The game of Civettino

Giovanni di ser Giovanni Guidi from Florence, painted the attached image around 1450.



Depicted is a game or exercise called Civettino (Little Owl) - I can find only sparse information on the game, but have sourced the rules as requiring the players to stand on each others feet, planting them in place, and then play some kind of slap-boxing game, avoiding the attacks of the other by shifting weight and stance.

The central figure in the painting is playing against two opponents.

The relevance to an exercise like this to historical martial arts training seems undeniable. Such a game would be good not only for raising the heart rate and learning some timing, but perhaps give a nice encapsulated way to practise weighting the stance differently, as Fiore shows with his volta of the feet.

The clothes worn are standard for athletic activities of the time and training.



If anyone has more details about this game or regional variations, it would be great to know about it.