Modern fencing's origins come from the elegant, and deadly rapier of the late Italian Renaissance. Several schools of rapier fencing existed, amongst which one of the strongest and longest lasting was in the Roman-Neapolitan-Sicilian School of swordsmanship (Scuola Romana-Napoletana-Siciliana). Arising from the early, northern school, the southern school dates to 17th century Rome, then spread throughout the South of Italy and evolved unininterruptedly until the 19th century, when it merged with the more modern traditions of fencing.

Historical Fencing Manual: Rapier_Fencing in the 17th and 18th Centuries, is a true, modern fencing manual for training in this tradition, written by a modern master of the art. The texts of the 17th and 18th century masters is broken-down, synthesized and arranged into a concise, modern pedagogy, opening a gateway to the southern Italian school for the very first time. Beginning with fundamentals of stance, footwork, attack and defence, the text also covers complex provocations, disarms and grapples, and use of the left-hand dagger - a complete course under one cover!