Bocce game history

Italian balls are solid and made of wood or a composite and sometimes metal. French boules are made of hollow metal. Some form of bocce is played in more countries than any other ball game, with the exception of soccer.

Still, Romans are the ones who spread the popularity of the game throughout the Roman Empire, which encompassed vast areas of Europe, Asia and North Africa. Many people, such as Galileo and DaVinci, played bocce during the Renaissance, seeing its benefits to mind and body. It was also played by emperors, admirals, generals, poets, sculptors and scientists. Bocce was also exported to many countries by Italian migrants, and remains popular with bocce courts and clubs throughout the world.

Consequently, Kings Carlos IV and V prohibited the playing of bocce, and doctors from the University of Montpellier, France, tried to discredit the claim that playing bocce had great therapeutic effect in curing rheumatism. In , the Republic of Venice publicly condemned the sport, punishing those who played with fines and imprisonment.

And perhaps most grave was the condemnation by the Catholic Church which deterred the laity and officially prohibited clergyman from playing the game by proclaiming bocce a means of gambling.

Contrary to the rest of Europe, the great game of balls thrived in Great Britain. According to legend, Sir Frances Drake refused to set out to defend England against the Spanish Armada until he finished a game. The sport first came to America in the English version called bowis from the French boule meaning ball. In accord with how the game was played in Britain, American players threw the ball not on stone dust as is done today in bocce but on close cropped grass which some say is the origin of the modern lawn.

It has been noted that one early American playing field was Bowling Green at the southern tip of Manhattan and that George Washington built a court at Mount Vernon in the s. In modern times, the first bocce clubs were organized in Italy. Notably the first Italian League was formed in by fifteen teams in and around the town of Rivoli Torino.

The team that can send the ball to the correct zone has the right to start playing, thus sending its first ball. Then it is the other team to throw and will throw the balls that have until some of them arrive closer to the ball than the opponents. When the opponent arrives, he does the same until the balls run out.

In the end, the winning team accumulates 1 point for each ball that is closer to the ball than the opposing team. Usually, the games end when one of the teams reaches between 7 and 11 points depends on the rules of the organizer. As it has been said, each team must cast 4 balls, thus making a set of 8 balls.

These are composed of metal and should have no effect on them. However, Bocce was threatened with being outlawed when nobleman passing by games being played on the streets were struck by Bocce balls on their knees.

This was unfortunate for the humbler people playing the game but ended up providing much attention to the sport. Soon after, Bocce became a favorite pastime to Italian noblemen.

Around A. In , Bocce became a public game. It was played in Flanders, Holland and Belgium. A man named Giuseppe Garibaldi actually had a lot to do with how Bocce is played today. Garibaldi was an Italian general, politician and nationalist who played a large role in the history of Italy.

While unifying and nationalizing Italy, he also popularized the sport as it is known today. In the year , when Bocce had a resurgence of popularity, the first Bocce Olympiad was held in Athens, Greece. Bocce has been a part of international sports ever since.