“Italy has for a long time abandoned it [the buckler], because it had begun to be used by people of unsavoury reputation, and moreover for the prohibitions against arms in almost all of Italy”.

Francesco di Sandro Altoni (c.1540)







“The ancients used various bucklers of different sizes: either large, medium or quite small. The size of those used today is more consistent, the buckler having begun to be used a lot in Florence, particularly at night.”

Marco Docciolini (1601)







Nicoletto Giganti (1608)







Giuseppe Morsicato Pallavicini (1673)





Don Pedro Texedo (1678), “Rotella”











Bondì di Mazo (1696), Targa.









Giuseppe D'Alessandro (1723), “Rotella”





“There are a few foreign masters who teach holding the targa entirely flat towards their enemy, behind which, curling themselves up, they attempt to hide themselves. Being hidden in this way they can barely see their opponent’s movements, and they end up like a pheasant, which hiding its head amongst the stones and not seeing the hunters believes in turn that the hunters cannot see it, thereby being taken with ease.”

Giuseppe D'Alessandro (1723)







“I do not wish to omit writing about the sword and buckler. Although not used in Naples, one who wants to call himself a Maestro of the Sword must know how to give complete satisfaction, wielding it in whichever way. And if a foreigner arrives in his land, perhaps a Moor, he must be able to discuss with him, and to employ the sword in any possible manner.”

Nicola Terracusa e Ventura (1725)

