Sphaeristerium (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

; from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

σφαιριστήριον; from σφαῖρα, ball) is a term in

Classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the works of the Roman architect ...

given to a large open space connected with the Roman

thermae In ancient Rome, (from Greek , "hot") and (from Greek ) were facilities for bathing. usually refers to the large imperial bath complexes, while were smaller-scale facilities, public or private, that existed in great numbers throughout ...

for exercise with balls after the bather had been anointed. They were also provided in

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...

Sports

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

''sferisterio'' is nowadays the courtfield for

tamburello Tamburello, named Tambass in Piedmont, is a court game invented in the northern provinces of Italy during the 16th century. It is a modification of the ancient game of pallone col bracciale, bearing the same general relation to it as Squash doe ...

and two different

pallone Pallone (; Italian for an inflated ball, source of the English word ''balloon'') is the name of several traditional ball games, played in all regions of Italy, with few differences in regulations. Forms Pallone col bracciale Pallone col bracc ...

varieties: ''pallone col bracciale'' and ''pallone elastico''. These are rectangular smooth grounds with a high wall on one of the long sides. Sizes change depending on the variety: wide and long for the ''pallone col bracciale'', and and for the ''pallone elastico''.

References

Information pertinent to Macerata's sferisterio
{{in lang, it, en Ancient Roman architectural elements Sport in ancient Rome