AP Photos: 150-year-old Italian fencing academy trains Hollywood actors as well as Paralympians

ROME (AP) — When Rome’s fencing academy was established nearly 150 years ago by a nobleman, most of its members trained for duels. Today, the founder’s family teaches the art to everyone from Hollywood actors to Paralympian athletes.

In an austere 15th-century palace near the Pantheon in the heart of Rome, Salvatore Greco established the Accademia d’Armi Musumeci Greco in 1878.

Greco was a Sicilian aristocrat who had joined Giuseppe Garibaldi’s campaign that led to the unification of Italy.

The Greco family has since passed down their secrets to rulers, poets, and artists, as well as actors in Hollywood productions — including most recently, director Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci” with Al Pacino and Lady Gaga.

Today it is fourth-generation sword master Renzo Musumeci Greco who carries on the academy’s tradition. At the age of 6, he was on the set of Hollywood blockbuster “Ben-Hur” with his father Enzo, who taught actor Charlton Heston and others how to swing a Roman sword.

Movie legends such as Richard Burton, Errol Flynn, Gina Lollobrigida, Orson Welles, and Yves Montand, as well as opera stars like Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo add to the list.

“The fencer is a particular animal: vain, elegant, fast, candid in his white uniform, polite, in short, a charmer. Sometimes irresistible,” Greco said.

Fencing has long moved on from historic duels, and the academy also has students with high sporting ambitions. A new generation of fencers have been inspired by Rossella Gregorio, who competed at two Olympic Games — Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021 — and won gold in the saber team at the world championships in 2017.

Law student Alessia Di Carlo is one of those who aims to follow in her footsteps.

“It’s the most prestigious medal an athlete can win because it summarizes four years of preparation and sacrifices,” the 23-year-old Di Carlo said about the Olympics.

Di Carlo was coached by longtime national team member Cristiano Imparato and Gianluca Filippi to her second place in the saber (U20) individual at the World Cup in Algiers in 2020.

The academy counts more than 250 members of all ages and abilities. Some practice to release tension after a day at work, while others have loftier ambitions.

Edoardo Giordan, who won a gold medal in team saber at the Rome Wheelchair Fencing World Cup in 2022, will compete in the Paralympic Games in Paris.

“When I lost my right leg in 2013, I did not want to leave home for about a year,” Giordan said. “When I tried fencing, the first assault produced a vibration across my body that I realized would have saved me from depression.”

Giordan practices at one of the academy’s facilities inside the Roman Baths of Diocletian, which dates from the third century and that Greco describes as the only sports activities inside a public museum in the world.

At 72, Renzo Musumeci Greco, like his ancestors who now overlook him from the walls of his office at the academy, is preparing the path for the next generations. But before passing the baton to them, he has a dream.

“I never worked at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House. Who knows? Maybe one day,” he said with a sly smile.

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AP Paralympics: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games