May 3, 2024: Florence in the 1700s. Octaves on Bassetta

 Franco's note this time is a transcription of a poem on the evils of gambling. It is a translation of "Firenze nel Settecento – Ottave sulla bassetta," posted May 3, 2024, at https://www.naibi.net/A/BASSETTA.pdf. It concerns bassetta, a banking game, meaning that there is a dealer who takes in losses, pays out winnings, and deals the cards, turning up one card after another. The other players each have one each of all the cards from Ace to King (suits are ignored), on which they place bets. They win or lose depending on what cards the dealer turns up. It is a game of chance in which losers far outnumber winners, but where the winnings could be spectacular, if one had deep enough pockets to survive the losses.

In the versions of the game reported later, the banker, called in French the tallière, begins by exposing the bottom card of the deck. This word tallière has no other meaning in French, although there is the word taille, meaning "cut." But how is he a cutter? In this poem, it seems to me, we see the origin of tallière. Exceptionally among accounts of the game, the banker fende, splits, the deck and lifts the part at the split to expose the bottom card: this action is known in English as cutting. He is a cutter, Tagliator or Tagliatore, and says "taglio," I cut. The word Tagliatore, with French spelling, continued even as the action describing him - now not "splitting" but merely lifting up the deck to expose the bottom card - ceased to do so and was merely the term for the banker. Such a person stopped being called even that in casinos (at least American ones today), but rather the "dealer," representing the "house."

Comments in brackets are mine, in consultation with Franco. Numbers preceded by "Page" are those of Franco's Italian pdf. Other numbers by themselves are the stanza numbers. For the reader's convenience, I have placed Franco's notes on particular stanzas immediately below the corresponding stanza, instead of at the bottom of the page as in Franco's original.


Florence in the eighteenth century – Octaves on bassetta

Franco Pratesi


1. Introduction

This study can be considered the continuation of one communicated a little while ago on other octaves composed on the game of ombre. [note 1] Here we are in a different environment, because the card game at the basis of the poetry is now a gambling game, and we are no longer in the seventeenth century. Although in neither case is the location defined with certainty, it is clear - also from the documents preserved together - that we are again in the city of Florence, or at least its territory.

In reality, the historical process of the fashions of card games in Florence would have led us to predict a reversed presence, in the seventeenth century, gambling and in the eighteenth century, the so-called games of commerce or trick-taking. However, we are still probably in the Medici grand duchy, when the laws intended to combat gambling were applied with various exceptions, many exemptions, and poor controls. It will then be the Lorraine grand dukes who will most effectively combat gambling, which we still see prevalent here.

I intend to copy in full the poetic text of the manuscript preserved in the Central National Library of Florence [BCNF, Biblioteca Centrale Nazionale di Firenze], [note 2] inserting a few notes in comment [in this translation put after each stanza], before providing some other information on the game and concluding the presentation. 

 Florence, BNCF, Fondo Nazionale, II. VII. 51, N. 19
(Reproduction prohibited)

 _______________

1. https://www.naibi.net/A/OMBRE.pdf
2. BNCF, Fondo Nazionale, II. VII. 51, last insert.


Page 2

2. The octaves

1 N° 19. On the game of Bassetta. Octaves.
Thirty-one cries, and bambara moans,
primiera has its brow good and wet; minchiate
weeps; [note 3] and Checkers [note 4] languishes, and trembles
[along with] sbaraglino and toccatiglio [note 5]:
In short, all the games cry together,
Because they already had a rigorous exile,
while in the evening everyone hastily runs
to place [note 6] their money on Bassetta.

Notes on stanza 1:
3. The main card games of all families are recalled, trentuno of banking, bambara and primiera buona of betting, minchiate of trick-taking. Soon pharaoh will take the place of bassetta.
4. Checkers was certainly a very popular game, but there is little information about it before the important manuals of the nineteenth century.
5. Sbaraglino and toccatiglio, properly toccadiglio, were board games of the so-called “racing” variety, later represented especially by backgammon.
6. Because they are placed physically, or via tokens, on top of the card being bet on.

2
The one who found such a game was for certain
a Distinguished Thief, or rather an Assassin of the Street,
since he taught robbing little by little
without holding his hand to the Arquebus or Sword,
and to rob in any place whatever
alone and defenseless, without a criminal mob,
only fearing a little the Eight, [note 7] or the Quarconia [note 8]
Because the Ban went, but [only] for ceremony. [note 9]

Notes on stanza 2:
7. The Eight Guards and Bailiffs were a Florentine magistracy in office from 1378 to 1777 with duties of control over various forms of crime.
8. Large building near the Palazzo Vecchio where poor street children were gathered.
9. Clear representation of the poor following of the law. The spread of gambling could not decrease significantly with strict laws that could be easily circumvented.

3
At the head of a small table, around which
Stand many people, with discomfort and worry,
There is a mountain of money, high and Trivial,
Which urges every soul to possess it,
Here sits the Cutter [Tagliator], who liberally
showing himself to each, intrigues each.
He is called the Cutter, but perhaps
Would be better called the cutpurse [tagliaborse].

4
So starts shuffling the cards
The Cutter when every point is full, [note 10]
And then he fixes his eye everywhere
Inviting [you] to play with a pleasant face
Then he says, I cut [taglio], and with dexterity and art
He splits [fende] the deck, and turns it over in a flash,
but that one who sees his own point in the face
Suddenly becomes afflicted and emaciated. [note 11]

Notes on stanza 4:
10. When all the bets have been placed on the cards on the table.
11. The first card raised [at the cut, or at the bottom of the deck] gives the dealer an immediate win.

5
To do, he says; and all the others meanwhile
hope that it is under their bet;
but only one person has the boast in order to gain it,
the others exclaim, it's my misfortune,
and someone adds, who is near to the other one
it's not misfortune, no, but madness.
He who thinks he will get rich is a great fool
if only that [number?] below [his bet] wins.

6
At this time the first victor
Folds back [the corner of] the card, [note 12], and then shouts paro [pair];
paro replies the Cutter, and proudly
makes another heart become bitter;
This one sighs, and then haughtily adds,
Go again, but that Go Again costs him dearly,
since if he wins one, he loses many,
and is quickly reduced to broke.

Note on stanza 6:
12. This is the signal that you intend to bet on that card again, without withdrawing your winnings.

7
If by luck the card comes in favor of
the one who had the face [the same as the raised card?], he adds, it's done,
Then everyone passes him off as lucky,
Because if he doesn't win it, at least he has a draw
And he keeps luck in his arms.
The one who challenges [boldly] in this way
Then in the long run loses both,
He earns a Horn and wastes an Ox.

8
Full of hope, that one who awaits the pair
Also resolves to make seven for raising, [note 13]
joyful in thought, desires, and claims,
with a small sum, to want to break the bank:
the card comes badly, and the Cutter
takes the money, and that makes him grumble.
He's crazy, then, say the more astute ones,

Page 3

He who risks his own to gain that of others.

Note on stanza 8:
13. Another bet made on the winning card without withdrawing the winnings. [See also stanza 11.]

9
Such a one, who acts as Satrap, [note 14] and Sage
States that contentment is necessary,
But if this Lord stays to play,
With all his knowledge, he comes out fencing: [note 15]
The Cutter laughs to himself
Because he has nothing other than firm hope,
With such a tasty and useful game,
To make everyone remain without a quattrino [coin = 4 denari, so, “penniless”].

Notes on stanza 9:
14. Authoritarian figure beyond his merit, from the satraps of the Persian empire.
15. First he invites others to calm down and then he finds himself in a dueling situation.

10
Therefore he [the Cutter] seeks to make pairs
And give the face [?] to the best better
That he accept the money on the trios
Each one ascribes to singular favor;
But the person who puts it there realizes it, and regrets it
With fiercer disgust, greater pain,
While he almost thinks the bet safe
And until it comes out bad, he's not afraid.

11
To make the paro, the Tagllatore urges,
Seven for raising [levere], and fifteen for putting [porre], [note 16]
And in this way, with careful kindness
Some money won, from [his] hand, [the cutter] knows [how] to take away.
Shouts someone, don't enter this put,
one who doesn’t himself have the virtue of knowing about putting.
Another replies, cancer to Barzini, [note 17]
Who doesn't teach you how to win money.

Notes on stanza 11:
16. Technical terms for the next two bets on a card, placing a bet instead of withdrawing the winnings. [See Franco’s later discussion.]
17. In the second half of the seventeenth century, for many successive years, Francesco Barzini had calendars with astrological predictions published in Florence; he declared himself a professor of astronomy but there is no trace of him in the Biographical Dictionary of Italians.

12
As this graceful celebration continues, [there is he]
Who blasphemes, who shouts, and who gets angry,
Who bites his hand, and who scratches his head,
Who raises his eyes to Heaven, and who sighs,
Who runs out of money, and who lends it,
Who leaves, who enters, and who turns around [note 18]
But at the end there is not a single one among a hundred,
Who leaves from there happy and contented.

Note on stanza 12:
18. Many “who’s” to make us imagine the continuous and frenetic coming and going of people with continuous transfers of money.

13
Even though it contains so many disadvantages,
However, this game is so delicious,
that descend upon it every day, the learned and the Wise,
The miser, the bigot, and the ambitious; [note 19]
Because everyone hopes with great advantage
To win with little, and become wealthy;
but he who persists in gambling knows in vain
that he threw away his money, as into the Arno.

Note on stanza 13:
19. Even personages who as a category should logically better resist the temptation to gamble are well represented at the gaming table.

14
To play it, some people pawn, and sell,
Others take latches, [note 20] with usury,
another who wants to get rich like this
Runs up as much debt as he can get.
Someone, who in another vice, never spends,
In this, wastes without measure
The clergyman plays there, and the Jew,
The Citizen, the Nobleman, and the Plebeian. [note 21]

Notes on stanza 14:
20. Loans that are unlikely or impossible to repay.
21. Around the gaming table there are categories of people who would have no other possibility of finding themselves together.

15
But everyone at the end of the year
cannot boast of moving forward,
but bring from it shame and damage,
And insult the Saints with blasphemy.
Let the Sect [religious fanatics?] come, and Sickness,
Cancer, and Rabies to the Bassettanti [followers of Bassetta]
Whoever doesn't want to lighten his bag and his brain,
This Bassetta, by now, send to the brothel. [note 22]

Note on stanza 15
22. Definitely an unusual ending. The author evidently takes advantage of the feminine gender of the game's name to personify bassetta and send her to work in the brothel, without considering, however, that she could cause loss of money and other damage from there too.


