Luciano and Tessina

Preceded by: Kenric and Dagmar

Luciano Foscari and Tessina Felice Gianfigliazzi Forty-ninth Principe and Principessa of the Summits 18 Dec AS LVI/2021 – 18 Jun AS LVII/2022

Succeeded by: Bato and Emma

Luciano Foscari

Luciano has always been interested in swords and sword fighting, and when he took a fencing class at the University of Oregon, he met, now Regent, Victor de Guers. Victor invited a group of fencers from the class to Egils in 1997. He hated that event, but decided to give the SCA another try at An Tir/West War that same year. There he met people and started to see what the SCA could be. There were way too many people crammed on Elijah Bristow State Park, but it had a feeling that was something that he wanted to be a part of.

As swords were what brought him into the SCA, rapier fighting is what he threw himself into. Lucien really wanted to learn how to fence correctly, so he went to 6 practices a week, mostly modern fencing, and started taking private lessons. Rapier was a new community in the Summits, with only a handful of fighters. He didn’t know any rapier marshals in the Principality, so he piled in a car with a handful of other fencers from the UO fencing club, and went to Tacoma to get authorized by Maestro Artemus de Montessori.

He fought in his first QRC at 12th Night in 1998, under the name Lucien MacCrimmon. He was a big Highlander fan, so he wanted to be Scottish, but didn’t like any of the Scottish first names, so he chose a French first name and said the French and Scots were allies at that time, so there were probably people with mixed French-Scottish names.

Lucien taught himself to sew during this time. His first SCA garb was hand sewn flannel pants, a white cotton shirt and a flannel vest. A customer at the Copy Shop where he worked saw him sewing the vest, and taught him how to use patterns and sew shirts. He moved on from flannel vests to robe velour doublets with velcro closures, before getting to the outfits he wore for years, simple Venetian pants and doublets, out of cotton this time.

Lucien became a cadet to Don Simone Nicholls, now known as Baron Valbrandr Hfafnsbrodir. Simone’s teaching methodology consisted primarily at the time of tearing Lucien’s shirt sleeves as he repeatedly hit him till he learned how to parry. With that teaching methodology, Lucien modernly enrolled in the San Jose State University Fencing Masters program, to learn how to teach classical Italian fencing. There he obtained a Provost certification and while that program has since shut down, hopes to one day finish off the Masters Certification with their sister program at Sonoma State.

Lucien was inducted into the Order of the White Scarves by King Skepti and Queen Asa at September Crown 2000. He was the first rapier fighter to receive a buffet as part of their ceremony. It wasn’t planned, the King of the West suggested it, and King Skepti said sure. Lucien was in the process of saying that he’s had a lot of jaw surgery as the buffet came in. This event is also the time that Luciano Foscari came into being. While not part of the ceremony, this event was where he started using a new name. Since most things he was interested in the SCA were based in Italy, he decided to give up the complex persona story and become Venetian.

While Luciano was learning to fight, he wasn’t strictly focused on the marital community, he also threw himself into service. Midwinters was his first event as an event steward. It was a Venetian themed event, and he really wanted to have bridges for the event. He didn’t get his bridges, but he still hopes to have them one day. His first office was the Adiantum Rapier Marshal, but he also served as the Summits Chronicler and Seneschal in the early years, and years later the Kingdom Rapier Marshal, Summits Earl Marshal, and Kingdom Earl Marshal.

Luciano first fought heavy at a Meet in the Middle practice that was held between Adiantum and Terra Pomaria. There were no rapier fighters there that day so someone offered him their armor and he fought then Thegn William. Luciano swung and swung at Thegn William, and he calmly rocked his hand back and forth blocking everything, occasionally hitting Luciano in the head when he got bored of that. Luciano did get a thrust on Thegn William, which earned him a chastisement, because the sword didn’t have a thrusting tip. Luciano fought in heavy armor a few more times after that, eventually getting his own armor so that he could fight in wars. At the time there was a feared White Scarf pike line that he wanted to be a part of.

Luciano got serious about heavy fighting much later. He started fighting it more often so that he could have a place that he could fight and it didn’t matter like it did when he fenced. When he had a bad day on the rapier field, he wasn’t living up to being a White Scarf, when he had a good day, it didn’t matter, because he was a White Scarf. So he started fighting armored combat more so that he could just suck and not have anyone care. But as a competitive individual, that didn’t last long. He wanted to get good, and started on the path to Knighthood in 2011, when he became the first squire to Vis. Matheus Bane.

