Traditional sports
Piedmont contains many small towns and villages which have a long agricultural tradition. Until television arrived in the fifties, from the hills of the Langhe to the plains of Vercelli and Novara, the village square was a place to meet up and relax after a hard day of work in the fields. People chatted, bet, and played cards over a glass of wine and a slice of salami. The traditional games of Piedmont, which are still very popular nowadays, are balon, tamburello and bocce (boules). These are all ball games, and inspire a degree of rivalry and excitement amongst their enthusiasts comparable to that experienced by the crowd at a big football match.
Balon or pallapugno (similar to volleyball) is played most of all in the province of Cuneo. Teams of four players pass a ball weighing 190g to one another. The person who manages to hit the ball over the boundary line of his opponent’s court wins.
Tamburello, instead, is direct heir to renaissance games such as lawn tennis or la palla con lo scanno (another Italian ancestor of modern tennis). The sport is played above all in the lower areas of Piedmont and it resembles a tennis match without a net. It is played by two teams of five players who hit a ball to each other, which can reach a velocity of 250 kilometres per hour.
The first boules society in Turin was established in 1873, with the name Cricca Bocciofila. Nowadays hundreds of boules players continue to enjoy the sport, which was brought to Piedmont by Roman legionaries and has been played across history by figures ranging from the Emperor Augustus to Sir Francis Drake, admiral in the English navy.
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Places
Villa Scott
The little manor house, one of the most important examples of Torino Liberty architecture, is linked to the name of Dario Argento who set his film, “Profondo Rosso” (“Deep Red”) here – perhaps his most emotional film and the one with the strongest visual effects.
Castello di Mazzè
In the ancient underground parts of the medieval castle is the Museo della Tortura (Museum of Torture): tools and methods from the Holy Inquisition. The building is surrounded by a large park with a scenic view looking out over the Canavese.
Forte di Vinadio
Requested by Re Carlo Alberto, the Forte (Fort) di Vinadio represents one of the most important examples of military architecture from the Alps. It extends length-wise for 1,200 meters, on three levels, which cover about 10 km of interior passageway.
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People
Mimmo Calopresti
“I adore Barolo wine, it’s one of life’s luxuries. And I adore the fact that it is so profoundly local, incapable of conforming to international vogues.”
Daria Bignardi
“… Torino is more beautiful than Milan by now and more contemporary that Rome. It is a living example of a city that “is doable” if one knows how. The people of Torino are very blessed because they knew how to spend the money for the Olympics to beautify their city: Milano and its Expo should go to the Mole and take notes”.
Enrico Ruggeri
“The city’s centre looks the same as it did at the beginning of the 20th century; I am always reminded of an old advertisement with Ernesto Calindri e Franco Volpi that takes place in a café in the heart of Torino. Its slogan impressed me as a child: Fino dai tempi dei Garibaldini, China Martini (China Martini…. since the time of Garibaldi’s patriots.) This is also the first city in which I performed in front of a large crowd of paying guests. It was 1984 and we were playing at the Pellerina park for the Punti Verdi series of outdoor concerts.”
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