bocce

bocce, Italian bowling game, similar to bowls and boules. Bocce is especially popular in Piedmont and Liguria and is also played in Italian communities in the United States, Australia, and South America. The governing organization is the Federazione Italiana Bocce. The first world championships were held at Genoa, Italy, in 1951.

The bocce court, or campo, is about 75 feet long by 8 feet wide (23 by 2.4 metres), with a level surface of sand or clay, enclosed with boarded ends and sides about 18 inches (45 cm) and 12 inches (30 cm) high, respectively. Each player or team in turn rolls or tosses four wooden, metal, or composite balls, called bocce, each 4–5 inches (10–13 cm) in diameter, toward a smaller ball, called the boccino or pallino. The object, as in the game of lawn bowls, is to bring the ball to rest nearer the pallino than an opponent’s ball, to protect a well-placed ball, or to knock aside an opponent’s ball. Rebounds from the side walls are permitted. At the end of a round, a side receives a point for every ball nearer the pallino than the nearest opposing ball. The game usually proceeds until one side has 12 points.