David,
Great contribution to this thread and that Wikipedia article is very informative and a good one (IMHO).
I here reproduce snippets from Switch Blades Of Italy by Zinse, Fuller and Punchard:
The first automatics of the late 1700s-early 1800s, including those made in Italy...... While twentieth century switchblades are still assembled by hand, all their parts are to some extent mass produced. By contrast, all late eighteenth and early nineteenth century knives were hand made, one at a time...... from about 1830-1900 there are no known examples of an automatic knife having been made in Italy..... This lack of automatic knives obviously doesn't apply to England and France which were producing excellent automatics throughout the century..... and about 1920 in the cutlery capital of Maniago - Italy began once again to produce multiple variations of the classic stiletto switchblade.....Even Latama, the purveyor of perhaps the finest quality knives advertised switchblades as "novelties". And even the Italian craftsmen who made the knives didn't take them seriously........ nor were they intended to be working knives or used for anything - except perhaps stabbing. Perhaps part of the enduring charm of the Italian stilettos is their essential uselessness.... it would not be a serious knife fighters choice. Any decent fixed-blade military or hunting knife would be a much better choice....
Cheers
Chris
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