3. Information on the game of Bassetta

I consider it appropriate, also for a better understanding of some passages of the octaves, to provide some elements on the game of bassetta, based mainly on an excellent book on card games from all countries. [note 23] Bassetta is a bank game introduced in Italy as likely
__________
23. D. Parlett, The Oxford Guide to Card Games. Oxford, 1990. [In archive.org, on p. 77.]


Page 4
derived from landsknecht or zecchinetta and then spread throughout Europe, especially appreciated by high-ranking people who could better bear the losses, often high in this game.

Each of the betting players, in varying numbers but usually four, has a row of thirteen cards in front of them on the table, all those of one suit from the deck of 52; of all the cards only the numerical value from 1 to 13 counts. The dealer has a complete deck of 52 cards in his hand and decides the value of the bet that the players can make (unlike the game of Pharaoh in which the bettors set it) by placing the corresponding number of tokens on one or more of the thirteen cards.

When all bets are in place, the dealer turns over the bottom card of the deck and immediately wins bets made on that card – the same will happen with the last card of the deck [counting from the top]. Then he begins to reveal two cards at a time [dealing from the top of the deck] by placing them in front of the table, one on the right for himself, one on the left for the players. For each pair discovered, the dealer wins all the bets equal to the right card and pays all those equal to the left card. If the two cards are equal they have no effect (while for Pharaoh the dealer would win half the stake).

The player who won, instead of withdrawing the winnings, can bet it again on the same card. This manner of playing is indicated by folding a corner of the card; it is called sept-et-le-va, because in case of a win the player receives seven times the stake. If desired, the same procedure can be repeated three more times, folding other corners of the card and increasing the winnings to 15, then 30 and finally 60 times the initial bet, respectively. The bettor who then loses at any stage pays only the initial stake. Obviously, a winning player believes he has a lucky moment to exploit and so ends up, with rare exceptions, losing even when he had won.

4. Conclusion

The octaves presented can be considered one of many expressions produced against gambling. Card games in other families can find writers and poets who defend them and underline their merits, but for gambling games it is just a vast range of condemnations ranging from the most rigorous to others that are quite reasonable. These octaves as a whole appear rather balanced. The damage to morals, to civil life, to assets, was real, and there is no exaggeration in exhibiting them. But the octaves go further and make it clear that the evil was not in the technique of the game, but in the end was found mainly in the psychology of the player who was unable to give up the chance of winning even when reason would have indicated that it was becoming too meager.

After all, in a game like bassetta, the advantages to the Bank wouldn't be too great. For this game to remain within the limits of an acceptable pastime, two conditions would have been necessary which almost never occurred. The first is, as said, that the player managed to maintain reasonable behavior, and the relative deficiency is well illustrated in the octaves. The second, and this is not highlighted in the poem, is that the dealer maintained correct behavior without resorting to tricks and manipulations capable of greatly increasing the Bank’s advantages.

In short, if it is true that the octaves commented on here express a condemnation of bassetta, it is also true that they could have been even more severe.

Florence, 03.05.2024

May 1, 2024: 1748 - Incomplete minchiate of an Arcadian shepherd

The find here is a new kind of minchiate, or at least that is the claim. It is in the same vein as the ancient history minchiate of a previous note (of April 20, 2024, on an "ancient history" minchiate). Franco's original, "1748 – Minchiate incomplete di un pastore arcade," is dated May 1, 2024, and is at https://www.naibi.net/A/ARCADE.pdf.

The "Arcadian" of the title is a member of an academy, presumably that of Arcadia, with the shepherd's pipes in its emblem. I need to say something about a couple of the words. Besides cards, the author also proposes board games, where the board is divided into "caselle," boxes. The word, with its equivalent in English, applies to both three-dimensional containers with flat sides and to two-dimensional ones with straight sides, in this particular case ones containing words. While we would normally call the divisions on a chessboard "squares," the author here seems to want to emphasize its role as a container of words, an essential part of the games he proposes. Then for the cards, which are on large sheets ready to be cut out, he again speaks of them, when they are on the sheet, as "caselle," boxes - they, too, contain words -, but quickly switches to "quadretti," which ordinarily means "squares," but can mean "quadrangles," according to the online Grand Dizionario de la Lingua Italiana. Once a box on a sheet of paper is removed from that sheet to become a card, it apparently ceases to be a box. Of course, his cards are rectangular, not square. So, strictly following the dictionary, I translate "quadretti" as "quadrangles."

As in preceding posts, notes in brackets, unless indicated otherwise, are mine, for clarification (after consulting with Franco), and the numbers in isolation in the left margin are the page numbers of Franco's pdf. Notes are then found at the bottom of those pages.

After the presentation of this translation of Franco's note, I will have a few additions of my own, adding more from one of Franco's references.

1748 – Incomplete minchiate of an Arcadian shepherd

Franco Pratesi


1. Introduction

This study was motivated by the very recent discovery of the existence of a pack of historical minchiate from the eighteenth century of which information had been lost.[note 1] I hope to have put several interested researchers on the trail and that this unusual deck of cards will soon be found and described. I, too, have committed myself to this research, for now without getting any closer to the goal. [Fortunately, the treasure hunt soon turned out successful with the Addendum by Michael after his translation. F.P.] However, to my renewed surprise, I found that the research situation has been made incredibly more profitable by the digitization of library and archive inventories. And then, trying to use these valid tools, I came across not the minchiate I was looking for, but another pack of minchiate that seems to me to deserve a presentation.

Still using the powerful means available today for online searches, I fortunately found a presentation of the work at the time of the release of its first part, and while they were preparing the second, and also a subsequent review that clarifies the method and value of the entire recreational-educational system. I therefore could not resist the temptation to use both of these sources, copying more or less extensive parts of them. This allows me to summarily add my comments and conclusion.
Furthermore, I found the same work presented in a Milanese exhibition of games and toys and I also collected some useful information from the rich catalog of that exhibition.

2. Presentation in the periodical press

News of the Republic. For the 21st December 1748. Venice.
New Method invented by the Abbot of S. Giacinto Enea Gaetano Melani Sienese Apostolic protonotary and Ecclesiastic of Jerusalem called among the Arcadians Eresto Eleucanteo, to make the hated aspect of the Schools amiable. … Venice, Gio. Battista Recurti, in illustrated folio.
Ingenious and praiseworthy is the new theory proposed to young Italians, who, abhorring the ordinary and rigid aspect of the schools, wish at the same time, through a private and sweet Entertainment of Games, practice in the apparatus the most serious sciences as well as the two languages, Italian and Latin.
Signore Abbot Melani, who in addition to the new historical description that he gave to the Public of the Plague of Messina in sdruccioli verse [where the accent falls on the third to last syllable], is also known for various Sonnets and Poems printed of the Sermons of the famous Fr. Cavalcanti given in Malta, after a long effort suffered by him to combine the theory he conceived with practice, which in every direction becomes difficult and very rough, here in three large sheets gives us the idea deciphered, with an evident essay on the study of the Holy Scripture, which youths can easily learn in the combination of Games to be played in different Boxes [Caselle], or Lessons, whether by way of Chessboards, Dice, or Cards.
The first Sheet therefore instructs the reader on what is necessary to know before approaching the reading of this new proposed Method. Then in the second, with the distribution in 32 Boxes [Caselle] (each of which is marked with colors, Alphabetical Letters, chronological notes, and various numbers), we are given a juicy compendium of the Facts reported in the Old Testament, starting from the Creation of Adam; and with a pleasant interweaving of Italian and Latin verses, the author looks to teach what is most beneficial to Christian youth.

_________________
1. https://www.naibi.net/A/RICCI.pdf

2

In the third sheet, with the same method, the remaining History of the Old Testament is given to us in as many Boxes and Lessons: those places being observable where Tradition is spoken of and the wonderful usefulness that comes from the Sacred Scripture, considered as

Of Faith Master, and of customs Rule:

The Author adding,

It is the escort
For loving and fearing our God
It softens the troubles of our exile,
And ultimately leads us to the beautiful Kingdom of Peace.

We will point out that the object of Sig. Abbot Melani is to subsequently give with new Sheets and cards engraved in copper, not only the following History of the New Testament, but also Geography and sacred History, Moral Philosophy, Chivalric Science, Administration, and other useful sciences.[note 2] However, in order to facilitate the undertaking, especially in the serious expense of drawings and Copper plates to be engraved by the most expert in the Art, the means of Subscription is planned; therefore every scholar who in this and the next Month of January places 11 Paoli in the hands of the Bookseller Recurti, will obtain, in addition to the three Sheets, the 52 illustrated Cards for the Holy Scriptures, which will already be perfected within 5 Months.[note 3]

3. The specimens preserved

This is a pack of minchiate that is not only unusual but very strange. At the same time, no loose deck of cards is known of this minchiate; there are only sheets to cut; but this would not have been a problem. Of these sheets I have found information on only two examples in the whole world: one is preserved in the library of Munich [note 4] and is now accessible on the Internet, [note 5] and one was part of the collection of Alberto Milano.[note 6] Of the second, we only have the reproduction of one sheet out of seven; of the first, we have the complete reproduction online, but it is not easy to read due to the low resolution and large size of the sheets; in both cases, it is not certain what is to be understood as the entire printed work.

The total is just a few large sheets with lots of writing and images on educational topics. These sheets can be hung on the walls and consulted at will, laid out on a table and used as a basis for various games (for example as a chessboard to play checkers or chess), or cutting the sheets or figures, thus obtaining playing cards, perhaps after gluing them onto cardboard. Naturally, the playing cards obtained will be completely special, very different from ordinary cards, as they retain educational writing or engravings on most of the surface.

The transformation of these instructive figures into playing cards can take place first of all thanks to their size and the frame designed as the limit of the figure, completely similar to what is typical for playing cards. Furthermore, in all the suit cards, the name of the card is printed in a box at the top left, i.e. the number for the numeral cards and the name for the court cards, and also the suit; the name of the suit is doubled because it indicates both the Italian ones of cups, coins, clubs or swords, and the French ones of hearts, diamonds, clubs or spades. With this stratagem, the same card can alternatively be part of different decks of low cards among those in use, and also of a deck of tarocchi, and even one of minchiate (not taking into account the fact that in the last two cases, the cards should be bigger).
____________
2. The last topics indicated are absent in the sheets preserved. It seems probable that they were never printed.
3. Novelle della repubblica letteraria per l’anno MDCCXLIII. Venice 1748. On pp. 401-402.
4. E. Melani, Trattenimenti Eruditi Sopra La Geografia, E Sfera: Inventati In Grazia Della Nobile Gioventù. Venice 1750.
5. https://books.google.it/books?id=uttRAA ... edir_esc=y
6. Come giocavamo: giochi e giocattoli, 1750-1960. Milan 1984.

