The first written reference about tamburello found in the tenth century, the book "Cronicones Salernitarun" (author unknown) where he spoke of a ball game. Later on, around the sixteenth century , in the book of Antonio Scaino da Salò ("Trattato del Giuoco con la Palla"; Vinegia, 1555) explained what were the games practiced at that time were "bracciale", "pallacorda" and "palla con lo scanno".

The "palla con lo scanno" is considered the first step in the use of the tamburello. At this time the tamburello was made of wood and the ball was covered with animal skin (lamb or pork).

The evolution of the sport has been marked by the development of the material used has gone from using animal skin to its origins plastic and synthetic fabric today.

1890 is considered the official starting date of the tamburello, when it was recognized by the Italian Gymnastic Federation.

1903 was the year of the Olympic dream, after Pierre de Coubertin talked to King Vittorio Emanuele and Pope Pius X to organize the Olympic Games in Rome and study the possibility of including in the 20 sports tamburello would be part of the Olympics. At the end due to economy problems the idea didn’t worked that time. 15 years later at the Olympics in Amsterdam the similar sport the "Jeux de Paume" entered as the demonstration sport.

In 1910 the Italians created the first offical organization the Italian Tamburello Federation (Federazione Italiana Palla Tamburello) as " Ente di tutti gli organizzazione for sport italiani che occupano if the Pallone ." Later, in 1927 FIPT is became one of the 33 sports federations at that time formed part of the Constitution of Italian Olympic Committee (CONI).

The sport has been practiced since the beginning of the century in Italy and France, but from the 80s tamburello exists also in more countries over Europe: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Scotland, Belgium, San Marino, the United Kingdom, Lithuania, Spain and Catalonia. Also there are some more teams who practice the sport in the United States, Brazil, Japan, Cuba, India, Senegal, Ecuador.