Venetian Stories podcast

Episode 15 — The game of Calcio

Written and presented by

René Seindal
Venetian Stories
Venetian Stories
Episode 15 — The game of Calcio
Loading
/

I fell down a rabbit hole, and a rather deep one at that.

It is all the fault of a 1500s priest and philosopher, who wrote a treatise on ball games. That rang a bell with some Venetian works of art that I knew of, so I set out to understand what ball games they were playing.

Big mistake there, and the price is two episodes on the ball games Venetian played centuries ago.

This time: the game of Calcio — a kicking ball game.

Links

History Walks Venice

Illustrations

In this painting, we see the entire playing field from the side, with an ongoing game. The field is elongated, but not rectangular. It is oval, delineated by a simple fence, going in a curve from goal to goat. The goals are actual gates, like you would find on a fine house. They're arched, with decorations on top. They're not level with the playing field, but raised two steps up on a small dais. The two teams are numerous, one wearing red waistcoats and matching hats, the other in black or brown. Trousers and shirts are in varying colours. A member of the red team is running with the ball in his hands towards the gate on the right, which is blocked by a player in black. Some players, of both teams, have fallen to the ground.
Gabriel Bella — Giuco del Calzo Che Si Fa Nel Bersaglio a S.Alvise La Quaresima
The player is dressed in a waistcoat, has a hand on his hip, and a hat with a red feather. There is a ball lying at his feet.
Giovanni Grevembroch — Nobile al Giuoco del Calcio

Fediverse Reactions

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More posts