Francesco Alfieri
Paduan master-at-arms of the Accademia Delia, author of treatises on fencing with the banner, rapier, pike and spadone, published between 1638 and 1653.
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Francesco Alfieri, in full Francesco Ferdinando Alfieri, came from Padua and was maestro d'arme (master-at-arms) of the Accademia Delia in Padua. He is documented there in 1640; one source states that he probably held the post from 1632 until the mid-fifties of the 17th century. We have not been able to verify the dates of his birth and death.
In 1638 he published a treatise on fencing with the banner, La Bandiera, in 1640 a treatise on rapier fencing, La Scherma (again in 1645), and in 1641 a treatise on fighting with the pike, La Picca, to which a treatise on the banner was also appended. In 1653 (again in 1683) he published L'arte di ben maneggiare la spada; some sources describe it as a work on both the rapier and the two-handed sword (spadone), others as an expanded rapier edition with a section on the spadone. He dedicated two of the works to his former student and patron Lodovico Vidman, La Scherma to the students of the academy.
He developed the so-called mixed stance for moving between fencing stances, preferred a direct line of the weapon and attacked chiefly with the point, with a minimum of cuts. He combined defence with sword, dagger and a wrapped cloak.
He sharply set himself against the older masters Achille Marozzo and Ridolfo Capoferro, while he praised Salvator Fabris as "the man of the most eminent name in our profession". Master Francesco Antonio Marcelli cited him extensively in the 17th century. L'arte di ben maneggiare la spada was published in 2017 in a Russian translation.