Italian Equestrian Academy - La Delia

Fig. 1. Reconstruction of the Delia academy. Drawing: Marcin Ruda

The Italian riding style was a kind of quality indicator in Europe in the 16-17th centuries. Every rider wanted to ride like the Italians, who were considered a model in the art of riding a horse. It resulted in sending the young nobility from all over Europe to Italian educational centers and masters. They learned there not only horse riding, but also vaulting, rifle shooting, fencing, dancing, music, mathematics, arithmetic, geography, nautical science, writing and languages.

William Cavendish confirms it briefly and succinctly- ‘This noble and perfect art [of horse riding] was first begun and invented in Italy, where all the Frenchmen and many other nations went to learn it.’.

You may read more about how popular as a center of equestrian culture Italy was and how great an influence it had in the 16-17th century HERE.

    

    The main purpose of creating this type of academy was to reactivate chivalric and military traditions, which was supposed to have a unifying value and strengthen bonds. Of course, the academy was also supposed to train young nobles for possible participation in a war, as well as assign a role to the nobility in the city by their presence at important public moments such as holidays, carousels, tournaments and duels. Therefore, in many Italian cities in the 16th and 17th centuries there was a rapid growth of military academies, but the one in Padua was the most famous. 

Fig. 2. Jockeys race in Prato della Valle in Padoua- 18th century. Source: padovamusei.it

Fig. 3. Carousel in the courtyard of the Palazzo Barberini in honour of Christina of Sweden on 28 February 1656. Source: wikimedia.org

    The initiator of the establishment of the academy in Padua was a the Venetian patrician and captain, Pietro Duodo. The founding act and laws of the Academy was signed by a group of Paduan nobles on February 7, 1608, Duodo became the Protector and Perpetual Patron of the Academy.

La Delia - this name was given to this university in honor of the island of Delos, where, according to the legend, Apollo and Diana were born. According to the founders, the academy was supposed to combine fine arts with mathematical and military represented by these gods.

 

Art of mathematics

    Pietro Duodo was closely associated with Galileo Galilei, who, at Duodo's request, was called upon to develop Delia's mathematics curriculum.

The military mathematics program included: the basics of the arithmetics of troop deployment, geometry and stereometry, knowledge of mechanical sciences and applications in machines and instruments of war, artillery exercises, the use of a compass and other topographical instruments.

For the needs of the academy in 1665 by Valeriano Bonvicino was created a textbook entitled - ‘Matematiche discipline per uso della illustrissima Accademia Delia di Padoua: doue in sei trattati brevement si ristringono aritmetica, geometria, trigonometria pratiche : fortificazione, sfera, e geografia’.

Fig. 4. The book of Valeriano Bonvicino. Source: books.google.com

Art of riding

    Valerio Piccardini became the first riding master in 1610 and he was described as a ‘cavallerizzo’ (professor of horsemanship) at the ‘Accademia Delia’, and his duties at the court of Padua were precisely defined by the statute: to instruct gentelmen to ride in travelling, in mannege, in tournaments, jousts, and carousels. He also taught riders to present himself, greet and lead the horse in various figures.

    Piccardini was the author of the equestrian treatise entitled ‘SCRITTI De Cavaleria, Giustezza de manegi, et effetti delle Briglie De Valerio Piccardini Brevemente spiegati per darli à Sig: suoi Scolari’ [Writings of cavalry, rightness of excercises and effects of a bridle Valerio Piccardini briefly explained to give it to his pupils], which indicates that it was dedicated to the author's students (who during the educational trips copied treatises and then returned to the hometown with the manuscripts to further study them and train horses accordingly). It is also suggested that this treatise was written for the needs of the academy in question.

Piccardini described not only the exercises and patterns typical for the riding art of that period, but also how to choose a horse on the basis of color, marks, conformation and what diseases to avoid. In the last chapter he described many types of bits, cavessons and other tools, including how to use them. In the version of Vatican Library he also presented work with a single pillar.

Fig. 5. The book of Valerio Piccardini. Source: archive.org

    Another riding master there was Giovanni Battista Palmieri, who, however, did not work there for long. He was the father of Lorenzino Palmieri (who also served as a master at the academy) and he wrote in 1625 a treatise entitled ‘Perfette regole, et modi di caualcare di Lorenzino Palmieri fiorentino (...) dove con somma chiarezza si mostra, e con facilità s'insegna, come si possi ridurre ogni cauallo alla intiera perfettione: Et insieme si tratta della natura de'Cavalli; si propongono le loro Infermità; s'additano gli Rimedi per curarle.’

    Palmieri outlines how to properly train a horse in exercises and for war, he describes breeds including the Neapolitan, outlines the action of bits and their types, horse proportions, horse diseases and their treatment.

