Ridolfo Capo Ferro da Cagli (Ridolfo Capoferro, Rodulphus Capoferrus) was an Italian fencing master in the city of Siena, best known for his rapier fencing treatise published in 1610.
He seems to have been born in the town of Cagli in the Duchy of Urbino (nowadays Province of Pesaro e Urbino), but was active as a fencing master in Siena, Tuscany.[1] Little else is known about his life, though the dedication to Federico Ubaldo della Rovere, the young son of Duke Francesco Maria II della Rovere, may indicate that he was associated with the court at Urbino in some capacity. The statement at the beginning of Capo Ferro's treatise describing him as a "master of the great German nation"[2] likely signifies that he was faculty at the University of Siena, either holding a position analogous to dean of all German students, or perhaps merely the fencing master who taught the German students.
- ^ Italian rapier combat : capo ferro's 'gran simulacro'. New York/Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 2012. pp. 16–23. ISBN 9780230341197.
- ^ Capo Ferro da Cagli, Ridolfo. Gran Simulacro dell'Arte e dell'Uso della Scherma. Siena, 1610. p 1.