Few people are aware that the qualification of fencing master, a prerequisite for instructors of this sport, is awarded solely by the Accademia Nazionale di Scherma, a non-profit institution based in Naples. There is only one other organization like it in the world, and that is located in Paris, the cradle of skilled swordsmen and setting for most of the world’s best-known swashbuckling tales. The possession of an ancient and highly prestigious fencing academy is therefore a source of pride both for the city of Naples and for Italy as a whole.

And it is no coincidence that fencing, an ancient sport with a modern tang, is the discipline in which the country has won the most medals in the Olympics of the modern era. I became involved with fencing and the Academy in my professional capacity largely because my two children are both fencers and inevitably brought me into contact with this previously unknown world, which I have since come to know even in its most recondite details. When I found out that in addition to awarding master’s diplomas and holding a practically unique position in the world, the Academy also possessed an interesting historical archive, my professional curiosity was aroused. I got in touch with the governing body and explained that the registration of their archival holdings was both necessary and advantageous. This was done in December 2004.

The Academy was founded in Naples in 1861 after the fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and the unification of Italy. The original idea was developed by Giacomo Massei, Annibale Parise and Carlo Cinque, who created the Grande Accademia Nazionale di Scherma for the purpose of teaching and promoting the art of fencing in all the battalions of the National Guard in accordance with the principles of the “Neapolitan School”, an ancient tradition dating back to the 15th century. The founders, who respectively assumed the posts of dean and supervisor, general director, and general secretary, designated General Enrico Cialdini, the king’s lieutenant in the southern provinces, as their first “perpetual” honorary president.

The Academy was declared a non-profit institution by royal decree on 21 November 1880. Article 29 of its statute, which came into effect on 6 March 1881, stated that the academy would also undertake the training of fencing masters, both military and civilian, and award the associated diplomas.

The Academy has maintained the prerogative of awarding the diploma of fencing master for 143 years. As noted above, it is in fact the only body in Italy entitled to bestow this qualification, and every year young men and women come to Naples not only from the rest of Italy but also from the whole of Europe, the United states, Australia, and other non-EU countries to take the examinations and qualify as fencing instructors and masters.

The organic statute and regulations of the Academy’s jury of honour was approved in 1904 with a royal decree signed by Vittorio Emanuele and countersigned by Giovanni Giolitti. This provided official recognition of the role already played for a few years by the jury, an institution set up in order to handle complex questions of honour that could only be settled at that time through the procedure of duelling.

The Academy was housed in Palazzo Maddaloni until World War II, after which it moved to the Carlo V hall of the Angevin Castle, where it remained until the city council decided on its transfer to the Collana stadium at Vomero.

The functions of the Academy, which is not involved in competitive activities, are not exclusively confined to sport. As the body once responsible for the jury of honour, it organizes cultural activities connected with fencing, the West’s only martial art. 

It is worth pausing for a moment to consider this very particular jury, which was called in to settle disputes between gentlemen who felt their honour and reputation to have been impugned in such a way as to reconcile the parties and avoid challenges being issued for a duel. The jury was appointed in accordance with the regulations forming an appendix to the statute then in effect. The members were mostly military men and the procedure commenced with the sending of a letter to the president.

The Academy is also involved in historical studies on the origin and development of fencing and organizes both sporting and cultural events, e.g. a conference on the Farnese collection of weapons housed in the Capodimonte Museum and another entitled “From the honour of the gentleman to the honour of the citizen - techniques of protection and strategies of survival for a controversial value”, held in June 2003 at the Italian Institute of Philosophical Studies. Given these efforts to promote sport and culture, it is to be hoped that Academy will be granted suitable premises to set up a museum of fencing and chivalrous culture with objects, photographs, treatises, codes of chivalry and historical documents as well as multimedia facilities.

As the Academy is the most ancient cultural and sporting association in the city of Naples and the only one operating in Italy, the preservation and promotion of its archives and library are indispensable with a view to protecting Italy’s historical identity in the field of sport.

The archives follow the historical and cultural course of the Academy over the years and, though partially dismembered, still include material of considerable importance.

There are approximately 70 folders from 1861 to 1970 containing statutes (from the date of foundation to the present), resolutions taken by the board of directors, the general meeting of members, and the extraordinary commissioner, registers of founding members and ordinary members, minutes of meetings, correspondence, accounting documents and ledgers, correspondence regarding donations, rent agreements, contracts for running expenses, documents regarding the jury of honour, correspondence regarding wartime damages to the premises in Palazzo Maddaloni, correspondence about returning the ancient weapons that decorated the hall in the Angevin Castle to the Filangieri Museum, a note by the treasurer of the Academy acknowledging temporary receipt of weapons, equipment and paintings from the board of receivers of the Circolo Napoli, inventories, records of examinations for fencing diplomas, correspondence about competitions held for a limited period after World War II by the Carlo V fencing association (founded by the Academy in 1950), and sketches of gymnastic exercises and disabilities involving curvature of the spine.

The archive also includes records documenting the Academy’s activities since 1970, theses written by candidates for diplomas, and a collection of forms and regulations for admission to the examinations in force since 1980, before which the requisites were established by tradition and a simple application was sufficient.

The archive also includes about one hundred photographs (19th-20th century) of athletes, masters, competitions and events in the life of this important sporting institution as well as a library of 174 books (19th-20th century) on subjects regarding sport and “chivalry”, some of which received as a donation in the 1960s.

Angela Spinelli

Archival Superintendency for the Campania Region