3
It is stated that the total number of these cards is 160, and therefore, also thanks to the indicated stratagem, it can be assumed that any deck of playing cards is easily obtainable. However, if you move from the "normal" decks of low cards to those of tarocchi and minchiate, it is necessary to add the superior or triumphal cards to the deck. Given the simplicity with which the other cards are treated, it is easy to imagine that the problem of additional cards can immediately be solved by simply inserting the numbers from 0 to 21 for tarot or from 0 to 40 for minchiate into the usual boxes at the top left.
In fact, there are some cards with a number like this. However, in the sheets preserved in Munich, we see that the numbers present are not only not sufficient to complete the promised deck of minchiate, but also not sufficient for the typical 78-card tarot deck. So, from what we can observe, the pack of minchiate we are looking for is certainly incomplete.
It remains to be verified whether some sheets that were printed later are missing from the Munich collection, the work was not completed, or the promises of minchiate were forgotten during production. A certain result is that the parts programmed covering “Moral Philosophy, Chivalric Science, Administration, and other useful sciences” are not present in the preserved specimens.

4. Comments of the time [note 7]

. . .
Just as the male clerics, and the female clerics in their convents, and the Students and Residents in the Seminaries and Colleges, where good taste is a principle, will be able to spend the hours of recreation among themselves with these equally erudite and pleasant entertainments!
With how much ease will children now be able, while playing, to suck with their milk the Maxims of Christian Morals, taken from the purest and clearest source, which is the Holy Scripture, to whose waters few ordinarily, approach their lips, whether through negligence or out of laziness!
…
How children themselves can be trained to love the supreme good and to fear the terrible God at the sight of his mercies and justice, painted with such vivid colors!
How easy it will be also to learn to read using these cards and these sheets, without the nuisance of the ABCs; and to acquire little by little and insensibly some notion of the Latin language, to the understanding of which long practice leads much better than the many precepts can do! And this is quite known to everyone; this is what everyone expresses; this is practiced by the Ultramontanists [“People beyond the Alps,” but here with a more specific reference, perhaps to the Jesuits]; this happens with all other languages; and the Author will show this in the dissertation that will accompany the sixth or seventh Entertainment.
…
In addition to the indicated Entertainments on Sacred Chronological History, two other large sheets have appeared to the public for Astronomy [Sfera, literally "Sphere," but also short for "Celestial Sphere"] and Geography, also purged of some misunderstandings and confusion that can be seen in some current books; which sheets are also dedicated to the Holiness of the reigning Supreme Pontiff; and together a pack of fifty-six playing cards, made with quadrangles [quadrati] cut and removed from the same [the sheets], with the four marks [of the suits] variously colored and nobly adorned.
In the notice printed on these sheets we read on the sides of the copper Engravings that “with these cards it will be licit to play even with money, both for interest and for vice; but that at least the vice will no

_____________
7. Lettera critica d’un pastore arcade intorno a’ giuochi eruditi pubblicati ultimamente in Venezia presso il Recurti, ed in Pesaro presso il Gavelli. Turin 1749. https://books.google.it/books?id=eRnGKw ... &q&f=false


4

longer be alone, and whoever loses money on the one hand will not also lose time with it; for on the other he will gain some erudition; and those who have good fortune will then make a double gain by acquiring learning and money.” And the Author is right to say this: while it will be easy for everyone who knows how to read, or who hears [others] reading, to learn something that they did not know before, even if they did not want to, and if they did not apply themselves on purpose.
However, it would please Heaven that these same eruditions, and others that will come to light subsequently, should be printed on all playing cards to ennoble them, and to make them acquire another character different from that which they usually carry.
.…
Who can fail to praise the good order and arrangement of so many matters located in their particular quadrangles? At the top of these quadrangles in other smaller boxes the subjects treated in the body of the cards are indicated, and the proper suit-signs and details of each card itself are written, both in the Italian and in the French style, and the large and small letters in alphabetical order, and the syllables, and in some the numbers of the Triumphs, or Tarocchi (since as stated in the aforementioned notice you will be able to play Minchiate with these cards, and any other more popular and enjoyable game with decks of 40 or 52 or 97). And you can vary the games in a thousand ways as you like, both with the cards and with the large unfolded sheets of paper, as long as you read what is written there continually, to keep it in your memory.
It is true that inside Italy and outside it some games have been composed, or rather sketched out from time to time, such as that of [Coats of] Arms, that of Geography, that of Navigation, that of Fortifications, and others. But (let it be said with peace) these are very dry, are not suitably ordered and arranged; they are not conducted properly, nor can one ever derive satisfaction and pleasure from any of them, much less education and profit.
…
Complimentary letter from the Arcadian pastor himself
It is certainly very certain that any child with good guidance and direction, and any youngster even by himself in three or four months, playing and amusing himself, reading, replicating often everything that is expressed in the sheets, or on the same sheets, or on the cards, will learn the whole History of the Old Testament and perhaps also what is mentioned for the Profane History under the same chronology. Won't this be a huge advantage? Will the foundation of good education not thus be ensured? You just need to have a mind to conceive it.
Here is the summary of the Preface, [Instruction, and Author's Notice, which, moreover, must be read especially by the directors, and by those who wish to learn even without a director. You will not struggle as much in this reading as you struggle in translating twenty or thirty verses of insipid vernacular words into the barbaro-Latin language [corrupted Latin?], due to the daily and long condemnation of unfortunate Children, due to the tyranny and ignorance of some Pedant, whether clumsy or self-absorbed.
When we know well what belongs to the Old Testament, we will be able to move on to using the same rules on the sheets and cards of Geography and astronomy [sfera]; indeed, one will be able to play with greater freedom on the sheets of paper and with the geographical cards, as the Author suggests in the short notice that accompanies it, consisting of five or six sentences which, however, will not bring regret for reading it; rather it will offer pleasure for hearing that with the pack of Geographical cards you can play Primiera, Bassetta, and any other invitation [betting] game (which games, however, will only be permitted to adults, never to children, who must keep away from any game that smacks of vice, so as not to overturn the beautiful designs of the Author, and so as not to contravene its most noble and useful aim).

 

5     

. . . But let us suppose that there are two or more children exercising themselves with these virtuous toys. Having to play as with Goose on the first, and on the second sheet as a chessboard; here are the rules, and they are the same as those already declared by the Author in the Preface; so we can only echo him, replicating some of the things said by him.
Lay out the two large sheets ]next to each other on the table, or even just one, and it will be the shortest game. Each player is given ten or twelve signs [tokens], such as small coins, pawns, or almonds, lupin beans, and the like. Everyone places two or three of those same signs on the board, as agreed. The person on whom the lot has fallen will be the first to throw two dice (Dice that have letters instead of numbers). As many letters appear in the two faces above, the number of boxes the thrower will have to move through. He will have to read, or hear read, all or part of the contents in the box where he has stopped, at least the title at the top and the vulgar [Italian] verses. The second who throws the dice will observe the same rules as the first, and so will the others, also in accordance with what is mentioned at the foot of the same Boxes, regarding paying, going backward, going forward, etc. Whoever first reaches the last box, with the number 6, or the one with the num. 12, will win everything that is in the pot, just as is done in the game of Goose.
We now come to the illustrated sheets, and the decks of cards composed with these cut sheets, and to the declaration of what is seen in them. The first box, or illustrated card, has the large letter A at the top, and is called the box or card of A. Under A you see the mark of a Globe, or Chaos. This first card represents the Creation of the world. In this card you can see God, Adam, Animals, the Sun, the Moon, etc.

The Games will vary as desired. The Author proposes many, and many others can be invented; as long as they are innocent games, and suited to the subject.
In order to play, for example, with the illustrated cards the Game of the Patriarchs (like that of the Triumphs), or of the Judges, or of the Kings, or of the Years, etc., five or six cards will be distributed to each person. Whoever in his will find more Patriarchs, or Judges, or Kings, etc. will win.

5. In the Milanese exhibition of 1984 [note 8]

Unexpectedly, we find the sheets of the Arcadian pastor in a Milanese exhibition in 1984, of which we have the beautiful catalog published by none other than the Alinari [famous Florentine photography studio]. The brief introduction is by Giampaolo Dossena and the article on card games by Alberto Milano, who was the greatest expert in Italy on the subject of these games and playing cards in general, so much so that for many years he was the representative of Italy in the International Playing-Card Society. Entry no. 33 of the catalog refers to the work in question here, represented by an example present in his personal collection.

33. Seven sheets of educational games
Venice, circa 1748
Seven sheets measuring 55.5 x 41 cm
Engravings by A. Visentini from drawings by F. Zuccarelli.
‒ “First Sheet” ‒ “New method invented by the Abbot of S. Giacinto, Enea Gaetano Melani, Sienese apostolic protonotary and ecclesiastic of Jerusalem, known among the Arcadians as Eresto Eleucantèo, to make the hated aspect of the Schools amiable.”
Under the title, three engravings: faces of a die in which the letters of the alphabet have replaced the dots, pawns with the words "Utile col dolce," in the center the pipes of the Arcadians within a rich scroll. The first sheet contains a long "author's notice to anyone who wants

________________
8. Come giocavamo: giochi e giocattoli, 1750-1960. Milan 1984.

6

to read," with all the instructions for the game "with picture cards," with dice "like [in] goose" and "Checkers and Chess." Below: “these three simple sheets will be available in Venice in the shop of Gio. Battista Recurti, where they were printed with the permission of the Superiors.”
‒ “Second Sheet” ‒ “To educate noble youth well within their own homes as much in morals as in the primary sciences and in the fine arts, for the joyful and learned entertainment of Clerics, especially Novices and residents in the Sacred Cloisters.” Three engravings under the title, in the lower part divided into 32 boxes bearing the letters of the alphabet.
‒ “Third Sheet” ‒ “Virtuous discussions on the Old Testament dedicated to the Holiness of Our Lord Benedict XIV, the happily reigning Supreme Pontiff.” At the top is a dedication to the "Holy Father," next to his engraved heraldic coat of arms. In the lower part a division into 32 boxes similar to the second sheet.
‒ “Fourth Sheet” ‒ “For discussion on the Sacred and Profane Chronological History,” 26 cards engraved with biblical episodes. The cards take up the same topics as the boxes on the previous sheets and have the same letters of the alphabet at the top. The traditional card suits are replaced by: circles, diamonds, hearts, vases.
‒ “Fifth Sheet” - 26 engraved cards that complete the deck of 52 cards. On the card marked with the letter Y: F.[rancesco] Z.[uccarelli] I. 1748, A. Visentini Sculp.”
‒ “Sixth Sheet” ‒ “Scholarly discussions on geography and astronomy invented in favor of the noble youth by Eresto Eleucanteo, Arcadian shepherd.” 28 cards with geographical descriptions.
‒ “Seventh Sheet” ‒ “Author's Notice” with explanations about the games [gioco]. 28 cards. In total, there should have been 160 cards. (Coll. Milano)

Third sheet, from Come giocavamo, [How we played], p. 39.

