The arrival of basketball in Italy
The first appearance of basketball in Italy.
April 27, 1907 was a very important day for the sport of basketball in Italy.
Until that time, basketball was not known in Italy.
Mrs. Ida Nomi Venerosi Pesciolini, Physical Education teacher at the “Mens Sana in Corpore Sano Society” school and member of the Federgymnastics women’s technical committee, found James Naismith’s basketball manual. Her first impression was that it was a sport “especially suitable for girls”.
So in Siena, Mrs. Ida Nomi Venerosi Pesciolini, after having translated Naismith’s rules and having a brief idea for the new sport, taught the way to play (as an Italian version of Senda Berenson) to her students.
On April 27, these girls, in sailor uniform, white blouse and blue skirt, played with the “ball in the circle, a gymnastic game for girls”, during the VII Federal National Gymnastics Competition in Venice.
The introduction of basketball in military schools.
Three years later, in 1910 Professor Guido Graziani, returning from Niagara University, translated Naismith’s Regulations for the Armed Forces.
He presented for the first time the game of “ball in the circle” in the gym of the Club in the military stadium of Sant’Agata di Siena ” in the presence of many spectators and authorities of the city.
Italy’s participation in the first allied basketball tournament.
However, the largest presentation of basketball during the First World War took place in Paris in 1913, where soldiers of the American corps, playing small games, taught the rules (I presented this story in 2015, in an indoor theater gymnasium of Alimos, at the closing ceremony, with the group of girls from the Trahonon-Dia Alimos Union in the role of soldiers).
In Paris, on an important mission from the YMCA, was also Naismith (a long story of how he got there, which I present in my book) who worked hard to get a basketball tournament included in the program of the “Allied Military Olympics » of Joinville Le Pont in 1919. There, what is considered to be the first international tournament, between the teams of the allied armies, took place.
In those games, the USA defeated France 93-8 and Italy 55-17, but Italy defeated the French 15-11.
The continuity and the first organizational steps after the 1st World War.
On June 8, 1919, the first official basketball game took place in Italy.
It took place at the Milan Arena, between the II Automobile Company of Monza and the Malpensa Airmen. The match ended in a draw, 11 – 11, in front of an extraordinary audience of over thirty thousand people. The huge influx of spectators is explained by the fact that on that day at the Arena track the cycling tour of Italy was coming to an end, and everyone was waiting for Costante Girardengo’s, the Italian cyclist to reach the finish line first, to deify him!
On November 9, 1921, the Italian Basketball Federation was founded with Arrigo Muggiani as its first president.
In 1922 the first national championship began, which was won by ASSI of Milan. The first six titles were won by Milan teams (five by ASSI and one by Internazionale) until in 1928 Ginnastica Roma was crowned champion.
From there, basketball made its way to neighboring Italy as well!
Sources: storie de sport, stefanodari.it, federazione Italiana Palacanestro.
