"Palla al cesto"

    Even today in Italy, no one knows that the rules of the sport invented in 1891 on the other side of the Atlantic by Dr. James Naismith fell into the hands of a woman sixteen years later.

It was Aida Nomi Venerosi Pesciolini, a Physical Education teacher at the girls’ school “Corpore Sano” in Siena, who, in 1907, translated the rules of the still “young” sport into Italian and created the first two teams, made up of students from the boarding school. She then presented the newly established sport to the people of Siena on April 27, 1907, at the Gymnasium of Saint Agatha, in a festive atmosphere, with the brass band of the 9th Cavalry Regiment, which was stationed in the city, welcoming the teams and spectators. The latter, it should be noted, had also paid an admission fee of half a lira to watch the game and leave thoroughly enthusiastic, as “La Vedetta Senece” wrote the following day. Thus, the first unofficial basketball game in Italy was played between women because palla al cesto (ball in a basket), as Pesciolini translated the words “Hoop ball,” was a sport “created exclusively for women to excel in,” as the teacher maintained.

Two weeks later, in Venice, from May 8 to 12, 1907, the 8th National Gymnastics Games were held in the presence of the Italian King, Vittorio Emanuele. Pesciolini seized the opportunity and, having printed hundreds of promotional leaflets bearing the name of the new sport with the subtitle “a game for girls,” asked the organizing committee to allow her to stage an exhibition outside the official program.

Permission was granted, and thus the two teams, Sportiva Constantini Reyer and Triestina Gymnastics, on the wooden floor of the gymnasium of Saint Helena in Venice and in the presence of the royal couple, became the main protagonists of an unforgettable day for Italian sport. Historical memory has preserved for us the names of the pioneering female athletes who played the game in the uncomfortable skirts of the era:

Bozini, Gabrizzi, Mini, the Fabm sisters, Clara and Paola, Martini, Fabini, Jalafi, Dele Piane, and Gialafantoni.

The competitors were rewarded with a medal by the King, but their true reward was the triumphant welcome they received from their fellow citizens of Siena upon their return. Their “coach,” Pesciolini, was presented with a bouquet of flowers and given an honorary position on the city’s board as the person responsible for sports activities, while the local press described her as “magnificent.”

In 1909, Nazareno Orlandi would install the first two basketball hoops in Siena, which he had discovered during a trip to England. Then, in 1910, Professor Guido Grazziani, returning from America and Niagara University, would bring back with him Dr. Naismith’s original 13 rules and translate them for the Italian Armed Forces. By 1914 and the outbreak of the First World War, no official men’s game had been played, while the initial enthusiasm among women also quickly faded, pushing basketball to the sidelines.

We had to wait until June 1919 and the Giro d’Italia cycling race for the first game between men—but that is a story for another day...

By Antreas Tsemperlidis

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