 

 

7
From how Milano concludes the description, I can deduce that he considered the work incomplete, because the author had promised that it would contain 160 playing cards and instead showed a smaller number, which for us is essential to conclude that our deck of minchiate, which should have been present here, was not present in these preserved sheets and, most likely, had never been present. The fact that the "complete" collections of both Monaco and Alberto Milano are identical in their "incomplete" content favors the hypothesis that in that work our minchiate was never printed in full.

6. Conclusion

The work presented was certainly the result of a demanding commitment from multiple points of view. The subject is mainly scholastic, but the description required complicated planning and realization by the teacher, the poet, the designer, the engraver, and, last but not least, the printer-bookseller who is also involved in promoting the unusual product.

In my opinion, it is not easy to give an overall opinion on the two educational and recreational aspects. Personally, I don't feel capable of judging the educational value of the undertaking; on the other hand, the extracts reproduced from the descriptions of the time provide more than enough favorable opinions in this regard. It only seems to me that only the continual assistance of a teacher as an animator and guide could have achieved the intended task. As for the games, it seems to me that they wanted to offer too many, even without counting all the ones that they say could have been added by inventing them gradually.

I can recognize that the engravings are appreciable and definitely superior to what could have been expected in this regard, so much so that one feels regret that so few of them have been preserved. I can also recognize the validity of the educational commitment and the idea of making people learn more ideas without the usual scholastic severity, and indeed trying to combine the commitment with fun, to the point of not realizing that they are learning religious and scholastic notions (which would be a good strategy in any time and place).

My problem is that I personally did not need all this education, which I already had in distant times, and also to a greater extent than necessary. I was very simply looking for a pack of minchiate: the Sienese Arcadian pastor had promised it to me, but it would seem that then this very promise, understandably rather secondary for him, he was unable to keep, or no longer considered it useful.

Florence, 01.05.2024

Translator's supplement:

If anyone wants to look more closely at the Munich booklet Franco links to (dated by them at 1750), be aware that Sheet 6 is first, then 7, and then 1 through 5 in order. The "Aviso" of the author is on p. 7 and in fairly big type. 

 

The site allows you to copy and paste text, so I did so with the "Aviso" (Notice), corrected it (and Franco after me), ran it through Google Translate, corrected that, and took a look, to see what the author himself said, as opposed to those writing about him. I will paste it onto the end of this post.

He indeed promises that one will be able to play both Tarocchi and Minchiate, and says that some of the cards are marked with the corresponding numbers for that game. I looked very hard and could not find any such numbers, unless he meant for the suit cards of sheets 6 and 7 - there is nothing for the 21 or 40 triumphs plus the Fool. Since he says that there are 160 cards in all, and in fact there are only 56 + 52 = 108, 52 are not there. He also says that the cards comprise three decks. From what we have, there are only two. So it is probably a subset of those second 52 that he intended to mark for Tarocchi and Minchiate - and with just a number.

Otherwise, the game is as before, where you read what is on the card as you play it. So we have a fairly good idea what the cards would have looked like - a lot of writing on them, with a small picture. Even the geographical cards were supposed to get pictures for the blank spaces below the writing, he says; but it never seems to have happened. (In the "aviso" I have highlighted in bold the most relevant parts.)

With the sheets as they are, however, it is quite possible to play minchiate: 108 cards are quite sufficient. 56 of them are suit cards, so all it takes is 41 of the others. The first 26 have the capital letters and the next 26 have the small letters. The alphabet then appears to have only had 24 letters, no J or W. He includes the ampersand and the diphthong AE for the last two, and in the small letters the same ae plus ai, with just writing. So the capital letters, most of them, can be one half and the small letters the other half, the order dictated by the order in the alphabet and whether capital or small. It's then just a matter of remembering the letters for the combinations.

These cards aren't that uninteresting, either, in that they are mostly pictures of rather vivid scenes, with commentary both from the Bible and Greco-Roman mythology. There is also a symbol inside the suit-sign (all of them roundish, so as to accommodate it) and an explanation at the bottom of what that symbol represents.

So in a sense he does deliver on what he promised, and if he didn't, we have a fairly good idea of what they would have looked like: something similar to the geographical cards, only with some small pictures, rather like on the historical deck discussed in a previous note.

Here is the "Aviso," on sheet 7, which is the only place I could find where he mentions minchiate. The original follows.

AUTHOR’S NOTICE

Geography has been summarized and reduced into verses, with the Treatise on Astronomy, in the clearest, easiest, and plainest way, and in the form of a Dialogue, to help the memory and intellect of children and anyone who wants to apply to it. Erudition was inserted into it, as it suited it. Some moral reflections have been scattered there, which never fail; and even a few jokes to amuse yourself. More than four thousand verses have been enclosed in one hundred and sixty Cards ordered and arranged in such a way as to form the elegant and pleasant Game of Tarocchi or Cannellini, which in Tuscany is called Minchiate; and also to form three Decks for any other Game as desired. In addition to having written at the top of each Card the Marks in the French and Italian style, and also the numbers of the Tarocchi and Triumphs advantageously; for other use, the large and small letters have also been placed in the order of the Alphabet, and the syllables, so that the youngest children can also learn to read by this means, as has been said in the Preface or Notice printed on the first sheet of the first Entertainment, which it is necessary to read carefully, to understand the Author's idea and this new method. The matter contained in the Body of Cards has been mentioned further above in other boxes, to make it easier. With these Cards it will not be objectionable to play for money (provided this is done with moderation) as is usual with other current Cards; indeed, if there are those who want to do it out of vice, then vice will not do it alone, and whoever loses on one side will always gain something on the other; because holding the Cards in one’s hand, and reading even fleetingly and without particular application, the names and qualities of the Countries, the situation, the size, the government, the Religion, the rarest and most valuable things, the distances of the places, the itinerary for going, and by reading various historical, philosophical, geological and astronomical eruditions both in Geography and in Astronomy, you will have the advantage of learning without realizing it, and without getting tired either in the schools or in Books; and so either he will come to make up for the loss if he loses money, gambling; or to make double profit, if he wins money. These same sheets, remaining entire, without being cut to form playing cards, can be used for another better purpose, attaching them to canvases, or cartoons, and keeping them displayed in schools, in houses, in the sacred cloisters, in the manner of paintings, for teaching purposes, of the Youth as well as the others mentioned in the aforementioned notice, to which it is essential to pay the most particular attention. And here at the same time it can be added, for greater clarification, that with these sheets it is also possible to play Goose and Biribissi, only that for the latter the divided squares are cut, folded, and placed inside the pallets to the number of 50 or 60 and then drawn by lot. And with Decks of Cards it will be possible to make the Triumph of some Kingdom, or of the Islands, or of the Rivers, etc. or of the Sun, or of the Circles, etc., or you can play the Game of Variety, or of uniformity in the form of Primiera and Flusso.
In the space that remains blank at the foot of each Card, once the work has been completed, the engraved figures must be placed, as will be done for the other Entertainments.
Anyone who wishes to receive fuller information on Geography can read the three volumes of the highly accredited and erudite Sig. Chiusole, and especially the last impression made by Gio. Battista Recurti; and he will also be able to take a look at Father Buffier's Tometto [little volume] printed by Francesco Pitteri, especially its description of France and its Geographical Tables, from which many verses were taken that were appropriate, marked with quotation marks.

AVISO DELL’ AUTORE

S’è compendiata, e ridotta in versi la Geografia col Trattato della Sfera nella maniera più chiara, facile, e piana, ed in forma di Dialogo, per ajutare la memoria, e l'intelletto insieme de’ Fanciulli, e di chiunque vuol’ applicarvisi. Vi s'è inserita dell’ erudizione, secondo che cadeva in acconcio. Vi s'è sparsa qualche riflessione morale, che mai non disdice; ed anche qualche facezia per dilettare. Più di quattro mila versi si sono racchiusi in cento sessanta Carte ordinate e disposte in modo da formarsene il leggiadro piacevol Giuoco de’ Tarocchi, o Cannellini, che in Toscana diconsi Minchiate ; e da formarsene altresì tre Mazzi per qualunque altro Giuoco a beneplacito Oltre ad essersi scritte in cima d'ogni Carta le Marche alla Francese, ed all'Italiana, ed anche i numeri de’ Tarocchi, e Trionfi vantaggiatamente, per farne altr'uso, si sono parimente poste le lettere grandi, e piccole coll'ordine dell’ Alfabeto, e le sillabe, affinchè i Fanciulli più teneri possano con questo mezzo imparar pur’ a leggere come s'è detto nella Prefazione, o Avviso stampato nel primo foglio del primo Trattenimento, che è necessario leggere con attenzione, per comprendere l'idea dell’ Autore, e questo novello metodo. Di più s'è accennata in cima in altri quadretti la materia contenuta nel Corpo delle Carte, per facilitare maggiormente. Con esse Carte non farà disdicevole il giuocare ancora per denaro (purchè ciò segua con moderazione) come suol farsi coll’ altre Carte correnti ; anzi se vi sarà chi far lo voglia per vizio, il vizio allora non farà solo, e chi perderà da una parte, guadagnerà sempre qualche cosa dall’ altra; perchè tenendo in mano le Carte, e leggendo anche alla sfuggita, e senza particolare applicazione, i nomi, e qualità de’ Paesi, la situazione, la grandezza, il governo, la Religione, le cose più rare, a pregevoli, le distanze de‘ luoghi, l’itinerario per andarvi, e leggendo ci più tanto nella Geografia, quanto nella Sfera varie eruditioni Storiche, Filosofiche, Geologiche, ed astronomiche, avrà il vantaggio d'imparare senz’ accorgersene, e senz’ affaticarsi o nelle scuole, o su Libri ; e così o verrà a risarcire la perdita se perderà denaro, giuocando ; o a fare doppio guadagno, se denaro guadagnerà. Questi Fogli medesimi restando intieri, senza tagliarsi, per formarne Carte di Giuoco potran servire ad altro fine sorte migliore, attaccandosi a tele, o a Cartonetti, e tenendosi esposti nelle Scuole, nelle Case, ne’ Sacri Chiostri, a modo di Quadri, per ammaestramento della Gioventù come pure s'è accennato degli altri nel citato avviso, al quale è indispensabile rivolgere la più particolare attenzione. E qui frattanto si può aggiungere, per maggior dilucidazione, che con essi fogli può giocarsi anche all’ Oca, ed al Biribissi, sol che per quest’ ultimo si taglino le Caselle divise si pieghino, e si pongano dentro le Pallette al numero di 50. o 60. per poi estrarsi a sorte. E co’ Mazzi di Carte si potrà fare il Trionfo di qualche Regno, o dell’ Isole, o de’ Fiumi ec. o del Sole, o de’ Circoli ec. o si potrà fare il Giuoco della Varietà, o dell’ uniformità a guisa di Primiera, e di Flusso.
Nello spazio, che resta in bianco in piè d'ogni Carta, dovranno poi, terminata che farà l'opera, situarsi le figure in Rame come si farà ancora per gli altri Trattenimenti.
Chi vorrà ricevere informazione più piena di Geografia, potrà leggere i tre Tomi del Sig. Chiusole sì accreditato, ed erudito, e spezialmente l'ultima impressione presso Gio. Battista Recurti ; e potrà anche dare un’ occhiata al Tometto del Padre Buffier stampato presso Francesco Pitteri specialmente nella descrizione della Francia, e nelle Tavole Geografiche ; dal qual Tometto si sono tolti molti Versi, che facevano a proposito, e si sono contrasegnati con virgolette.

