The Italian Wars raged from 1494 to 1559, and all of Italy was embroiled in frequent battles. The Germans, Spanish, French, and Turks waged war to control the Italian peninsula, and the Italians developed combat systems against many other fighting styles. Although firearms were emerging in Europe at that time, it was still common to battle with sword, dagger and spear.

Bologna, like other city-states of Northern Italy, has a long history in the use of arms.  There were many instructors of martial arts in Bologna-- we know some of their names and that they were granted licenses to operate schools as early as 1390.  Some of these masters wrote instructional manuscripts, and after the printing press came to Bologna, books began to appear that contained the martial arts teachings of that time.  Five such books survive to this day, and these make up the basis of what we know as Bolognese Martial Arts.  One of our masters, writing in 1550, said that the martial arts of Bologna were already ancient in his time, and that no one knew exactly how old they were.