Lucta Italica, world premiere in Istanbul

After centuries of oblivion, LUCTA ITALICA, the wrestling practiced in Italy in the 16th century, is revived in Istanbul on the stage of one of the most important international events of the year, the Ethnosport Culture Festival, organized by the World Ethnosport Union chaired by Necmeddin Bilal Erdoğan. We can therefore say: from the Renaissance to the 21st century!

Included in the event’s official program, on May 22, 2026, the LUCTA ITALICA demonstration was performed by Mattia Galbiati and Stefano Giusti before a very enthusiastic audience. The project for the revival, valorization, and international promotion of Lucta Italica was developed by Vittorio Giorgi, president of the Italian Kurash and Traditional Wrestling Federation, and Professor Antonio Merendoni, wrestling historian.

This wrestling is documented in iconographic and written sources such as the “Flos duellatorum” (1409) by the fencing master Fiore dei Liberi; the “De la palestra,” an anonymous work; “Exercitiorum atque artis militaris collectanea,” a 1509 treatise written in Latin by the nobleman Pietro Monti; and “Le tre giornate” (The Three Days) by the Neapolitan gentleman Marc’Antonio Pagano (1553).

At the end of the 16th century in Italy, following major social transformations, this wrestling was no longer practiced among the upper classes and died out. “The Lucta Italica Project was born in 2024 from the need to revive, in sporting and cultural contexts, the historical Italian wrestling of the Renaissance based on existing written and iconographic documentation,” comments Vittorio Giorgi. ”
Our book on the Lucta Italica will also be published soon. I am delighted that its first demonstration in the modern era took place in Istanbul, ancient Constantinople, a link between Europe and Asia, a millennia-old meeting place of peoples and cultures, and a land of wrestlers. In September, the Lucta Italica will be a demonstration sport at the World Nomad Games in Kyrgyzstan.”