Though few in America have heard of the Italian martial arts organization Nova Scrimia, they have been in existence since around 1997, and teach a powerful and effective style of Western martial art. They teach a wide range of skills, including rapier and dagger fencing, Medieval sword play, full contact stick fighting, knife and unarmed defense skills; all in the Italian tradition. They study the Italian masters only, such as Fiore DeLiberi, Achille Marozzo, and Giacomo DiGrassi.

They have produced a number of extensive training manuals covering their unarmed combat, stick fighting, rapier and dagger fencing, as well as heavily illustrated book giving a training overview and history of the Italian martial arts. Here they depict work with the cloak, long stick, short stick, sword, knife, and so on. These books are currently only available in Italian, but if they were ever translated I am sure they would stir a lot of interest in the WMA community. Their training manuals, for example, are clearly done and include many photographs of specifically how to train and fight.

From speaking to my friend G. Zanini (also known as Scossa) from Nova Scrimia, I have come to appreciate how seriously these guys take their training. They take the Martial part of "martial art" to heart, much like my friend Terry Brown does with the English styles. Make no mistake, these guys are fighters and not "costumed theorists" in the least.

I think when their work becomes available in English, many people will know the name Nova Scrimia, and I hope this two part article from Graziano Galvani can help in that cause!

A salute to my brothers in Italy, may we cross sticks and raise glasses one day!