Italian bellyboarders. (c) British Pathe 1948.
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Italian bellyboarders. (c) British Pathe 1948. |
Italy's early surfing history is not well recorded. The only identified evidence before Malibu boards is a 1906 postcard/letter sent from Forte Dei Marmi beach and an excerpt from a British Pathe film, Italian Summer 1948 (British Pathe 1948). An interesting feature of the letter is the word girelate, which in German can refer to a small fish. It is possible that girelate could also refer to the curved tail of the board, in the letter. In relation to the film, the likely location is Monterosso (on the Cinque Terre). The film includes footage of three men on small wooden boards which were ridden like English bellyboards. Skim boards were also in use. An interesting feature is that each surfer is wearing flippers. Peter Troy the Australian surf traveller noted: "The Italians and the Brasilians were presumably the best in the world at this back in the 1940s, 50s and 60s and they had developed a type of surfboard that you could sort of be on, but they used flippers to improve their kicking, basically so they had more power and could stay under water longer for the spear fishing championships". (Crockett 2009). Troy visited Brazil in 1964.
 Italian Summer 1948. Location is likely Monterosso. |
 Photo courtesy Charlie Spurr. Note the board's curved tail. |
 Flippers and tail perspective. |