The rapier is a type of sword with a slender and sharply-pointed double-edged blade used throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. The rapier became extremely fashionable throughout Europe with the wealthier classes, and continued to evolve to meet the needs of civilian combat and decorum, eventually becoming lighter, shorter and less cumbersome to wear, evolving into the smallsword and eventually the épée which is used in modern olympic fencing nowadays.

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Many of the manuscripts and treatises that survive to this day hail from the area that is modern-day Italy, where many fencing masters recorded their styles as scientifical arts of swordfighting. Famous fencing masters include: Achille Marozzo, Antonio Manciolino, Camillo Agrippa, Nicoletto Giganti, Ridolfo Capoferro, and Salvator Fabris.

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Our club's rapier curriculum focuses on the style of rapier fighting as taught by Nicoletto Giganti in his most famous work, "Scola, overo teatro".