The weapons at auction
The weapons collection at Palazzo Silva is composed of diverse artifacts. It is not a corpus collected according to historical or environmental criteria but has drawn from various sources, especially through donations. Following the significant restoration of the building in 1886, the first display rack was commissioned for exhibiting the weapons already present in the museum collection. The events that led to the establishment of the collection directly reflect the varied nature of the pieces; nevertheless, the collection is well-assorted, and it contains several objects of remarkable historical interest.
The European weapons at auction
In the rooms of the palace, there are several weapons trophies, consisting of sets of armor, helmets, swords, and polearms. The polearms are numerous and diverse in type. They include both authentic weapons and 19th-century replicas. Among the original weapons, there are a considerable number of halberds of various craftsmanship and origins, dating mainly from the 16th and 17th centuries.
In the sets, there are also two halberds with traces of decorations, a reduced size corsesca, a breaching pike, a half-pike for an officer, a partisan for a sergeant, and a unique “ronconcino a forca” (forked halberd). One curious item is a fine example of a “buttafuori,” a civilian weapon with the length of a pilgrim’s staff, concealing a long square-bladed dagger inside, which can be extracted using a release mechanism.
In the collection, there are also several specimens likely produced for celebratory purposes, during public, civil, and religious occasions. These weapons may have been used for ceremonial displays rather than combat.