April 20, 2024: Florence 1783: The mystery of the Devil

Here now is "Firenze 1783 ‒ Il giallo del Diavolo," https://www.naibi.net/A/BACCANO.pdf. As usual, comments in brackets are my additions (in consultation with Franco) for explanatory purposes. Numbers in the left margin correspond to those of his pdf. I have a few comments afterwards.

Florence 1783: The mystery of the Devil

Franco Pratesi

1. Introduction

This note is part of a long series dedicated to card games and playing cards. In this case, the cards involved are few and perhaps none of them are real playing cards, neither the Devil's card nor the few others present together. In fact, these are only images of playing cards painted on two letters of invitation that a gentleman unknown to us sent to a Florentine couple about whom some information can instead be found. The locality involved is Baccano, which in this case must be identified with Via di Baccano, in the old center of Florence.

In short, we have two letters of invitation, we have the recipients, we have the place of departure of the letters and of the announced reception. However, we do not have complete information on the sender of the invitations, apart from the name of Devil with which he identifies himself, which, however, is very stimulating in itself for undertaking a "police" search to try to track him down.

2. The two letters preserved

I reproduce and transcribe both letters directly.     First letter from the Devil
Florence, Moreniana Library, Palagi [section], No. 359, Ins. [Insert] 11, f. 1
(Reproduction prohibited)

2

Our very vicious associate,
The Devil got it wrong this time. He believed that by often coming into your hands he would cause you displeasure. Let this Beast be sufficiently convinced of His Poor ability while he has still not managed to penetrate the future. The visits he made to you at night are exchanged for a day of pleasure. Hence the proverb is very true that the Devil is not as bad as he is painted.
Therefore on Sunday 12 1783 at the first hour of the afternoon you are awaited, our most vicious Associate, with your Consort, in the usual residence of Casa Ferrini to enjoy the table prepared for you by the Devil, who himself has bothered to invite you.
Expect a Devil's lunch: don't make yourselves wait; goodbye.
House number 15
The Secretary of the Devil depicted

Second letter of the Devil
Florence, Moreniana Library, Palagi No. 359 Ins 11, f. 2
(Reproduction prohibited)

Our very vicious associate,
Next Sunday, the 16th of February, the Devil wants to come to table again, in the usual House placed in Baccano, because it seemed to him that he had postponed the well-satisfied Conversation, and now he yearns for it much more, because these Baccanali days are consecrated to him, and he is more in fashion than before. But he would not like to be seen, because we must know that he worked much less than last time, as a consequence he is thinner, in view of which he thought of taxing everyone's purse in an equal portion, to provide himself with a little fodder to fatten up, and thus by putting on meat he hopes to make you happy, to send you home well fed.
The Secretary
In His name at your feet now here it is
That I place the memorial, and also himself.
Now you make it so that he doesn't remain dry,

3

Because in that case he will come after me,
And he will tell me that I am the cause
And that I didn't express myself politely,
Because I'm a certain stupid Ambassador,
That I didn't know how to explain his desire well;
The recreation will go to waste
We will be left with dry teeth, you and me.
From House No. 15.

With the help of a perpetual calendar, the full dates of the two Sundays come out as January 12 and February 16, 1783, five weeks apart. The addresses of the two letters are similar, with the only difference that the wife’s name Francesca (who was also invited in the text of the first letter, without mentioning her name) appears only in the second, next to that of Giovanni Felice Mosell

3. Information about Giovanni Felice Mosell

If tracing the sender is a rather difficult task, finding information on the recipient is relatively easy. He was in fact a fairly well-known musician, son and brother of musicians active in Florence in important positions. Let's be clear: internationally, they are always second-rate musicians, but locally, they made notable careers. We do not find our Giovanni Felice in the great Dizionario Enciclopedico Universale della Musica e dei Musicisti [Universal Encyclopedic Dictionary of Music and Musicians] of the UTET, but he appears as follows in its Appendix

Mosel, Giovanni Felice. Italian violinist and composer. (Florence, 1754 - ? , after 1812). He studied violin with his father, who had been a pupil of Tartini, and made his debut as a child in his hometown, where he later perfected himself with Pietro Nardini. He was a member of the orchestra of the Grand Duke of Tuscany and, upon the death of his teacher, in 1793 he succeeded him in the role of director, holding the position for some years. In 1812 he was director of the Teatro della Pergola; afterward, we have no further news of him.

To frame Mosell in the environment it may also be useful to read what Gandolfi writes in one of his studies on the Grand Duke's musical chapel.

Pietro Leopoldo (1765-1790), always intent on the serious cares of the Kingdom and of useful reforms to the State, could only slightly concern himself with music; however, he did pay a few distinguished professors of that art for his services. One of them was the famous Pietro Nardini from Livorno, a delicate and pleasing violinist representing the Padua School in Florence, who included among his best students Giovanni Felice Mosell and Luigi Campanelli, who succeeded him in the office of First Violin and Director to the Sovereign. [note 1]

Among others, some documents preserved in the State Archives of Florence [note 2] are of some interest, with payments to the court musicians paid by the court in the early seventies: rarely one or the other of the three Mosells (Antonio, Giovanni, and Giovanni Felice) is present in the periodic performances at the main churches of the city, but all three regularly participate in those held during public lunches.

The situation will change later with Ferdinand III, but our Mosell maintains a prominent position.
_______________
1. R. Gandolfi, “La Cappella Musicale della Corte di Toscana.” In Rivista Musicale Italiana, vol. 16. 1909, pp. 506-521.
2. ASFi, Imperiale e Reale Corte, 5434.
3. S. Gitto, “La collezione musicale di Palazzo Pitti (1): il catalogo del 1771.” In Fonti Musicali Italiane, vol. 17, 2012, pp. 175-192.

4
Ferdinando III dedicated particular attention to the musical life of the Florentine court: in 1792, he reformed the entire Royal Chapel and Chamber following the “Proposition of the new establishment of music and of the employees to serve there,” suggested by the then chapel-master [i.e. orchestra director] Salvatore Pazzaglia. A detailed comparison table describes, in economic and artistic terms, the differences between the “Ancient State,” i.e. the Leopoldian years, the “Proposed New State,” and the “New Rectified State,” i.e. the new structure approved by the Grand Duke, thus giving us a series of important pieces of information on the management of palatine music in Florence in the ten years that divided the Habsburg government of Pietro Leopoldo from the Franco-Bourbon government of the Kingdom of Etruria. The document describes in detail the renewed court music sector through the hiring procedures, obligations, and tasks of the musicians, the fees and their names - to whom. contrary to past customs, a single instrument is entrusted. The list of orchestra musicians appointed in 1792 is reported from this document.

Players
Bowed instruments
First Violin Pietro Nardini with pension
Second Violin Giovan Felice Mosell
More violins

More information on Mosell's musical activity can be found in various places, including some printed and manuscript scores. More than fifty entries appear under his name as an author in OPAC SBN [on this digital entity, see https://opac.sbn.it/en-US/], but these are mostly librettos of operas in which he was orchestra director or first violin.

Much more remembered than any detail of his professional activity, is however an episode that speaks of him in particular, discussed in several books, even with the reproduction of the related documents: [note 4]: his sale in 1793 of a Stradivarius violin, which was part of a precious set of five stringed instruments that had been given to Ferdinando dei Medici. Mosell is usually harshly criticized, even in older writings, [note 5] for having sold this instrument, of which he was only the custodian; but we also read some defenses, such as the following.

Even if it would be easy to align with the widespread lack of consideration towards Mosell - who sold the instrument for fifty sequins to a rich English gentleman in 1794 (see V. Gai, The instruments..., p. 25 f.) - it would not be honest, objectively, to draw any conclusive negative judgment, given that the very well-founded doubt always remains that the first court violinist had become, through a previous grand ducal donation, the owner of the precious Stradivarius instrument. [note 6]

The subsequent transition from the grand ducal orchestra to a stable position in the Teatro della Pergola (where he had also previously conducted the orchestra) is easily explained by the arrival of the French government in Florence and the removal of the court, but the fact that he remained there for many years as director can indicate his notable practical and managerial ability in addition to his purely musical technique. Among other things, from the titles present in OPAC SBN, he would appear in his usual role as first violin and director of the orchestra also in the spring of 1814, with the performances of L'ambition delusa [Delusional Ambition] and L'Italiana in Algiers [The Italian woman in Algiers].
__________________
4. V. Gai, Gli strumenti musicali . . . Florence 1969; M. Branca, Il Museo degli strumenti musicali. Livorno 1999.
5. C. Gervasoni, Nuova Teoria di musica, Parma 1812; F. Sacchi, Il Conte Cozio di Salabue. London 1898.
6. Antichi strumenti. Florence 1981.

5
Unexpectedly, no traces of this important final activity at the Teatro della Pergola were found in the Archives of the Academy of the Immobile; also, in the Inventory [note 7], we find only one, and only once, in 1817, the last descendant of this family of musicians of Lorraine origin, Egisto Mosell. But if it is true that there are no traces of them in the Inventory, it seems impossible to me that there aren't any in the minutes of the meetings and in the recordings of the performances; it would be enough to search more thoroughly.

4. The identity of the Devil

What do we know about the Devil? The professional comments on the handwritten letters indicate these characters as "merry-makers," which suggests a jovial environment. In fact, on the cover of the fascicle we read the following.

