Introduction

Last modified March 22, 2024

Franco Pratesi has an impressive list of publications on the history of the tarot and playing cards generally that goes back to 1986, both in print publications and on various websites, including his own at http://www.naibi.net/. However, many of the most important, especially in the last ten years or so, are in Italian only. In an effort to make his research more widely available, I have been translating selected essays and notes into English, essentially using Google Translate and then correcting it by my understanding of Italian grammar and reference to online dictionaries for the word that fits the context best. Even then, I have sometimes gone to Franco himself for advice on certain passages, especially in translating old documents, the proportion of which increased dramatically in 2023 and after. I have tried to make the English conform as closely as possible to the original Italian, sometimes resulting in awkward transitions in English but which in the development of ideas follow the Italian.

In each translation, there are occasionally comments in brackets for the sake of clarification. These are by me unless indicated otherwise (as Franco himself sometimes uses brackets for comments). The numbers by themselves on the left margins are page numbers in Franco's pdf, for those who would like to consult the Italian original or quote it. For safety sake, any quotations by others of my translations should probably include the original Italian, since I do not guarantee the accuracy of my admittedly amateur work.

At the right of this introduction on the web-page is a list of years and then months. These are when I posted a particular essay. But the essays themselves are arranged in the order in which Franco published them, on the internet or elsewhere, going down from later to earlier. So for essays dated earlier than those in a given month (when I posted the translation), it is necessary to click on an earlier month, until the desired note is found - or else use the link in this introduction.

I have written introductions to each translation, in most cases rather short. In one case, where I myself am quoted in the note, my introduction is longer, explaining how Franco and I got to that point. In many of the blog-posts, after the translation in the same post, I have put my own reflections on Franco's note, or posts I have written relating to the same theme. Both the translation and my comments originally appeared on Tarot History Forum, to which I give the relevant links in my introductions to the essays; but in some cases there are small revisions. 

You will notice that some essays belong to a series of such essays. One is on the "Books of the Lily" (Florence's emblematic flower) and other arrest records for card-playing retained in the archives. Another "Playing cards in Europe before 1377?"; another is on the minor arts in relation to triumphal motifs on the cards, i.e. birth trays, marriage chests, Petrarch manuscripts, and civic processions, all beginning "Ca. 1450:...". A fourth type is that of tarot origins, including two in early 2016 on Milan and Florence and then another in Oct. 2016, reviewing a wide range of proposals.''

I have resisted the temptation to put these groups together in the blog,  instead arranging them in order of publication, similar to Franco's own site at http://naibi.net/p/index.html, but without his divisions into different print and on online places. However, for those interested in particular topics, here is a list of the five main topics. To get to the translation, click on the link after the title in English. To get to the original Italian, click on the title in Italian.

• Information from inventory and other account records in Tuscany (6 entries)
  

 "Florence 1472-1474. Worn-out naibi and triumphs in a bag" (Feb. 23, 2024), at https://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2024/02/introduction_14.html. Franco's original at 8/07. Firenze 1472-1474. Naibi tristi e trionfi in un sacchetto (23.02.2024).

"Pontormo 1479. Playing cards in a haberdasher's house" (Feb. 22, 2024), at https://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2024/02/blank_14.html. Original at 8/06. Pontormo 1479. Carte da gioco nella casa di un merciaio (22.02.2024).

"Florence 1426. Naibi in a large family" (Feb. 12, 2024), at https://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2024/02/blank.html. Original is at 8/05. Firenze 1426. Naibi in una grande famiglia (12.02.2024).

"Florence 1462: Playing Cards in a dry goods Store" (Dec. 2, 2023), https://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2023/12/florence-1462-playing-cards-in-dry.html. Original at "Firenze 1462: carte da gioco in una merceria" (02.12.2023)  

"Florence - Three account books of the 1400s" (October 18, 2023), at https://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2023/12/october-18-2023-florence-three-account.html. Original at Firenze – Tre libri di conti del Quattrocento (18.10.2023).

"1499-1506: New information on Florentine cards" (April, 2015) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/02/april-2015-new-information-on.html  (1499-1506: Firenze - Nuove informazioni sulle carte fiorentine. The Playing-Card, Vol. 44, No. 1 (2015) 61-71)

• Information from the taxation system in Tuscany (6 entries)
  

"Florence 1743-1778: Licenses for games" (Jan. 20, 2024), https://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2024/02/jan-20-2024.html, Franco's original is at Firenze 1743-1778. Le licenze sui giochi (20.01.2024)).

"Florence 1843-1845. Foreign cards and bureaucracy" (Jan. 2, 2024) https://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2024/01/. Original at Firenze 1843-1845. Carte forestiere e burocrazia (02.01.2024).

"Florence 1814: Restoration, also for playing cards" (Jan. 2, 2024), https://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2024/01/jan-2-2024-florence-1814-restoration.html. Original at Firenze 1814: Restaurazione, anche per le carte da gioco (02.01.2024).

