Giovanni Filoteo Achillini

Giovanni Filoteo Achillini
Born	1466
Died	1538
Occupation	Poet
Citizenship	Bolognese
Genres	Fencing manual
Language	Italian
Notable work(s)	Viridario (1513)

Giovanni Filoteo Achillini was a 16th century Italian poet.

He was the brother of famous philosopher Alessandro Achillini and grandfather of the poet Claudio Achillini; both Giovanni and Alessandro were courtiers of the ruling family of Bologna, the Bentivoglios.

In December 1504 he completed the composition of the Viridario, later published in 1513 in Bologna. The Viridario is an epic-didascalic poem, in which Achillini inserted a fencing manual in poetic form. The manual discusses closes of half sword for sword and buckler, and its 25 techniques are closely related to those included in Antonio Manciolino's Opera Nova, most likely representing an earlier version; Achillini does mention the fact that he was using an "original" text that contained these techniques, which was later stolen from him, but does not mention its author.

Treatise

Only the portion of Viridario that discusses fencing will be excerpted here.

Sword and Buckler

No Translation	Transcription by Rob Runacres
[XCVIIIv] Domandol nome il tutto gli narrorno, E come gli mandaua allui Mercurio. Disse Chironne, io non faro soggiorno, Ma ne l’imprese graui mai non furio. Voglio chiascun di uoi far prima adorno Nello schermire, e fieui bono alturio. Che quando un homo ha grande arte e possanza. Il se puo dir che ogni altro al Mondo auanza. Piglia la spada in mano col brocchiero Leggiadro col pie dritto ua in trauerso Dal dritto lato tuo destro e mainero, Accioche tu non par schermitor perso, Passando per parer piu uago e fiero, E far il gioco piu polyto e terso. Tocca il brocchier col falso di la spada, E la spada in guarda alta fa che uada. Se dir uolesse il gioco a parte a parte, I passi, i colpi, i tocchi, i falsi, i dritti, Io uergarei ben piu di mille charte. Basta i secreti grandi io tharro ditti Quanti ne sono quasi in tutta larte, Che questi sono stati mei profitti. Vsanza e a far tre assalti in questo gioco, Sel ne tocco uno ogniun torni al suo loco.	Text to copy over

Copyright and License Summary

For further information, including transcription and translation notes, see the discussion page.

Work	Author(s)	Source	License
Translation
Transcription	Rob Runacres

Additional Resources

The following is a list of publications containing scans, transcriptions, and translations relevant to this article, as well as published peer-reviewed research.

• Lanzoni, Jari (2023). Le Tecniche Perdute: Arte di Spada e Brocchiero. Self-published. ISBN 979-8399523330.
• Runacres, Rob (2022). "The Bolognese Tradition: Ancient Tradition or Modern Myth?." Acta Periodica Duellatorum 10(1): 1-18. doi:10.36950/apd-2022-002.
• Falco, Salvatore; Filippo Schino (2025). Il Viridario di Giovanni Filoteo Achillini: La fonte più antica della Scuola Bolognese di scherma. Accademia Nazionale di Scherma. ISBN 979-1280230379.