At CCF, the advanced students have been studying la canne recently. We have focused on la canne’s French origins, using established 19th century techniques. However, lest anyone begin to doubt for a moment that the Italians would neglect an opportunity to excel at un sistema di combattimento, check out these videos.
The videos show la canne italiana, a cane-fighting system that is demonstrably martial: the hits are solid and even strike the arms; the system indulges few flourishes and, moreover, uses the point of the cane to hit. (Indeed, the system looks like saber with a stick.)
This one shows a what seems to be a standard bout:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAH9XarclWg&feature=relmfu
There is even a “full contact” session (including kicks and cane seizing!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2n90YPd7Io&feature=relmfu. (This is reminiscent of canne chausson.)
Finally, note that la canne italiana has even been incorporated into a video game: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e11sGDsnYkM&feature=plcp.
