This blog is based on an earlier one that was posted in February 2021. The feature photo shows a group playing bocce at the Santin market garden in 1962. Photo by Oscar Mattiazzo.
Bocce or bowls has been a significant game for Italians for hundreds of years. Some historians refer to it dating back to 5000 BC, where evidence of Egyptian cave paintings depict boys playing something that resembles bocce. It is believed that bocce was played in something like its current form in the Roman Empire where Roman soldiers played it between battles against Carthage in the Punic Wars (https://italiantribune.com/italy-and-its-long-history-with-bocce/)
Italian migrants in different countries around the world have enjoyed the opportunity to play bocce in backyards, public parks and in Italian Clubs. It has gained popularity in Australia particularly since the post-world War II migrants arrived from Italy. The first national Bocce Championships were held in Australia in 1970. Today it is estimated that over 10,000 people play competitive or recreational bocce in Australia. https://www.bocceaustralia.com.au/about-the-sport/history-of-the-sport/
The expansion of bocce today in Victoria
In an interview with the President of the Bocce Federation of Victoria published today, (24 August, 2025), Laila Favrin, states that “bocce is more than a game – it’s a way to connect communities, celebrate heritage, and build a legacy for the next generation.” Read the short interview here and find out about the wide participation of different age groups who play bocce and the funding that has been made available for the sport in Victoria using this link:
Veneto market gardeners and bocce
In the oral history interviews for the Veneto market gardeners’ project, some second-generation men recall that their fathers played bocce with friends in the 1930s. They remember that their fathers used to play bocce at the home of a Veneto man who lived at Rosewater. Johnny Marchioro remembered being carried on his father’s pushbike to Rosewater, a trip of about 8 kilometres on Sundays where a group of Veneti played bocce.
Bruno Piovesan recalled that his father played bocce with other Veneto men as an important social event. The love of the game was so important that the men were prepared to continue playing on Sunday during the war years even when movement was restricted and petrol was rationed:
Oh, their social life was pretty limited, I think. They used to get together of a Sunday afternoon and I suppose they used to just play bowls if they could find a spot. I remember we used to go down to Rosewater, my father used to go down Rosewater. But in those years you only had so many gallons of fuel, you were restricted with your fuel because of the wartime and that, and you had to be careful where you drove a truck because if they saw you driving a truck without the purpose of going in the garden industry I think they could have fined you or something. Yes, that was right. And used to take a chance and go to Rosewater, they had these bocce courts and that, and as kids we used to go there and just play with all the other kids and their parents at the time, you know, and that was Sunday afternoon fun.
(Bruno Piovesan OH 872/5, 4 October 2008, 10)
Other Veneto men playing bocce on a court at the back of Elena Stocco’s boarding house in Waymouth Street in the west end of the city of Adelaide. She ran a boarding house for Italians from the 1930s.
Bocce in Adelaide in the 1950s
In the 1950s, Veneto market gardeners and others played bocce at the bocce courts at the back of the Sbrissa family home on River Road, now Findon Road, Kidman Park. The Sunday competitions were reported in the weekly Catholic paper, The Southern Cross. For example, in an article on 11 June 1954, men were invited to compete in a competition at the home of Signora Clara Sbrissa beginning at 1:00 pm. Prizes were given for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners. Players registered their interest in participating in the competition by contacting the President of the Bocce Championships, Eugenio Zalunardo, one of the market gardeners at Lockleys, or with the Italian Vice-Consul.
The enthusiasm for bocce was so great that some people like Amadio Valentini, created a court on his own land at Valetta Road and socialised with local market gardener friends in recreational games.
Bocce behind the Santin packing shed
The Satin brothers made a bocce court at the back of their packing shed on Frogmore Road at Kidman Park and it was a regular Sunday event that was attended by many men including young ones who had arrived in Adelaide after the war.
Noemi Campagnolo nee Zalunardo remembered that her father used to play bocce at the Santins every Sunday and that the competitions involved only men.
They would been the Santins. Dad used to play bocce there every Sunday and he used to be good friends with all the Santin’s… on Frogmore Road. Well, the women didn’t go, they used to go by themselves so the women did whatever they wanted to do.
Noemi Campagnolo nee Zalunardo OH 872/29, 20 March 2014, p 16
Bocce and the Veneto Club
When the Veneto Club Inc, Adelaide was established in the early 1970s, bocce competitions and social games were regular events that drew members to the boccedrome at Beverley. Players represented the Veneto Club in competitions in Perth and Brisbane. Annual reciprocal visits were organised with the Veneto Club in Griffith. In 2004, the Veneto Club hosted the 35th Men’s Bocce National Championships.
Women also played bocce and represented the Club at competitions including in national championships.
The interest in bocce has diminished over the past ten or so years in the Veneto community in Adelaide. The South Australian Bocce Federation Inc. promotes the game as a non-contact sport that can be played by people of any age, gender, and fitness levels.
Madeleine Regan
24 August 2025
A wonderful tribute to Bocce in Australia
I remember also the game of Mora played by at the Fogular Furlan
A game played in wooden tables with the hand a bit like rock paper scissors
Played for money often with lots of beer sloshing around