Luciano won the Queen’s Rapier Championship in 2012, but wasn’t able to serve his full term, because he won Summits Coronet that same year. He reigned with his friend Elizabeth Turner de Carlisle. They had a fun and successful reign, recognizing many deserving people.

Luciano was inducted into the Order of the Pelican in 2015 by King Styrkarr and Queen Stjarna, where His Majesty granted him the title, Master Sexy Pants. He was added to the Order of Defense, by King Savaric and Queen Dalla, in 2015 as well, as the fourth member of that new order. At Sport of Kings in 2019, King Morgan and Queen Livia invited him to sit vigil for elevation into Knighthood. Luciano chose to be elevated at September Crown that year, giving his wife and friends a little under 2 weeks to put everything together for a vigil and elevation.

Now Luciano gets to reign with his wife, Tessina. As Principe and Principessa, they are looking forward to being the Head Cheerleaders for the Principality. They are seeking to increase the word fame of Their Populace by highlighting a member a week throughout the duration of their reign. They are also making plans to keep incorporating a positive social media presence through their reign, to keep those who aren’t able to attend events as involved as they can be. They will be attending events throughout the Kingdom and Principality, and hope that many of you can join them in showing off the glorious people of the principality.

Tessina Felice Gianfigliazzi

Tessina started the SCA in the Shire of Wuduholt be Secq, in the Kingdom of the West. She met someone from the shire at a game store, and they introduced her to the local SCA group. They got her in ill fitting armor, and would just hit her in the head. She wanted to get the full experience, so she demanded they treat her like they were the boys, and so she received her first wrap to the behind, both cheeks.

She stuck with this for a few years in the small shire, even squiring to a local knight. From this small shire, she started going to events in the southern Summits, where she learned that there were clothes in the SCA that were not Viking. Tessina later moved up to Adiantum, where she continued her journey through the SCA. She took up fencing for a while, becoming a cadet to Monseigneur Chrestien de Valois.

Tessina has been the event steward for September Coronet 2014 and Egils 42. She is the current event steward for Egils, and when the pandemic ends, she’ll have run this event for close to three years. She’s a deputy event steward for An Tir/West War, and is hoping to be the event steward for An Tir/West War in a few years.

Tessina is a protege to Vis. Nadezhda Volynskaiia. She decided that she wanted to be Nadezhda’s protege, so she purchased one of Master Grendel's hammers, not one for sale, one of his working hammers, and presented it to Nadezhda when she asked her at September Crown. She became one of her proteges at the next Twelfth Night.

She has worked in many offices in the Barony and Principality. She has been the chatelain, youth minister, social media deputy, and Summits education deputy. She’s really passionate about empowering officers and champions to be the best they can be. So often our enthusiastic, wonderful volunteers step up to take on a new role but don’t get the background information they should, and she wants all of us to be better informed so we can work smarter, not harder!

Tessina has worked as clothing wrangler and seamstress for several reigns, making sure that the Baron and Baroness of Adiantum, and the Princes and Princesses of the Summits are garbed according to their stature. She has also created outfits for Chivalry, Master of Defense, and Pelican elevation ceremonies. She’s been working on Luciano’s softkit for years, trying to make it look great and not tear while fighting.

She’s been on many retinues and done many different jobs to support other people’s reigns, from lady in waiting to on-site clothing repair.

Tessina is always a chatelain, whether or not she’s holding official office. She has talked about the SCA and encouraged people to join in some odd places, including going into surgery.

Tessina works hard to support other people in the Society. Whether she is helping fighters with water bearing, helping everyone by making sure they are fed, or helping her fellow consorts support each other, she is always trying to make the people around her and the SCA better. She wants to make sure that everyone at all tiers of the SCA get the recognition and support they need.

“In the SCA we meet our heroes, and we don’t always realize who we’re a hero to.”

Tessina’s goals for this reign, besides becoming an Alicorn, are to advocate for her people, to spread the word fame of the Summits, and bring joy to the game after such a long and painful time apart.

Retinue

Head of Retinue
Nadezhda Volynskaiia

Awards Given

> Awards Given - Order of Precedence