NIELLA BELBO, Italy — “He used to go watch pelota games. He liked both the beauty of the game and the fact that there were always crowds of people watching and betting.”

Italian author Beppe Fenoglio wrote those words in I ventrite’ giorni della citta di Alba. In another story, Il Paese, he portrayed Augusto Manzo, a legendary champion known as the king of the game:

“An Italian champion of pallone elastico, he had arrived from Alba in a hired car to scout Sergio. The car pulled up beside the church, in front of Placido’s tobacco shop, and the champion made his way toward the center of the square...”

Fenoglio captured the atmosphere of the matches, the crowds and the fervor of the spectators. Like fellow writer Cesare Pavese, he used the sport to evoke life in the squares of the Langhe hills, the church forecourts where matches unfolded and the unhurried rhythms of village celebrations.

Once known as pallone elastico and later modernized and renamed pallapugno, the sport is still called balòn by locals. In this rugged corner of Piedmont, a landscape immortalized in Fenoglio’s La Malora, it has long been a cornerstone of village life. Matches could last for hours, and generations grew up following legendary rivalries: Manzo against Balestra, Berruti against Bertola, Balocco against Aicardi. Today, the rivalry continues, with Campagno facing Raviola and the Vacchetto brothers competing against one another.

The past, in other words, is still very much alive.

It is fitting, then, that the world’s first museum dedicated to pallapugno is opening in Niella Belbo. With a population of about 300, the village lies where the Alta Langa meets the Bormida and Uzzone valleys, roughly 37 miles from Cuneo and 37 miles from Savona. It is poised to become a spiritual capital of balòn, a sport whose roots run deep throughout the surrounding hills.

Few villages in the area lack a square where players can strike and return the ball, score points and win cacce, decisive plays that help determine the outcome of a match.

Each team has four players: a captain, a spalla (support player) and two terzini (side players). Players wrap their wrists to protect them from the sting of the ball. Spectators stand close to the action, exchanging comments with players and growing increasingly animated as the match unfolds. At the end, the losing side settles the traverse, the traditional wagers placed on the outcome.

All of this is celebrated at CàBalun, which opens today at 9 a.m., with Prince Albert II of Monaco as guest of honor. The Prince’s visit reflects the area’s historical ties to the Grimaldi Historic Sites network.

Spread across eight rooms, the museum offers a cultural and multimedia journey through the history, traditions and identity of pallapugno. It traces the evolution of ball games from Greco-Roman antiquity through the Middle Ages and into the modern era.

Some of the objects on display at the museum.

Curator Luca Giaccone said the project began with a modest collection of balls.

“At first, there were balls gathered from all sorts of places and kept in a glass bowl on a shelf. Looking at them, every day sparked a desire to understand the stories they could tell. The starting point was balòn, but the research soon expanded to all kinds of ball sports, revealing surprising connections between distant traditions and different cultures. The goal was to create a history linking all these worlds, so different yet so similar.”

The research took years, Giaccone said, with pieces coming from a wide range of sources.

“Every piece came from somewhere else: collectors, enthusiasts, flea markets, online auctions, and people who shared materials, stories and expertise. Then, during a presentation of the pallapugno championships, Renato Sevega discovered that the collection existed and proposed turning it into a museum.”

The idea evolved into a joint project with Niella Belbo Mayor Emanuele Sottimano, who recognized the village as an ideal location. It had exhibition space, a place to welcome visitors, a square where the game is still played and a pallapugno court — built purposely for ball games — just a few miles away. Above all, it sits at the heart of a region where the sport remains central to local identity.

Artistic director Guido Mignone then transformed the collection into an exhibition designed to bring its richness and diversity to life.

CàBalun aims to appeal not only to longtime fans and visitors curious about this traditional local sport, but also to travelers from farther afield.

“It is a museum for enthusiasts, for anyone who wants to discover a sport unique to this area, but also for tourists from Milan or New York who might recognize a fragment of their own metropolis here,” Giaccone said. “Or for someone who, after visiting CàBalun, travels to Valencia or Brussels with a different perspective, understanding how games that originated in distant places can share common roots.”

The museum explores those connections through a range of traditions, including Basque pelota, pallone col bracciale, one-wall handball, pantalera, tamburello and tambass.

The next step, Sottimano said, is to turn the village square into a permanent playing area, with a distinctively colored surface, clearly marked lines and a restored wall.

“When no game is being played, people will still be able to park there — and immediately understand where they are,” the Mayor said.

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