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What were the four Australian Musketeers of Davis doing in 1928 – multiple tennis champions Gerard Patterson, Jack Crawford, Harry Hopman and John Hawkes – in Alassio, in a manner that they no longer use in such an elegant way? They trained, asked questions… They trained in a club familiar to the British, simply because the British founded it more than 100 years ago and then relaunched it after the Second World War: this was the Hanbury Tennis Club, whose identity is revealed by its name, red clay fields, clubblack and white photos, then posters and various memorabilia. A real and unmistakable atmosphere.
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, some British families came to the western Ligurian Riviera (actually earlier), attracted by the climate, the sea and the scenery, and settled permanently in Alassio. They founded the British Library (the largest library in Italy, second only to the Library of Florence, with a legacy of more than 15,000 volumes and a net number of books). Pocket Book), the Anglican Church, clubs where you could meet to play bridge and drink tea, a cemetery… and of course the tennis club. Initially it was small, without too many pretensions. But Daniel Hanbury – Thomas’ son and nephew of his namesake brother, the two brothers responsible for the beautiful Mottola Gardens – had big ambitions and founded the Hanbury Tennis Club, buying the Villa della Pergola (now owned by Antonio and Silvia Ricci, who built the Hanbury Tennis Club). As Stefano Salis reports in Il Sole 24 Ore, it was a magnificent resort with meticulously tended gardens.
Inaugurated in 1923, this yellow building in colonial style, with a terrace overlooking seven fields, a wooden staircase leading to the dressing rooms, a ceremonial hall and a guest house, Villa Filippa (the daughters of one Daniel) was for those who wanted a sense of unity with racket and ball. Extraordinary talents passed there (among them the American champion Bill Tilden, considered the strongest of all time), the Open and the medal ceremony followed, attended by the Italian protagonists of that season (such as Placido Gaslini, Giovanni Palmieri, Gianni Kuechelli) and, among the women, Lucia Valerio, known as the “Tennis Lady”, the first Italian to win the Rome International in 1931.
A fascinating world – made of trousers and elegant dresses, cups of tea and fierce challenges – is carefully reconstructed in a special issue of Alassio Magazine (with Italian and English texts) edited by Magda Rosso and Bruno Schio for the last of the centenary of the Fallen December. The curators remember the arrival described by Gianni Clerici in The Darkest Hour. Alassio ’39his famous chapter White hand gesture The protagonist, Giovannino, is 9 years old, a student of Hanbury’s gruff tennis teacher Sweet (who actually exists), and he understands that suddenly everything ends tragically: fascism and war are imminent, the British will leave Alassio, from where the Germans occupy very little, and it seems like a point of no return.
The damage was so severe that the Nazi command used the fields as a horse farm. In fact, after the conflict ended, the British slowly returned, including Daniel Hanbury and his second wife Ruth Hardinge, who tried to inspire the British community by spending money to reopen the library (Alessandro edited a publication dedicated to libraries). Alassio English Library 1875-2022edited by Marco Sabatelli, 2022). The club was reborn after restoration work and even survived the sudden death of its founder in ’48. But Ruth cared for the gem as much as her husband did and entrusted it to her longtime operations director, Percy Goodchild.
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