Ridolfo Capo Ferro

Ridolfo Capoferro or Capo Ferro of Cagli was a fencing master in the city of Siena best known for his rapier fencing manual published in 1610.

He appears to have hailed from Cagli in the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, but was active as a fencing master in nearby Siena, Tuscany.

Although he may have studied with masters of the German school, his teachings do not reflect perceptible German influence, but instead are in the Italian tradition, with a notable influence from the earlier Italian school of swordsmanship of the 16th century.

"Art and Use of Fencing"

Capoferro's treatise "Great Representation of the Art and Use of Fencing" was printed by Salvestro Marchetti and Camillo Turi in Siena, and is divided into two parts: Art and Practice.

In the first part, he gives the general principles of swordsmanship and fencing, with the second part of his book covering actual techniques, described in text with accompanying illustrations. His work is interesting in that some methods that he denigrates in his theory he uses in his actions; most notably, he dismisses feints as dangerous or useless (depending upon the situation) and then uses them liberally in various actions in the second part of his book.