0.2.2. Italian Hand Positions

The Italian School is distinguished by a wider selection of hand positions than found in French fencing.  The adoption of these positions precedes the classical period.  For example, Paolo Bertelli (1800, Swanger's translation) describes the principal positions of Prima through Quarta in the same terms as classical Period Fencing Masters, and reports that a fifth position, the opposite of Prima, was by that time thought to have little utility by contemporary Masters.

There are either six or seven hand positions for the sword in the Italian School of the classical period.  Four of these are Principal Positions, and either two or three Intermediate ones.  Masaniello Parise (1884, Holzman's translation) and Luigi Barbasetti (1932)  describe the Principal positions as:

• Prima (First) - hand held with the fingers turned to the outside, the thumb toward the ground, and the crossbar vertical
• Seconda (Second) -  hand held in pronation with the crossbar horizontal.
• Terza (Third) - hand held with the fingers to the inside line, the thumb up, and the crossbar vertical.
• Quarta (Fourth) - hand held in supination with the fingernails upward and the crossbar horizontal.

Parise and Barbasetti also describe two Intermediate positions:

• Seconda in Terza - hand held at 45 degrees from the vertical with the fingernails downward between Seconda and Terza and the crossbar at the diagonal from low outside to high inside.
• Terza in Quarta - hand held at 45 degrees from the vertical with the fingernails upward between Terza and Quarta and the crossbar at the diagonal from low inside to high outside.

Terrone (1952) identifies one further intermediate position.  However, he indicates that it was "worse than useless" for instructional purposes, and neither Parise nor Barbasetti address it.

• Between First and Second -  hand held at 45 degrees from the vertical with the fingernails downward between Prima and Seconda and the crossbar at the diagonal from low inside to high outside.

Note that in each case, the position is defined in terms of hand position (pronated or supinated), fingers (up or down, inside or outside), thumb (up or down), and angle of the cross bar (vertical, horizontal, or diagonal). The complete set of seven positions moves the hand through a complete circle in 45 degree increments.

• Prima (First) … to
• Between First and Second … to
• Seconda (Second) … to
• Seconda in Terza … to
• Terza (Third) … to
• Terza in Quarta … to
• Quarta (Fourth)

Parise identifies two fundamental purposes for the variety of hand positions.  First, rotation through applicable positions facilitates the movement of the point from high to low or low to high lines.  Thus, to attack from the chest to the flank the hand moves from Quarta to Seconda.  Second, the position of the hand closes the line against counterattacks into the attack.  

Copyright 2018 by Walter G. Green III

Italian Hand Positions by Walter G. Green III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.