Scherma Salentina
Fencing of Salento
Dances and Blades
Lost in time, the ancient pizzica dancing and fencing arts, today still alive across the Italian Salento area
In south of Apulia, the "scherma salentina" (fencing of Salento) is part of the Bridisi/Lecce fencing style, probably one of the oldest, is enriched and bound to the tradition of the "Pizzica" (or dance of knives, also known as dance of swords), a dance that mimics the knife fencing. This fencing and dancing school is still well alive and practiced. In Torrepaduli during the festivities of San Rocco, this is a traditional and spiritual event where the society around it and many fencing Masters gather together to challenge each other, sometime still to regulate old or new issues, and the borders between game and duel can become fuzzy. These challenges most of the time are resolved in the "Ronde" (the dancing duels sourrounded by a circle of people and musci players), following a specific hierarchy and code to hide the different Master's secrets and tricks, without the need of dueling with real blades. Some of the known Masters alive are Leonardo Donadei (son of the famous and great fencing Master and Knight Don Raffaele Donadei), Flavio Olivares, Alfredo Barone, and his son Salvatore Barone. Their long term student and delegated to represent the school is the reseacher Dr. Davide Monaco, who is the Master who currently runs the semi-public school in Lecce