare la spada (Francesco Fernando Alfieri)

L’arte di ben maneggiare la spada
The Art of Handling the Sword Well
Title page of the first edition
Author(s)	Francesco Fernando Alfieri
Illustrated by	Unknown
Dedicated to	Martino Vidman
Place of origin	Padua
Language	Italian
Genre(s)	Fencing manual
Publisher	Sebastiano Sardi
Publication date	1653
Pages	232 pages
Treatise scans	Digital scans (Part 1) Digital scans (Part 2) Digital scans (Part 3) Digital scans (1653) Digital scans (Part 3) B&W photocopy (1653) B&W photocopy (Part 2)

L’arte di ben maneggiare la spada ("The Art of Handling the Sword Well") is an Italian fencing manual written by Francesco Fernando Alfieri and printed in 1653. It is his final known work, redacting the teachings on the use of the rapier found in his 1640 treatise La Scherma, and also including a new third section on fencing with the spadone.

Publication History

L’arte di ben maneggiare la spada was first printed in Padua in 1653 by Sebastiano Sardi. The first two parts were previously published by Sardi in 1640 as La Scherma.

The third part was translated to English by Ken Mondschein and published in 2012 by SKA SwordPlay Books.

Contents

Ir - VIIv	Preface and introduction by Francesco Fernando Alfieri
1 - 78	First Part by Francesco Fernando Alfieri
79 - 168	Second part by Francesco Fernando Alfieri
Ir - IVv	Introduction to spadone by Francesco Fernando Alfieri
1 - 168	Third part by Francesco Fernando Alfieri

Gallery

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

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.

• Alfieri, Francesco (2022). Lo Spadone. Trans. by Ian Davis. Self-published.
• Alfieri, Francesco Ferdinando (2012). La Scherma: The Art of Fencing Paperback. Trans. by Piermarco Terminiello; Caroline Stewart and Phil Marshall. Pike & Shot Society. ISBN 978-1902768427.
• Alfieri, Francesco Fernando (2018). La Scherma. On Fencing, 1640 Rapier Treatise. Trans. by Tom Leoni. Self-published.
• Mondschein, Ken (2012). The Art of the Two-Handed Sword. SKA SwordPlay Books. ISBN 978-0978902285.

Copyright and License Summary

For further information, including transcription and translation notes, see the discussion page.

Work	Author(s)	Source	License
Images		File:L’arte di ben maneggiare la spada (Francesco Fernando Alfieri) 1653.pdf
Transcription	Andrea Conti	Index:L’arte di ben maneggiare la spada (Francesco Fernando Alfieri)