Playing cards are thought to have come to Italy in the late 14th century from Arabic culture in Egypt. Some of the evidence for this is found as early as 1376 AD in Italian legislation concerning gambling. Other evidence is the fact that the Italian suit markings are very similar to the Arabic suits.
This Italian deck was acquired in 1981. It is an example of only one of the regional decks found in Italy. The flap top rectangular box (pictured on the upper right) is made of cardboard and is 2cm thick x 5.5cm wide x 9cm long. Printing is in Italian. A lithograph of a castle is on the reverse side.
This is a 40 card deck. Each of the cards are 9cm long x 5cm wide. Each back (lower right) features the lithograph of the castle pictured on the reverse side of the box. There are four suits:
swords (spades) second card on lower left which looks like two swords wrapped with ribbons
chalices (or cups - hearts) upper right next to the box, pictures four cups, and a face card from that suit next to the sword card
coins (diamonds) - lower right next to the castle, features four stylized coins
clubs (clubs) - the two clubs pictured on the lower left, and the three face cards on the top row
The face cards of each suit include a KING, a KNIGHT on horseback, and a PAGE. There is no queen. Number cards are from one through seven. (The entire deck is not pictured in the photograph.)
The deck was manufactured by Romagnole Plastificate, Dal Negro Trevisi, Italy. The serial number for this deck is 95.
NOTE: This page was originally created and posted on the Web on January 26, 1998. Subsequently it has been modified and periodically updated. Last update: June 13, 2010