Things the members have looked up, argued about, and mostly verified. On tennis, on Italy, on Bergamo, and on lunch.
Tennis · No. 01
It comes from tenez — 'take it', shouted by the server in the medieval French game of jeu de paume before the ball was struck. The scoring, the shouting and the arguing are all older than the racket.
Italia · No. 02
Sixty of them, at last count, including the Venetian Works of Defence — the very walls that ring Bergamo's Città Alta and that our namesake helped to make necessary.
Bergamo · No. 03
Città Alta sits on the hill behind Venetian walls; Città Bassa spreads below. A funicular has connected them since 1887, and is still the most civilised commute in Lombardy.
Tennis · No. 04
The romantic theory is l'oeuf, French for egg, for the shape of a zero. The unromantic theory is that playing for love means playing for nothing. Both are argued at length here.
Tavola · No. 05
Polenta taragna, dark with buckwheat and heavy with local cheese, is the city's own. It is also the only acceptable thing to eat while watching an indoor final.
Tennis · No. 06
The red surface is crushed brick over stone, not soil. The loose top layer robs the ball of pace and rewards patience — which is why Italians have always been good on it.
Storia · No. 07
The Cappella Colleoni, attached to Bergamo's basilica, was built by the condottiero for the condottiero. It remains the most confident piece of self-regard in Lombardy.
Tennis · No. 08
Qualification runs on a season-long points race, which means the tournament is decided partly in October in Paris. Since 2021 the finals have been played in Turin.
Italia · No. 09
The Italian Espresso National Institute specifies grams, seconds, temperature and crema. Anything else is simply coffee, which is fine, but it is not an espresso.
Bergamo · No. 10
Gaetano Donizetti was born in Borgo Canale in 1797 and wrote some seventy operas. The city has never entirely got over it, and neither has the Bollettino.
Tennis · No. 11
At tour level balls are changed after the first seven games and every nine thereafter, once the felt has fluffed and the pressure has gone. Ours are kept for decoration.
Tavola · No. 12
Polenta e osei is a sponge dome dusted in yellow marzipan with little chocolate birds on top. It is a dessert that impersonates lunch.