N. 2 Curious invitations "from the Devil" to Gio. Mosell, "very vicious member" of an association of merry-makers who met at table during the Carnival of 1783. At the top, the figure of the devil is badly painted between two playing cards.

Maybe. The Devil, however, is not a stranger between the two cards because in fact his figure, although "poorly painted," represents a tarot playing card, and in particular a card of minchiate, given that we are in Florentine territory; to confirm the attribution with certainty we read the number XIV which corresponds precisely to the devil of minchiate. But wanting to indicate it like this, flanked by two numeral cards, it should have been associated with those of clubs, swords, coins and cups, instead of the more recent French suits. The two associated cards are two pairs of sevens, which are also the highest cards in primiera. (The first card would be the Seven of Coins, the most important card in the games of the Scopa family; but we are not certain that those games were already widespread, particularly in Tuscany. [note 8])

Were perhaps sacrilegious rites also celebrated around those dining tables? Were perhaps the playing cards used for some fortune-telling type of use? We cannot know, although the choice of the devil as a mask and the mention of insufficient reading of the future (lack of ability while he has not yet managed to penetrate the future) leave us with some suspicion for now.

The only valid clue to further the research is that this Devil writes from his home, Casa Ferrini in Baccano, where he invites guests. The number 15 of the house certainly cannot be verified with the numbers on today's streets, but, as far as Baccano is concerned, in this case it is Via di Baccano near Calimala, a few steps from Piazza del Granduca (the current Signoria).

Where Calimara ends, the Via di Baccano ends, perhaps from the bacchanal, if it is true that in ancient times bacchanalian games were played there on carnival days. But it was also thought that this name came from being a place full of traffic and much frequented by shop assistants. It was already called Via de' Cavalcanti, because this family had their home and loggia there. In some of Baccano's shops, Bernardo Cennini had his workshop, and the Medici their counter. [note 9]

The Devil was perhaps a lover of music; he was certainly a fan of playing cards. Unfortunately, these are very weak clues, but the surname Ferrini remains an important clue to his identity,. Therefore I carried out some surveys in the Gazzetta Toscana, with good results, which make it clear to us that nothing diabolical or sacrilegious appears in that company.

Last Saturday a new literary Academy was started under the title of the Faticanti [Laboring] with a very select concourse of nobles and virtuous people in the salon of Signore Ferrini located in Baccano, whose opening was made by Signore Abate Catani with a well-reasoned,

_______________
7. L’Accademia degli Immobili, ed. Alberti, Bartoloni, Marcelli. Rome 2010.
8. The Playing-Card, Vol. 24 No. 1 (1995) 6-12; No. 2, 56. https://www.naibi.net/A/57-CASINO%20-Z.pdf
9. P. Thouar, Notizie e guida di Firenze e de’ suoi contorni. Florence 1841. On pp. 473-474.

6

and erudite dissertation followed by other poetic compositions that were interspersed with
by beautiful musical pieces. [note 10]

The present season of Advent, being appropriate for the academic amusements of these “Faticanti” Gentlemen, was given on Sunday evening in the salon of Signore Giovacchino Ferrini, one of the members of the said Academy, with chosen others and numerous contributors to an Academic Conversation of Poetry, Sound, and singing, where members Gio. Mosel, [note 11], Brocchi, and Giuseppa Fineschi, distinguished themselves, and some arias were heard with great pleasure, excellently sung by a certain gentleman Babbini Tenore, who is passing through here on his way to Bologna. The instrumental and vocal concerts and the extemporaneous poetic faculties, no less studiously refined by art, form a completely harmonious and varied entertainment, which is only typical of the Florentines, and which is at the same time interesting and attractive. There is no place for doubt that this Academy, which has not been founded for even a year, and which is still nascent, so to speak, will soon reach the eminent level of the other similar ones established here, which form the ornament of our City. [note 12].

To frame this Academy of the Faticanti within the Florentine academic environment of the time. an overview such as the following may serve.

Academies
The Academies are in large numbers in Florence. The famous Academies of Crusca, Fiorentina and Apatisti have their residence in the same place. In addition to these Literary Academies, there are many others which serve during Lent to provide some entertainment to the Nobility and Citizens of both sexes.
They are known under the names of the Ingenious, the Harmonious, the Laboring [Faticanti], etc., etc. Only the first of these enjoys the honor of Royal protection. All the others have simple approval from the Government. Their meetings consist of some little arias and duets performed by good musicians, in concerts with all sorts of instruments, and other similar things; the entertainment is interspersed with poetic compositions, where everyone is free to recite, and which serve to give a convenient rest to the teachers of singing and sound rather than forming the main object of the Festival.
You cannot enter without a printed ticket, on which is written the name of the Academician who distributes it, and the person for whom it is intended: some are reserved for foreigners of rank, who ordinarily still pass without the ticket, especially when they have been recognized and distinguished by the Ministers of their Nation resident in Florence.
The Ladies participate elegantly dressed, and for a singular use in Lent in such circumstances a richness and magnificence is flaunted that is overlooked in Carnival through the incognito of the mask.
It seems at first sight that these Academies of simple entertainment have acquired greater credit than those that were established for the growth and splendor of letters and sciences. [note 13]

As can be seen, information was found, in particular on music, and we also met either Giovanni Felice Mosell in person or at least one of his brothers. In short, the mystery of the sender of the two letters has been solved without a shadow of doubt, and all that remains is to add something about the Devil, that is, as we have seen, about Giovacchino Ferrini.
_____________________
10. Gazzetta Toscana N. 13 p. 50 (01.04.1775).
11. Without the double name he is probably a brother of our Giovanni Felice.
12. Gazzetta Toscana No. 13, on p. 197 (16.12.1775).
13. https://www.google.it/books/edition/Des ... ll_Ital/E-
_AhCQVbo4C?hl=it&gbpv=1&dq=accademia%20dei%20faticanti&pg=PA150&printsec=frontcover

7
Searching OPAC SBN with his name, numerous publications appear. In reality, only one seems to have been compiled by him as the author, while the others were printed with Ferrini, who appears as a publisher, bookseller, and stationer, with a shop in Piazza del Granduca.

I would limit myself to examining his moral-poetic work, [note 14] from which I copy the chapter dedicated to games. It's logical to feel curious to hear an opinion on the game directly from the Devil, instead of the usual preachers.

CHAPTER V

This is what must be observed in games.

With an illustrious Lord it is not allowed to
___Set up a game; just play when
___He commands it, or he himself has invited us to the game.
When playing, do not show greed
___To gain from it: this indicates
___Baseness of spirit and cowardice.
Whoever doesn't have a sweet and yielding nature
___It is fitting that he abstain from every game
___For whatever inconvenience may follow.
To discover whose character you desire,
___Or his virtues to know, or his vices,
___Let Cards, or dice, as they say, be given into his hands
Continuous attention must be applied, and not without
___Very accurate keeping to the order [i.e. following the rules] of the game
___And never losing through complacency.
And this so as not to seem stupid, and again
___To demonstrate to the one with whom one plays,
___That he is honored with all possible care.
If joking at all times is little
___Commendable, it will be thereafter very little
___Plausible to make fun of any in the game.
To either sing or whistle is uncivilized
___In the game, and also in a low voice, like
___The habit when someone is idle.
Neither with your hands nor with your feet to play
___Is given, with the feet to go beating the ground,
___And with the fingers to play the tambourine.
If the game is Ball, and if one is occupied
___With Trucco, or Ball, or Maglio,
___Keeping dirty postures with the body is not suitable.
If any despondency in the game happens,
___As often happens, not rudely does one persist,
___But complacently one recovers and gives in.
To sustain a kick or a blow, one lets the case
___Faithfully be reported, and in peace, and that decided,
___One appears to remain satisfied.
Because everything in the game sweet
___And peaceful must be: making oaths
___Is a cowardly thing, and it is a grave sin.
They still sin, and already the great Chrysostom
___Said it, speaking of games___
___That there are mixed [with it] blasphemies and thefts and fights.
Once the stake is won, civilly
___Let it be collected without much heat,
___But with all sweetness, and coolly.
If someone failed to place the bet,
___This should not be said to him: one must only say:
___It seems that all the Bets are not placed.
When the bet is lost, so let it be given
___Quickly to those who want the money, and never
___Wait for it to be requested by the Winner.
It is a mark of a well-born spirit
___Quickly to pay what is owed in the game,
___Without showing difficulty and restraint.
It is also still of a generous spirit
___Not only in the game, but in everything else
___To be ready to pay without delay.
Two things make a man lose credit.
___The Persian says: one is to be a debtor,
___The other is to deny the creditor the debt.
If someone is playing with you
___Much greater, if losing hurts him,
___Continuing the game is civility.
If fate shows itself against us,
___To withdraw from the game is praiseworthy,
___And to manage with our own strength.
It's a risk to encounter mockery,
___And I still despise those who do [by continuing to play] out of complacency
___What their state [losing what little they have] does not allow them.
If anyone goes into anger in the game,
___One must not make retorts to his words;
___But pity him in his transports.
If it is a Lady, this is done much more;
___Everything must be accepted on the good side
___And have for her respect and civility.
If anyone comes higher [socially] than you and has an itch
___For the game, you must be ready
___To withdraw and give the place up to him.

________________
14. G. Ferrini, La gioventù istruita nel buon costume, 2nd edition. Florence 1792 (1st ed. 1787).

8

Playing with discretion is done like this:
___There is still another precept in the game;
___That you don't have to play every night and every day.
In the book of Ecclesiastes, it is written:
___There is a time for the Dance, and a time for the Game,
___But there it is also prescribed the time to pray.

If you were looking for a trace of the devil, you just can't find it here; indeed, just read the end of the chapter to understand that we are on the other side. I have been interested in the question because of the Devil's link with playing cards, and since this link has not yet been confirmed, I think I will present other information. Perhaps the only link with what we have seen so far is the Via di Baccano.

5. Final digression on Girolamo Cocchi

So far, no explanation has been found for the connection between the Devil and playing cards. A different possibility is that Girolamo Cocchi was somehow involved with the Devil. If we look for a personage with this name in the usual online repertoires, we find one (indeed more than one from the same family of Bolognese printers) involved in the printing of popular prints, and no connection with our environment can be glimpsed.

However, I had met a Girolamo Cocchi while studying the licenses granted in Tuscany for gambling in coffee shops, barber shops, academies, and other establishments. The connection with playing cards is strengthened by the fact that it is he himself who goes to the Stamp Office in Florence to pay the tax due to authorize the game in his shop. . . in Baccano. [note 15] At the time I thought that it was in a place by this name near Fiesole, but now it is clear to me that it was instead in the center of Florence, right where the Academy of the Laboring met.