Fig. 6. The book of Lorenzino Palmieri. Source: books.google.com

     

Paolo d'Aquino was also a riding teacher there between 1636 and 1638, whose equestrian treatise ‘Disciplina del Cavallo’ from 1636 has also been preserved to our times.    

The book is written as a dialogue between two masters and the author focused on describing the correct execution of exercises and solving problems with the horse. He also described the work with the pillar and the lateral movements around it. At the end he gave a brief mention of how to choose the right mouthpiece for the internal structure of the horse's mouth.

Fig. 7. The book of Paolo d’Aquino. Źródło: books.google.com

    Other masters at the academy were Santapaulina (grandfather and grandson). Luigi Santapaulina was employed there as a master in the period 1692-1700. In 1696 he published a treatise entitled ‘L'arte del cavallo di Nicola, e Luigi Santapaulina, divisa in tre libri. Ne primi due, che son di Nicola, si tratta l'arte di ridurre a tutta perfettione il cavallo. Nel terzo, che è di Luigi, al presente caval.zo della nobil.ma Accademia Delia di Padova, vi si aggiunge il modo di usarlo in... ‘, where he described the work of a young horse with a pillar, riding exercises, patterns, types of horse nature, vices, school above the ground, types of court ballets with horses, and finally the characteristics of a horse for war.

    Interestingly, Santapaulina describes the later slightly changed performance of 'repolone' (fr. ‘passade’), where the change of a leading leg takes place after the turn at the end of a straight line, and not as it was performe by previous masters - before the turn.

He also uses a different (new) definition of 'tempo' and 'contratempo' where it is no longer a tool for measuring time and movement, but the correct and incorrect execution of the exercise.

 

Fig. 8. The book of Luigi Santapaulina. Source: books.google.com

 

On the video, we can see Dominic Sewell playing the role of William Cavendish, who is teaching young nobles how to ride. All recorded at Bolsover Castle in its small 9m x 33m indoor hall.

Art of fencing

 

   The first fencing teacher was Bartolomeo Tagliaferro, and his duties included teaching to use the lance, sword, rapier, mace, dagger and pike.

A fencing treatise from 1653 by another Master of Arms of the Accademia Delia, Francesco Alfieri, has been preserved. He mentions that many foreginers appreciated longsword fencing who came to the academy- ‘This noble exercise is very often practiced in my school by Italians, Poles, Frenchmen and Germans and is highly valued among many nations (...)’.

Fig. 9. The book of Francesco Alfieri. Source: books.google.com

Localization of the academy

Fig. 10. Contemporary view of the academy from the tower of Carrarese castle. Photo: Marcin Ruda

    Doge Leonardo Donà gave the academy a place in the old citadel in front of Carrarese castle, where the current Piazza Accademia Delia overlooks the river Bacchiglione. The square for riding horses has a rhomboid shape (approximately 14x65x38 meters) and a dueling list-fence (possibly installed occasionally) in the middle of the square as it is visible on Fig. 11.

Fig. 11. Drawing of the Delia Academy in manuscript vol. 629- 17th century. Source: commons.wikimedia.org

    It is believed that the architect who designed the buildings of the academy in the period 1608-1609 was Vincenzo Dotto. In the main building (the building on the right- Fig. 11), there was ‘a very large covered hall for riding in rainy weather’ and, on the upper floor, which was accessed by a grand open staircase, there were rooms that were used for lectures on military sciences and for fencing and polearms practice. The main hall was vaulted and decorated with stucco work and paintings by Gaspare Giona and Giovan Battista Bissoni.

Fig. 12. Photo of the covered hall from the period before World War II. Source: Umberto Martuscelli

    The eastern house (the upper building on Fig. 11) was used as a stable capable of holding up to one hundred horses and a carriage shed. The upper floors were the home of the ‘cavallerizzo’- the most esteemed, sought-after and highly paid master of the Delia academy. We can still see part of his living quarters in the tower that leads to the Church of San Giovanni, the only surviving part of this magnificent complex after the devastating fire that consumed it in 1798.

Fig. 13. Academy from the map by Giovanni Valle- 1784. Source: commons.wikimedia.org

Time of decline

    The Academy was thriving for the first three decades, after which it entered a period of decline, when it no longer fulfilled tasks that had been assigned to it. Giovanni Santinello sees the reason for it in the change in the situation of the Venetian republic and its policy towards the continent.

The official end of the Academy came on July 22, 1801. 

Me and the sunny 'Accademia Delia' square in Padua - June 2023

PS
The above article is based on the article "La scienza nascosta nei luoghi di Padova: L'Accademia Delia" and on the book "Galileo e la cultura padovana: convegno di studio promosso dall'Accademia Patavina di Scienze Lettere ed Arti nell'ambito delle celebrazioni galileiane dell'Università di Padova, 13-15 febbraio 1992".