Bocce

Bocce is a bowling game in which teams lob or roll the bocce (balls) toward a smaller target ball, called the pallino. The object is to get a ball closer to the pallino than the opponent's ball. Teams are needed to play Bocce. The teams can be made up of one, two, three, four or more persons per team. One point is awarded to a given team for every ball that is closer to the pallino than the closest ball of the opposing team. The team which wins a frame on points, starts play in the next frame. A game consists of 12 points.

History

Throwing balls toward a target is the oldest game known to mankind. As early as 5000 B.C. the Egyptians played a form of bocce with polished rocks. Graphic representations of figures tossing a ball or polished stone have been recorded as early as 5200 B.C. While bocce today looks quite different from its early predecessors, the objective of trying to come as close to a fixed target as possible has not changed. From this early objective, the basic rules of bocce were born. From Egypt the game made its way to Greece around 800 B.C. The Romans learned the game from the Greeks, then introduced it throughout the empire.

In modern times, the first bocce clubs were organized in Italy. Notably the first Italian League was formed in 1947 by fifteen teams in and around the town of Rivoli (Torino). 1947 also marks the beginning of the yearly Bocce World Championships.

Thanks to many Italian immigrants, bocce has come to flourish in the United States and Canada. During its beginnings in North America there were as many versions of the game as there were towns the immigrants had left. Bringing some order to the game is the Collegium Cosmicum ad Buxeas, the bocce organization headquartered in Rome, Italy.

The Italian Tradition

Italy has produced the main game. It began and remains predominantly an open-air activity, played on long, rectangular courts improvised from rough village spaces during the hot, dry summers. The surface consists of raked sand or gravel. The game is still often played informally in the village and cafe tradition by men of all ages, but it has now acquired a national and international competitive form and, in many cases, dedicated indoor facilities (like the one at the Dante Club Bocciofila in Sarnia, Ontario) makes it possible for year-round play.

Although it now has the superstructures of a modern sport, bocce is still largely local and recreational in its appeal. Given its peasant origins, it is hardly surprising that it remains male-dominated, although a number of mixed leagues have sprung up. Despite its growing complexity, its appeal lies in its being a "sport simpatico e popolare" in the words of a recent enthusiast --something essentially part of an Italian summer.

Bocce Links
Bocce Standards Association
Joy of Bocce
Bocce Volo