[kronckew]

I also have a similar cavalry 1871 version with a more robust and stiffer partially fullered blade, the forte IS pipe backed, the foible is not. The British 1821 sabres initially had pipe back blades, but during Crimea, they found they did not penetrate the Russian greatcoats on thrusting, simply bending. They weren't terribly good cutters either. the piped back acts to block further progress of a cut. I have thrust my very sharp pipe back into cardboard and thru light clothing, where it performed adequately. The thumb rest aids a lot in proper indexing for Italian swords in general and is pretty much unique to Italy. Other countries tend to favour the leather finger strap method.

actually, it's better to wound an opponent and put him out of action rather than killing them... A dead man costs one, a wounded man costs 5, the wounded man and the infrastructure required to treat, care and feed him while he recovers, if he does.

Anyway, the 11796LC is still probably the best of British cutters. Admired by the Prussians after Waterloo and terrifying to the French, the Germans stuck to the Blucher sabre, and almost exact copy of the brit sword for decades and those after were just thinner versions after they became less used in battle. The Polish and Hungarians tended to favour these heavier 'hussar' styles long after everyone else, well into the 20c and even in WW2, they were occasionally found useful.

The 1871 below actually has a bullet strike about halfway down the blade that has dimpled and cracked the blade edge but hasn't affected the piped spine any, it is still quite unaffected by test cutting, where I expected it to break in half. It hasn't (yet - but is now retired from such acts). The person who carried it must have had a great story to tell if he survived.