Apulia The art of Bastone Pugliese has now been codified and is being taught in a school in Manfredonia, in the Puglie region. The first Italian championship of this discipline has been held in 2011. The region is also known for Scherma Di Coltello Pugliese (Apulian Knife) which is further subdivided in three local styles: Taranto, Foggia/Bari and Brindisi/Lecce. One of the most renown experts of this art is Luciano Trimigno, who learned the art from his father and his grandfather who was one of the most renewed knife and stick fighters of the last century. The entire family of Luciano Trimigno (including his father, now in his old age, his cousins and his son Giuseppe) is involved in running his school. Trimigno's students have participated in international tournaments. European championships of knife fencing were held in 2012, 2013 and 2014, with athletes representing various countries, including Italy, Russia and Ukraine. The Italian team was trained by Maestro Trimigno and showcased the skills of Scherma Di Coltello Pugliese. The school of Foggia-Bari originates from ancient chivalry codes based on honor and is enriched in the dueling art. Another school in Mafredonia, related to the "Cavalieri d'Umilita'" (knights of humility) which is the same tradition as that of Trimigno's family, is the school of Giuseppe Vuovolo. His knife school evolved and differentiated from the original school, and is also based on his personal experience with different Italian masters and experts he met or fought during his younger life in south of Italy. His stick fencing school tradition instead was passed to him by Borgia (still alive) at a young age. He is also an expert in other martial arts, who practices and teaches from the seventies. Another school of the North of Puglie, in the Ofantina Valley, is the "Cielo e Meraviglia" (Heaven and Marvel) school. This school is not focused on the dueling art but mostly on self-defense, and evolved from the Italian fencing tradition, probably in the 18th century, within the agropastoral environment of the "Masserie", fortified and isolated micro villages within olive tree plantations. In the Masserie, the "Frantoiani" (artisans and producers of olive oil, an expensive and precious product at that time) could not afford to pay private soldiers and warriors, and so they had to develop specific methods with the stick and the knife, their common tools, to survive for defending themselves and the precious olive oil from the continuous attacks of bandits. The recreational or dueling aspects of this school are indeed minimal, due to the hard life, isolation and limited social life that characterized the Masserie. The school is characterized by very short distance and uses not only a sophisticated strategy but also physical strength and dexterity, typical of "Frantoniani" due to their hard job requirements. More diffused in the past, even if secretly kept among masters, the only Masters alive of this art are now Nunizo Galante and Domenico Mancino, who learned it at a young age from Nunzio's grandfather and from several of the other Frantoniani alive, most of them now deceased or very old. Master Mancino defines the School he inherited more like an artisanal art, based on master to student direct teaching and slow learning, rather than a "tradition", transmitted to a larger audience or shared in social events, like it might have happened in schools that were more social or focused on combat and ritual dueling. In south of Puglie, the "scherma salentina" of the Brindisi/Lecce style, probably one of the oldest, is enriched and bound to the tradition of the "Pizzica", 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. These challenges most of the time are resolved in the "Ronde" (the dancing duels), 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), Alfredo Barone, Flavio Olivares, Salvatore Barone. Their long term student and delegated to represent the school is Davide Monaco, who runs the school in Lecce. Another school located in Presicce-Acquaricca, in the province of Lecce, was led by master Giuseppe Vittorio Emanuele Massaro (Corchia). (He was also the first to receive the 1st dan black belt in Aiki-jujutsu from the style of Master Minoru Mochizuki in Switzerland.https://anamj.ch/) Coming from a family of farmers managing "Masserie" (farms) cultivating tobacco, grapes and "Frantoniani", he received training from his grandfather Luigi Vito Massaro, who had learned "Scrima" from his father Ippazio Massaro. As mentioned above, it is a style that was constantly readapted and perfected mainly through oral teaching and mimesis. Knife duels were also frequent in the region since ancient times. In the Masserie, the "Frantoiani" (olive oil producers, a precious product at that time) could not afford to pay soldiers and private warriors, so they had to develop specific methods using the stick and knife, their common tools, to survive and defend themselves as well as the precious olive oil against the continuous attacks of bandits. The recreational or dueling aspects of this school were indeed minimal, because of the harsh living conditions, isolation and limited social life that characterized life in the Masserie. Therefore it was pragmatic and well adapted for self-defense. The school was characterized by very short fighting distances and used not only a sophisticated strategy but also the physical strength and dexterity typical of the "Frantoiani" because of the high demands of their work. More widespread in the past, it is still secretly preserved among current masters. Today, the legacy of this lineage is known by Nevio Massaro (Corchia), who continues to develop and perfect this knife and self-defense style.
Sicily 1) In Sicily an organization called Liu-bo has codified the techniques of traditional Sicilian Staff Fighting known as "Paranza Lunga" and now organizes competitions at the regional level. This school is rapidly expanding. "Paranza Lunga" started around AD 1200 as a method of self-defense for shepherds. The staff was the weapon of the poor, who could not afford a sword. The staff was used in a whirling overhead motion, mimicking the way a knight would use a two-handed sword. Initially there was no established technique and the use of the staff was simply based on the imitation of the use of the sword. By AD 1600, however, separate schools of staff fighting had emerged. A few such schools, or styles, survive to this day. These are "Cavalleresca", "Fiorata", "Battuta", "Ruotata" and "Giocata". "Giocata" is the only style that uses a single hand to operate the staff, while all the other styles use both hands. The staff is about 120 cm long and is made of hard wood, usually from Orange or Pear trees, or from Rosella or Ulivastro trees. 2) Paranza Corta (Sicilian Knife Fighting) is the traditional knife fighting style of Sicily. It is still taught by individual masters but is not organized in a format suitable for divulgation to the masses. Those who wish to learn the art have to seek out the individual masters and be accepted as students. The weapon used is a folding stiletto knife which come in a few variants, the most famous being the Liccasapuni (literally "soap licker" because the blade used to be smeared with soap before a duel, so that it would cause permanent scars on the recipient of a cut). The Sicilian style is further subdivided into two branches: the school of Palermo and that of Catania.
Sardinia Istrumpa, the wrestling style of Sardinia is also growing in popularity. The association promoting this sport is participating in European championships for Celtic wrestling stiles (such as
Gouren), which has showcased the skills of Istrumpa wrestlers.
Genoa In recent years the discipline of Bastone Genovese has begun to be taught in specialized gyms in the region of Liguria, where it had originated centuries ago.
Naples Bastone Napoletano is the newest stick fighting discipline to come to the limelight in Italy. Like many other regional styles it has been in existence for centuries but was formerly taught by individual masters on a one on one basis. The discipline is also known as "Varra" and uses a long stick of 1.60 meters.
Other regions Several other regional styles of knife and stick fighting remain in existence. These are kept alive by individual Masters at Arms who teach their techniques privately. Amongst the knife styles were the styles of Rome, Neaples, Salerno, Calabria and Corsica (which nowadays is a French region). Disciplines focusing on staff fighting include, Bastone Calabrese (Calabrian Stick Fighting), Bastone Milanese, Bastone Piemontese, Taccaro and Bordone ==Modern Italian styles==