Macerata and the Sferisterio

Before England imposed as a universal pastime a game that soon became a real sport, in the old continent was practiced the sport of the ball with the hands. And in Italy the most appreciated game was that of the ball with the bracelet. Born in the Renaissance courts, this game was played at first exclusively in the arenas of noble palaces. Only later also by people with more red blood than blue in the squares and streets, gaining an extraordinary popularity throughout the peninsula.

The difficulty of the game, and therefore the skill of the players, consisted in taming with a heavy wooden tool full of spikes – the bracelet – a whimsical leather ball and throwing it with force and precision from one side to the other of a playing rectangle.
Between the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the following century, with the construction of specific plants (sferisteri), some rules for the development of the game were also codified; previously there was no limit on the time and intensity of physical clashes between participants.

Right in the historic center of Macerata is the Sferisterio. By many considered the most beautiful of the neoclassical buildings in central Italy, it was built around 1820, thanks to the idea and generosity of a hundred consorts who were able to offer, for the implementation, 100 scudi each. The sum was insufficient to cover the huge expenses and to reach the amount needed, we resorted to the help of another group of Maceratesi, who donated 100 scudi each for the realization of the work. A further donation was signed in a second time by the noble Maceratese Maffeo Pantaleoni to complete the construction of the boxes: this distinguished for a donation of sixteen carats.

In memory of the generosity of the Maceratesi lords who made possible the construction of the monument, visitors can now read on the frontispiece of the sferisterio the following inscription: “Ad ornamento della città a diletto pubblico, la generosità di 100 consorti edificiò mdcccxxix”.

The design of the sferisterio has a semi-elliptical shape closed with a high wall. Internal Doric columns embellish a large loggia of boxes, between them overlapping, which develops throughout the length of the elliptical curve and gives the structure a sense of dynamism.
The inauguration took place after about 10 years from the beginning of the works, in 1829. The celebrations, it is said, lasted more than two months. In its 167 years of history, the Sferisterio has been used for all kinds of events: horse riding shows, jousts, horse circuses, tombolae and, since some years, also for opera performances. Once the passion for the game of ball with bracelet, became the place where football games and lawn-tennis matches, bull hunting and numerous shows were held, which were suspended at the outbreak of the First World War. On the occasion of visits by popes, sovereigns and ministers, the stele was also used as a place for receptions.

It is probably due to the destination of the structure to the lyrical representations that its recent fortunes and its fame all over the world.