Hi everyone.
I'm Gabriele, i live in Roma ad i'm 25. I've always have a passion for arms and armor, especially those of acient times. migration period and rinascimento. I still remember the first time i saw a zweihander in a palace of the city center (stolen from a lanzichenecco during the sack of Rome in 1527), my love for history and arms begun there. I studied deeply latin and acient greek in high school (a particular kind called liceo classico) and this year i'm going to take a degree in law, but i hope to become a military historian.

The first thing i'd like to share with you is an amazing sword from the migration period. It was found in the necropoly of Nocera Umbra (200km from Roma), a "cemetery" developed between 570 and 640 AD.
The hilt is unbelivable, entirely made in gold and finely decoreted, is one of the most beatiful thing i've ever seen. The upper guard is affixed to the tang and the pommel is riveted to the upper guard in a sort of "Petersen type R" ante litteram.
I try to mesure the sword but was hard with the the protecion-glass, i think it's under 90cm all.
Here a photo that count more than one thousand words.

ps. excuse me for my english.

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Rinascimento= Renaissance for the anglosphere.

In Italy there are many fine weapons from the migration era sleeping in less famous museums.

For example in Verona\'s Castelvecchio they have some lombard swords almost as beautiful as the one by Gabriele.

Usually they are ignored by the public which concentrates mainly on paintings an architectural wonders.

Yes it's true. Probably because here the interest in arms and armor is very low..no one here can understand the historical value of a similar sword. The only good italian books on the subject came from Lionello Boccia but now are really hard to find (fortunately i bought online all Oakshott works).

In that museum, that is half mile from home, there is another sword like that, with a different hilt, other simply sword (all very close to spatha), a dozen of sax and a particular weapon, one harpago (a sort of sickle mounted on a staff), and a lot of spear points (seveal are very fine manufactured).

Maybe the best thing of the museum is the "funeral corredo" (all the thing put in the tomb with the corpse) of tomb 119 from Castel Tirosino. It his the most complete longbard corredo ever found in Europe. This Longobard was probably an high ranked official and was buried with a complete lamellar armor and a wonderful lamellar elm with a rigid forehead and nose protection. The stripes of metal were fixed to this rigid piece at the bottom and fixed to a round element in the upper part. A sax, a sword, a spear and an harpago complete his offensive equipment. For defense he had also a round shield. The fornitures and decorations found demostrates a Byzantine influence in longbard art. Very close to the Esarcato and to the Adriatic Sea, the centre-Italy longbard showed soon the most incredible mix of pure roman, byzantine and barbaric traditions.

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the fine spear point

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the lamellar elm [ Download ]

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lamellar armor [ Download ]

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the "harpago" [ Download ]

I had often wondered about the presence of "Migration-period" archaeological sites in Italy----there appears to be very little in print about that topic.
That is a beautiful spear . . . . .

Great post.

In Italy there are tons of swords and other edged weapons (armi bianche) that simply lie in museums storages. The interest goes to vase,pot,marbles and other things. I took part to an archeological campaign in 2000 near Viterbo. Well, we found a huge longbard site, grown up on a Roman Villa of the V century. Swords ,spears,schields etc went in the storage, while ceramic ware went in the exposition. In the next months i'm going to visit other museum near here to see other "forgotten beauties" and i'd like to write something about migration period sword in Italy next year, a catalogue with all the most important infos. The problem is that in italy it's hard to find a publisher and even harder to find someone interested in buying a book on the subject.

Here another photo. On this silver plate of the VI century i've noticed a wonderful engraving of a bizantyne horseman fully equipped.

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Hi Gabriele
On the pommel on the sword in your first post, is there any suggestion of glass or similar inlay in the spaces in the net pattern on the pommel face?
Geoff

funeral corredo = funeral set, what is buried with the corpse.