Poggio a Caiano I's tennis court (1543) intact but no longer in use. The "palatoia" (as the court was referred to in Tuscany - elsewhere known as "pallacorda") was built for Cosimo I at the same time as his court at Palazzo Pitti. The "tennis" of the Italian Renaissance was hugely popular at court and in the streets as in France where the sport is known as "jeu de paume". "Real tennis" (as it is called today), which requires a customised court with elaborate interior playing surfaces, is the model for modern tennis although the sport played in the Renaissance continues to be
Salle du Bel-Air Salle du Bel-Air The Salle du Bel-Air or Salle du Jeu de Paume de Béquet (Hall of the Béquet Tennis Court) was a 1672 theatre located in Paris, France. Originally an indoor tennis court ("jeu de paume") it was converted by the Italian designer Carlo Vigarani into a theatre which was used by Jean-Baptiste Lully's Paris Opera from 15 November 1672 to 1 February 1673. It was located in the Rue de Vaugirard, just west of the city moat ("fossé") and the Rue des Fossés Monsieur-le-Prince (now the Rue Monsieur-le-Prince). Today the site of the former theatre extends into the