The ''spada da lato'' (Italian) or ''side-sword'' is a type of

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

popular in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

during the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

. It is a continuation of the medieval

knightly sword In the European High Middle Ages, the typical sword (sometimes academically categorized as the knightly sword, arming sword, or in full, knightly arming sword) was a straight, double-edged weapon with a single-handed, cruciform (i.e., cross-shape ...

, and the immediate predecessor, or early form, of the

rapier A rapier () is a type of sword originally used in Spain (known as ' -) and Italy (known as '' spada da lato a striscia''). The name designates a sword with a straight, slender and sharply pointed two-edged long blade wielded in one hand. It wa ...

of the

early modern period The early modern period is a Periodization, historical period that is defined either as part of or as immediately preceding the modern period, with divisions based primarily on the history of Europe and the broader concept of modernity. There i ...

. Side-swords were used concurrently with rapiers as well, particularly for military applications, although differentiating swords between civilian and military use was not something that was done in the period when a soldier had to arm himself. Its use was taught in the Dardi school of Italian fencing and others, and was influential on the classical rapier fencing of the 17th century. The equivalent Spanish term, ''espada ropera'' ("dress sword") is seen as the origin of the term ''rapier'', although this is disputed. Italian antiquarians use the term ''spada da lato'' for rapiers typical of the period of c. 1560–1630, the Italian term for the fully developed rapier of the later 17th century is ''spada da lato striscia'', or just ''spada striscia'' "strip-sword"., but the term ''rapier'' or ''rapiera'' is also used in modern Italian.

References

Edged and bladed weapons Early Modern European swords European swords Renaissance-era swords {{Italy-hist-stub