Here we are at the main indication for making Baccano smell of some devil odor among the playing cards. Another Girolamo Cocchi also appears, whom we also find involved in Florence with gaming licenses. His position is very different: it is not of a business owner asking for a license for his shop, but a contractor with whom the Royal Tax Office, and in particular the Tax Stamp Office, has signed a concession contract in the eighteenth century to grant licenses, upon payment of an annual fee. [note 16]

Searching more deeply in the archival documents, I concluded that the two characters were the same person. But how could a simple shopkeeper obtain the contract for all the licenses in Tuscany? The answer is easy: he wasn't just a shopkeeper! The Girolamo Cocchi who showed up to pay a high tax to allow the playing of low cards in "his" shop in Baccano was certainly the same one who showed up to pay the tax for "his" shop in Sdrucciolo di Orsanmichele, also completely in the city center, and even a shop in Prato.

Furthermore, a Gaetano Cocchi is found with the same function for the Arcadia [Academy] at Canto alla Macine, who then appears for the Baccano workshop to replace Girolamo, perhaps a brother or father. In short, these Cocchi, and Girolamo in particular, were professionally involved at a high level with playing cards in multiple locations in the city, including Baccano. Now we know that this Girolamo Cocchi could not have been the same Devil, already identified with certainty, but it seems to me that he could at least have belonged to the same company of "merry-makers" if, as happened in other academies, playing cards were also used during members' meetings.


Florence, 04.20.2024
_____________
15. ASFi, Camera e Auditore Fiscale, N. 3016 and 3017; https://www.naibi.net/A/LICENZE.pdf
16. A. Addobbati, La festa e il gioco nella Toscana del Settecento. Pisa 2002, p.178.


Translator's comments: 

The corresponding minchiate card can be seen at https://www.britishmuseum.org/collectio ... 96-0501-41, a "Poverino" deck whose tax stamp on card XXVII Aries indicates that it is from the period 1780-1800. The particularly feminine, or at least effeminate, appearance of the Devil is characteristic of woodcut minchiates of this period from Florence. What is different is the direction of his/her stride, left instead of right, and so a mirror image of the actual card. I suspect an arcane significance to this change, in particular a kind of reversal of the expected negativity. My speculation is that the two 7s are associated with luck, as in dice games, with in the first invitation black associated with bad luck and red with good. So it is in the interest of the recipient to accept the invitation. The second invitation then reverses this association, perhaps to dare the recipient to come anyway, as the first intimation was simply a joke. Of course, I have no way of knowing if this speculation is true.

April 17, 2024: Florence in the 17th c.: Octaves on the Game of Ombre

This post presents a translation of Franco’s "Firenze nel Seicento ‒ Ottave sul Gioco dell’Ombre," posted April 17, 2024, at https://www.naibi.net/A/OMBRE.pdf.  It transcribes and discusses a poem about an offshoot from tarocchi known as Ombre, from the Spanish "Hombre," meaning "Man." The poem that Franco found describes the action that ensues, in this case in a game for five players, long since defunct, called quintilio in its Italian version. The players here are all women, while men attending them - called "Zerbini" in the poem, a term for elegant and proud young dandies, from a character in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso - make comments intended to impress. Whether these are whispered or audible to all is not said.

Translating this work poses particular problems in that the rules for this game are not precisely known, nor the precise meanings of some of the particular technical terms used in the poem. So several terms will be left untranslated, although with some suggestions in brackets, mine in consultation with Franco. This is a rather unsettling result. Understanding these terms, moreover, would seem to require knowing a little about the game. Franco gives the bare bones in his note, but I think more is required, albeit at the risk of introducing confusion: in particular, what happens in the game at the end of the hand.

For tarot history, the significance of ombre is threefold. First, it is a continuation of the trend, apparently initiated in Spain, to apply tarot’s idea of trumps to the ordinary deck, in this Italian case of 40 cards. In hombre, called ombre in Italy, one of the ordinary four suits is made trumps, chosen by the player who wins an auction at the beginning of play. (In addition, there are a few permanent trumps - actually even more powerful than ordinary trumps, because they do not have to be played if one is out of the suit led.) It is the earliest known game to have such bidding, in a development that included even a variant of tarocchi, the so-called "tarock-l'hombre." The different bids in ombre need not concern us, except that there is more than one, so one player can outbid another. There are different technical terms for bidding. In the poem, we see “gioco” – I play - and “pongo” - I put - the latter certainly a bidding term, the first possibly.

The bid, among other things, is to win the hand. In all versions of the game, the winning bidder is called the “hombre” or “ombre” – the man. In the five-person game, he/she chooses a partner (see English wikipedia on Ombre); it is their combined number of tricks won that matters, according to the 17th century booklets. There are 8 tricks. How many must the pair win? 5 certainly will win. But is 4 ruled out, if none of the other players get more than 3 tricks each? It depends on whether the team has to win a majority of the tricks or just more than any other player individually. In the three-person game in English sources, it is the latter. English Wikipedia says that in the five-person game, five tricks were necessary; but the source it cites (Parlett) says nothing on this issue. For understanding the poem, the precise number is not important. What matters is what the win is called. In the three-person game, as described on Wikipedia, the win is called sacada, Spanish for “pulled.” Sacada is not used in the poem. However, there is the term tirar, which in Italian means “pull," and the context in the poem seems to fit winning.

Then there are the types of losses. Unfortunately, I have not found any source for the five-person game's terminology except the poem itself. In the three-person game, the ombre can lose in two ways. If an individual opponent of the ombre wins more tricks than the ombre – or is it a majority of the tricks? - he/she wins by codille (in French). A majority would be 5; but 4 tricks would be enough if the rule is that he has to be the high scorer, if he had 4, the ombre had 3 or less, and the other player had one. Codiglio is mentioned by our poem, so that type of win by an opponent of the ombre partners existed in the five-person game. But what was it? I don't know; but surely it involved beating the ombre partners in some way. In a five-person game, winning 5 tricks out of 8 surely beats the ombre, but would that 5 a combined total of the three other players, or one player individually? Or is it that one player individually has only to win more tricks than the ombre and his partner? If those two played a really bad game, that might be easy to do. But might 4 tricks by one player be enough? Again, it doesn't matter; what matters is that the game ends with a winner other than the ombre partnership.

The second type of loss is that called the “puesta” – Spanish for put - or, in an English text of 1660, the “repuesta” – Spanish for “put again” or “put back.” In French the term seems to have been "remise." That outcome is when there is neither of the other two. So in the five-person game, if the ombre and partner win 4 tricks and the others combined won 4, that might be the “repuesta.” Or if they won 3 and nobody else more than 3, that might count. What probably applies, in the three-person game and quite extendable to the five-person, is that in this case the penalty is that the ombre and his partner have to put in the same amount into the pot as is already there, and it stays there until someone wins it in another hand; so the amount in the pot has been “put again.” In the poem, neither “puesta” nor “repuesto” is used, but there is the term “riporre,” which in Italian has the past participle “riposto.” I think that "riporre" is the poem's name for this type of loss; Pratesi, more cautiously, does not commit himself, as what is meant might be something else, given that besides "put again," the term has other meanings, such as "put back" and "lay down."

My sources: The Royal Game of Ombre, 1660, p. 6 in archive.org; English Wikipedia on Ombre; David Parlett, https://www.parlettgames.uk/histocs/ombre.html and The Oxford History of Card Games, pp. 197-199 in archive.org; and Thierry Depaulis, "Un peu de lumiére sur l'Hombre (3)" The Playing-Card 16, nos.1-2 (Aug.-Nov. 1987), p. 51. I do not think that the 1660 work has been generally available very long: it is only mentioned by Depaulis (part 1 of his essay, Playing-Card 15, no. 4, p. 109, note 13) and Parlett as a lost work referred to by Chatto; from whatever source, it was put on archive.org on Nov. 15, 2023.) I have not read thoroughly all of Depaulis's three-part essay, so please correct me if I have left out anything important. For "remise" as a doubling of the pot, applied to a different game but said there to derive from ombre, there is also John McLeod, "Rules of Games - No. 5, REVERSIS," The Playing-Card 5, No. 4 (May-June 1977), pp. 32-35.

With that introduction, I give you Franco, who will say more about the game.

Florence in the seventeenth century: Octaves on the Game of Ombre

Franco Pratesi

1. Introduction

I transcribe and comment on a sixteen-octave poetic composition on the game of ombre, as the game of hombre - of Spanish origin but widespread throughout Europe, especially during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries - was indicated in Florence. It is found in a voluminous manuscript collection of poems preserved in the Moreniana Library. [note 1]

The gaming environment that we find illustrated here does not appear surprising once we have various pieces of information about it from the literature of eighteenth-century narrators, and in particular from the numerous foreign travelers who crossed Italy for their historical and, above all, artistic education. However, the version of the game indicated and, even more so, the other compositions in the same manuscript, rather indicate an earlier dating, which remains uncertain but would be better placed in the middle of the seventeenth century. This is confirmed by archivists who already reported the manuscript as follows.

N. 311. Paper, XVII century, mm. 205x145. Pp. 517. Pp. . . . are blank. The notebooks of various numbers of pages that make up this codex are written by various seventeenth-century hands, except for the quad. [quaderno: notebook, but here a file or folder] formed by pp. . . . which are perhaps writings from the end of the 16th century. . . . Modern binding in ½ leather.
XXX - 15. All’Ombre in quinto giocar sol le donne [At Ombre in five only women play] (482a - 485b ). The Game of Ombre. Octaves.

2. Essential literature on the game of ombre

A fundamental study on hombre, and on its history in particular, was published by Thierry Depaulis; [note 2] for the development of the game throughout Europe and for the related literature I can refer to that work. A concise presentation can be found in a book by Giampaolo Dossena with rules and historical notes [note 3]. More details, including its variants and their diffusion, have been provided by David Parlett. [note 4]

Rule booklets on the game were also printed in Florence; in particular, the well-known Bibliografia [Bibliography] of Lensi [note 5] lists three editions of a manual dedicated only to ombre. The related dates are in fact later than the poem under examination here, and quintilio [the five-handed version] is not discussed (at least in the first edition), but I think it is useful to talk about it to complete the framework of reference.

Of the first edition of 1807, of twenty pages, I have found only one copy, in the Classense Library, and not even this one is present in OPAC SBN. [note 6] Surprisingly, at least for me, I have not found any copy of the reprint of the same year, with a few pages more; however, I am not surprised by the fact that I did not find the third edition of 1852, because Lensi himself had only noticed it as an indication from a bookseller's catalog.