"Florence 1766 - Domenico Aldini under investigation (November 21, 2023), at https://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2023/12/november-21-2023-florence-1766.html. Franco's original is at Firenze 1766 - Domenico Aldini sotto inchiesta (21.11.2023) .

"Reform of the stamp duty on cards (October 31, 2023), at https://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2023/12/october-31-2023-reform-of-bolo-on-cards.html. Franco's original is at Firenze 1781: riforma del bollo sulle carte (31.10.2023).

"Cortona 1767-1781 - Playing Cards in Customs" (October 25, 2023), at https://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2023/12/october-25-2023-cortona-1767-1781.html. Franco's original is at at Cortona 1767-1781 – Carte da gioco in Dogana (25.10.2023).

• Information from laws and crime records in Tuscany (6 entries)
  

"1377: Florence: sentenced as players of naibi" (Jan-March 2016) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/02/blank_62.html (1377: Firenze - Condanne ai giocatori di naibi." The Playing-Card , Vol. 44, No. 3 (2016), 156-163.)   

"1426-1440 Florence: Convictions for card games in the Books of the Lily" (Nov. 26, 2016)  http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/11/nov-26-2016-1426-1440-florence.html (1426-1440: Firenze - Condanne per giochi di carte nei Libri del Giglio. (26.11.2016))

"1440-1450: Florence - Convictions for card games in the Books of the Lily" (Oct. 12, 2015) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/02/oct-12-2015-1440-1450-florence.html. (1440-1450: Firenze - Condanne per giochi di carte nei Libri del Giglio. (12.10.2015))

"1450, 1473, 1477: Florence: Laws on games" (Nov. 7, 2015) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/02/nov-7-2015-1450-1472-1477-florence-laws.html (1450, 1473, 1477: Firenze - Leggi sui giochi. (07.11.2015)

"1451: Siena - New law on games" (Oct. 31, 2015) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/02/essay-2.html (1451: Siena - Nuova legge sui giochi. (31.10.2015))

"1514: Florence: Law on games" (synopsis) (Nov. 21, 2015) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/02/nov-21-2015-1514-florence-law-on-games.html (11514: Firenze - Legge sui giochi. (21.11.2015))

• Miscellanous playing card documentation in Tuscany (2 entries)  

 "1700s in Florence: Conversations in the Casino of St. Trinita" (Dec. 2, 2023), https://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2023/12/1700s-in-florence-conversations-in.html. Original at Settecento a Firenze: Conversazione del Casino di Santa Trinita (02.12.2023)

 "Fourteen minchiate cards of the 1700s" (Aug. 18, 2023), at https://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2023/12/v-behaviorurldefaultvml-o.html. Original at 7/10. Quattordici minchiate del Settecento (20.08.2023).

• Playing card documentation outside Tuscany (6 entries) 
  

"Brescia 1786 - almanac on the tarot" (Aug. 20, 2023), at https://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2023/09/1.html. Franco's original is at Brescia 1786 – Almanacco sul tarocco (20.08.2023).

"1477 Bologna: Arithmetic for cards and triumphs" (June 9, 2014) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/02/blank.html (Carte da gioco a Firenze: il primo secolo (1377-1477). The Playing-Card , 19 No. 1 (1990) 7-17.))

"Comments on Islamic cards" (Feb. 8, 2016) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/02/feb-8-2015-comments-on-islamic-cards.html (Commenti sulle carte islamiche. (08.02.2016))

"The 3rd Rosenwald Sheet" (June 27, 2016) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/11/june-27-2016-3rd-rosenwald-sheet.html (Il terzo foglio Rosenwald. (27.06.2016))

"Assisi c. 1510: Complete deck of 48 cards" (Dec. 22, 2016) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/11/dec-22-2016-assisi-c-1510-complete-deck.html (1510 ca: Assisi - Mazzo completo di 48 carte. (21.12.2016))

"1501-1521: cards from Perugia and nearby cities" (Jan. 5, 2017) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2017/02/jan-5-2017-1501-1521-cards-from-perugia.html (1501-1521: Carte da Perugia e città vicine. (05.01.2017))

• Triumphs and the minor arts (5 entries)

"ca 1450: Triumphs and birthtrays," (May 13, 2016) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/11/may-13-21016-ca-1450-florence-triumphs.html (1450ca: Firenze - Trionfi e deschi da parto. (13.05.2016))

"ca 1450: Triumphs and marriage chests," (Aug. 31, 2016) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/11/aug-31-2016-triumphs-and-marriage-chests.html (1450ca: Firenze - Trionfi e cassoni nuziali. (31.08.2016)) 

"ca 1450: Triumphs and Civic Processions" (Oct. 11, 2016) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/11/nov-10-2016-ca-1450-civic-processions.html (1450ca: Firenze - Trionfi e cortei cittadini. (10.11.2016))

 "ca 1450: Triumphs and Triumphi" [i.e. illuminated manuscripts], (Oct. 15, 2016)  http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/11/oct-15-2016-triumphs-and-triumphi.html (1450ca: Trionfi e Triumphi. (15.10.2016))

