What better way to celebrate Italian Heritage Month than with a little bocce and a lot of food, and Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno got some of both when he accepted an invitation to one of the few private bocce courts in Western Mass. on Saturday.  

Tomasso and Anthony Mancuso, a father-and-son team who built a regulation-sized bocce court in the backyard of the elder Mancuso’s home on West Allen Ridge Road, challenged the mayor to a match and the traditional meal afterward. Sarno accepted the challenge and brought a proclamation honoring the Mancusos’ dedication to preserving the old country traditions here in America.