As evidence of the coexistence of ombre with calabresella, we can cite another Florentine booklet from 1822, which was in fact dedicated to calabresella, or terziglio, but with Chapter X devoted to “Ombe calabresellate,” a variant introduced in the Rooms of the Theatre of the Cocomero. [note 7] It would seem to be a less rare edition, given that three copies are reported in the Nazionale
__________________
1. Biblioteca Moreniana, Moreni N. 311, at ff. 482-486.
2. Th. Depaulis, The Playing-Card, Vol. XV, No. 4 1987, pp. 101-110, and Vol XVI, No. 1 1987, pp. 10-18 [and 44-53].
3. G. Dossena, Giochi di carte internazionali. Milan 1984.
4. D. Parlett, The Oxford Guide to Card Games. Oxford 1990.
5. A. Lensi, Bibliografia italiana di giuochi di carte. Florence 1892. Reprint: Ravenna 1985.
6. https://scoprirete.bibliotecheromagna.i ... RAV1291600
7. Trattato del giuoco calabresella e ombre calabresellate diviso in capitoli. First edition. Florence 1822. Pp. 70+12.

Page 2
Centrale and Laurentian libraries in Florence, and in the Library of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei e Corsiniana in Rome.

3. Elements of the game

In a nutshell, it can be observed that the game was born in Spain as a game for four players called hombre, soon to give rise to variants for three players, renegado, and for five, quintilio.

Renegado replaced the original game everywhere, maintaining, however, except in Spain itself, the old name of hombre or its derivatives. In Florence, but also in other European cities and states, over time it was first accompanied and then replaced by tressette for three players, or calabresella, and then definitively by the transition to four-player games in pairs, with the same tressette and then with whist, which followed one another in the fashion of the players.

Ombre was typically a game for three players, and there were specially built triangular tables. One of the interesting aspects of the game is the evaluation of what conditions are acceptable for playing alone against the other two, depending on the cards received with the distribution of nine cards. There are also various possibilities of drawing or not from the group of thirteen cards left undistributed.

The game is characterized by rather complicated conventions on the value of trick-taking cards in the various suits, which vary depending on the trump suit. The complexity already begins with the three major cards, the mattatori: the highest, the spadiglia, is always the ace of spades, whatever the trump suit; the second, the maniglia, is the 2 of trumps for batons and swords, or the 7 of trumps for cups and coins; the third, the basto, is always the ace of batons. A consequence is that the fourth card in the order of tricks can be the ace of trumps only for cups and coins, before using the descending sequence of face cards and numeral cards for all suits (with the exception of the low cards of cups and coins for which the trick-taking order decreases from 2 to 6).

To give an idea of the complexity of the scores and related wins and losses. I reproduce the two summary pages from the Florentine book of 1807.   

                                                            “Winning Points” [note 8]

___________________
8. From: Regole generali per il giuoco dell’ombre. Florence 1807.

Page 3
However, since the octaves in question talk about the game with five, I reproduce what has already been copied in the study cited by Depaulis from a very old Italian book. [note 9]

Another way of playing with five [players] has also been introduced, but it is called quintilio, that is, all the cards in the deck are taken [distributed], eight for each, with the ability to buy the right of the partner's hand [?], and also the ability for one, who wishes to play and become Ombre, to call as his assistant and companion one of the other four, who cannot refuse the invitation.

In short, the game was normally played with two against three, but in cases of particularly favorable distributions, it could also be played with one against four. There was a ranking of commitments to control the game, so that a second player could take on the more onerous commitments and thus acquire the right to set the trump and name his partner.

4. The text

I reproduce a detail of the poem and then transcribe it in full below.  Biblioteca Moreniana, Moreni N. 

 

311, XXX, 15, pp. 482-485. Detail.
(Reproduction prohibited)

________________
9. Del giuoco dell’ombre con alcune osservazioni aggiunte. Rome 1674. [Depaulis quotes it on p. 51 of the third part of his three-part article cited in n. 2]

Page 4

1
At ombre in five [note 10] only the Women play
in private and public feasts and to
satisfy their greedy desires;
Cavalier Zerbini [elegant and ostentatious young men, so-called from a character in Ariosto] stand above them.
On each trick a rigorous examination
these are wont to make, with three thousand bows;
many there are, to take away that taste [for the game?],
who more than once make them riporre [literally “put back,” technical game term].
________
Note 10, to stanza 1. Quintilio was evidently still in fashion.

2
Ombre is a beloved and delightful game
that comes from Spain, and in France is used
and also in Italy little by little;
but here in particular, it has expanded,
so that there is no casino, no redoubt, no place,
where one plays, where it is not played;
and there is no lady, whether ugly or old,
who does not take it for her game every hour.

3
At first this game seems a little difficult
for a girl, or rather a wife;
but if she begins to take it and enjoy it,
only when she plays does she find rest and peace,
more indeed than a husband makes grumbling,
if in supporting his wife in such a thing
he ruins his estate, and he languishes afflicted
if she sucks from him his most perfect blood.

4
Then if it happens that she loses every evening,
it's up to her husband to fill her purse,
nor can he contradict her with a proud face
if he loves her at all, or if she also is beautiful.
Indeed, nowadays the Woman is so haughty
that if her husband rebels against her in
this matter, she sells the best she has with great advantage
whether to the one who takes her arm, or to the Pedant, or to the Page.

5
But to get back to the game; The one whose turn it is
to deal the cards then deals only eight;
This must be done from above [from the top of the deck], and she won't accept it
if she notices anyone ever from below.
One who has the hand with a tight mouth
observes her game without making a fuss,
and If she has not long [in the suit she would choose as trumps?] as she would like,
she makes various faces, and then says, pongo [technical term: usually “I put” outside the game].

6
So the others follow. and there is one
who tells the knight [Cavalier] who stands above,
So much it is I want to test my fortune,
Perhaps [chissà, or who knows that, chi sa] the dice to my favor reveal
Slowly; he answers, there is no trick;
to dare, she says, here the knowledge is used;
it is enough that riporlo [technical term] doesn't seem strange to her,
he adds, while she has codiglio [technical term: ombre opponent’s/opponents’ winning hand/hands] in her hand.

7
She takes the die [singular of dice] and then boldly adds,
Ladies, to you I throw the stone;
the lady who sees must give help;
she says ironically, she's also polite,
I have the sheet there; and she incites
the Cavalier, to whom the blame is given,
to apologize; that one [he] replies, I advised you in vain,
I have nothing to do if you throw stones into the Arno.

8
If it is her turn to give to the one who helps her,
if she has that suit, she trumps in her face [in front of her].
If the other one, who claims to be astute
sees the higher [card] in the hunt beaten,
some dispute always arises between them,
so that more than one Zerbino quickly tries
to get in the middle, and with his
proofs to make both of them remain appeased.

9
There is one who hears from the Zerbino
that her game is good in essence;
if she plays [gioca, possible technical term for becoming hombre] and loses, she usually shouts, I am foolish
to believe anyone anymore; he says, patience,
you will be better served another time;
she replies with a bit of fervor,
I thank you, this is a good comfort
That [?] I said it [the trump suit] was too short [referring back to stanza 5?].

10
If it happens that one has in one’s hand the three majors [note 11]
With more trumps, or Kings, she plays it alone;
to observe her plans, or errors,
the others play without saying a word
if badly teaches her the Cavalier outside,
slowly he retreats from the table.
They all piantano [?]; the Lady then shouts
Indignantly, after they had thrashed her.
_____________
Note 11, to Stanza 10. Spadiglia, maniglia, and basto.

11
But if by chance she wins the pot,
the Cavalier ascribes it to his knowledge;
therefore he puffs up, and with a cloying act
he wants to be considered a virtuoso [very expert]

Page 5

but the Lady, who knows what happened,
tells him in haughty words, he should
not boast anymore, for it was an odd chance
to achieve the goal with such a game in hand.

12
There is one who, having a good game [i.e. hand]
doesn't have the courage any longer to play it alone,
therefore, Grando [?] says, I'm giving you a gift;
and they all have the desire to help her;
If it happens that she loses it; the other exclaims, I
who denied them, they make me faint,
she scolds her beloved, they make us, you know, gifts,
Ladies who give bestial pain.

13
All the Ladies, whenever they can,
have the desire to take the plate,
they reveal the corners of the aces, and turn red
in the face if someone tira [literally “pulls”: wins] and doesn't call them [chiama, technical term for choosing a partner?];
such a one complains as much as she can
and with a sour face at the end exclaims
to aspirarvi [aspire to it?] I was the beautiful fool,
a bargain that is good does not concern me.

14
To have beyond the plate also poglia [technical term, batches of tokens won on different occasions, in addition to the usual plate – 90, 60, 30 are mentioned in the printed pages]
there is such a one who demands it in full;
To fulfill such a just desire the Cavalier uses
every art and method, but if his thought fails,
with sorrow to his beloved he says straight away
that evil fate takes pleasure in best
making us remain in the lurch.

15
If one has the hand, and has a mediocre game,
and wants to tirar [literally “pull,” technical term for winning], every now and then the other
who is below [plays after her] tells them alla de mas [higher bid], so
that she makes a face of fire, and then shouts, throws out the words,
now that I had it certain, to be forced to give up
the place [technical term for being overbidden?]; then one who pretends to be learned says
Lady, you should not be disgusting,
you too will have a similar taste.

16
With such speeches the Ladies and Knights
Pass the evening playing ombre;
a great fair of plaster Pigeons clutters
the perimeter of the table; there is
shouting over a game for a whole hour,
either when they put in [si mette dentro], or when they take out [si sgombra],
nor are other whispers heard among the ladies but
tirar, riporlo, or Codiglio.

5. Comments and conclusion

Not everything is clear in these octaves; there are, as often happens, unusual terms that are justified as poetic license, but we encounter others that are typical jargon of the specific game or of players in general. To understand the text word for word I would have to insert an explanatory note for each line, or almost, but I am not competent enough to do this exhaustively. However, even if we ignore some details, the situation appears very clear to our eyes, as well as lively.

Obviously, playing two against three lends itself to livelier matches than usual, with greater possibilities of complaining about the play of one’s partners, up to the possible appearance of heated arguments. The poem in question even reflects its typical environment, and we know that we cannot place all the blame on the fair sex, as these octaves would like to suggest.

Despite the fact that the passion for this game on the part of girls and ladies of the time was also testified by other sources, it is probable that there were not many women with gaming experience comparable to that of men, especially if, as would seem certain, we are still dealing with the seventeenth century, when the "casinos, redoubts, and places where people gamble" were not yet numerous.

Probably also a lower propensity for gaming disputes is responsible for the greater favor later found by the variants for four players divided into two fixed pairs, so that in Florence they also moved from ombre to tressette and then to whist.


Florence, 04.17.2024