"Siena 1438: From Angels to Love" (Dec. 7, 2016) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/11/dec-7-2015-siena-1438-from-angels-to.html  (1438: Siena - Dagli Angeli all'Amore. (07.12.2016))

• Earliest playing cards, by place (8 entries)
  

"Playing Cards in Europe Before 1377? Aragon" (June 21, 2016) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/11/translators-introduction-by-michael-s_6.html (Carte da gioco in Europa prima del 1377 ? Aragona. (21.06.2016))

"Various cards at Basel in 1377 or 1429" (April 26, 2016) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/11/april-26-2016-various-cards-at-basel-in.html (Carte varie a Basilea nel 1377 o nel 1429. (26.04.2016))

"Playing Cards in Europe Before 1377? Berne" (April 26, 2016) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/11/sept-24-2016-before-1377-berne.html (Carte varie a Basilea nel 1377 o nel 1429. (26.04.2016))

"Playing Cards in Europe Before 1377? Bohemia" (June 7, 2016) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/11/june-7-2016-before-1377-bohemia.html (Carte da gioco in Europa prima del 1377 ? Boemia. (07.06.2016)) 

"Playing Cards in Europe Before 1377? Buja" (June 15, 2016) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/11/translators-introduction-by-michael-s.html (Carte da gioco in Europa prima del 1377 ? Buja. (15.06.2016))

"Playing Cards in Europe Before 1377? Holland" (Jan. 18, 2017 and March 9, 2017) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2017/02/jan-18-2017-playing-cards-in-europe.html (Carte da gioco in Europa prima del 1377 ? Olanda. (18.01.2017) and Carte da gioco in Europa prima del 1377 ? Olanda. Addendum. (09.03.2017))

"Playing Cards in Europe Before 1377? Italy" (May 5, 2016) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/02/feb-8-2015-comments-on-islamic-cards.html (Carte da gioco in Europa prima del 1377 ? Italia. (05.05.2016))

"Playing Cards in Europe Before 1377? Poland" (June 2, 2016) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/11/june-2-2016-before-1377-poland.html (Carte da gioco in Europa prima del 1377 ? Polonia. (02.06.2016)

• Poems, magic tricks, cartomancy, and other entertainment with cards  (3 entries)
  

"Games played with tarocchi in the 1600s," at https://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2023/12/october-16-2023-games-played-with.html. Franco's original in Italian is at Giuochi che si fanno con le carte ‒ nel Seicento (16.10.2023) .

 "More Lombard editions from Court de Gébelin" (Aug. 3, 2023), https://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2023/09/v-behaviorurldefaultvml-o_15.html. Franco's original in Italian is at Più edizioni lombarde da Court de Gébelin (03.08.2023).

"Ideas of an Egyptian - Cremona 1795" (July 5, 2023),https://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2023/07/. Franco's original in Italian is at Idee di un egiziano. Cremona 1795 (05.07.2023). 

• General reflections, mostly on trionfi (5 entries)

 "Minchiate, Reflections on Design" (Dec. 2, 2023), at https://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2023/12/december-12-2023-minchiate-reflections.html. Franco's original is at Minchiate. Riflessioni sul design (02.12.2023).

"Other comments on the triumphs" (Jan. 11, 2016) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/02/jan-11-2015-other-comments-qabout.html (Altri commenti sui trionfi. (11.01.2016))

"Cremona 1441? Ruminations on the Visconti-Madrone" (Jan. 17, 2016) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/02/jan-17-2016-ruminations-on-visconti-di.html (Cremona 1441? - Elucubrazioni sui tarocchi Visconti di Modrone o Cary-Yale. (17.01.2016))

"Milanese and Florentine Triumphs" (Feb. 12, 2016) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/02/blank_22.html (Trionfi milanesi e fiorentini - ipotesi e commenti. (12.02.2016))

"Earliest Triumphs: Contrasting Proposals and Outlooks" (Oct. 4, 2016) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/11/oct-4-2016-earliest-triumphs_7.html (Primi trionfi, proposte contrastanti e prospettive. (04.10.2016))

"Imaginary origins of triumphs and minchiate" (Nov. 19, 2016) http://pratesitranslations.blogspot.com/2016/11/nov-12-2016-imaginary-origins-of.html (Genesi favolosa di trionfi e minchiate. (19.11.2016)

For another list of the translations through 2017, this time to their appearance on Tarot History Forum, sometimes with discussion by others, see http://forum.tarothistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1100, graciously maintained by "Huck." Please let me know if links don't work or there are other errors. In most cases I can fix them.  

A complete list of Franco's essays on playing cards, with links to their texts in the original language, is at http://naibi.net/p/index.html. Those originally published at trionfi.com, all but one originally in English, are online at that site. The one essay there in Italian only, "Atlante tascabile e minchiate" (Pocket atlas and minchiate) can be read in English via Google Translate, by entering the page's url (http://trionfi.com/minchiate-atalante-1779) into Google's search engine for websites and then clicking on "translate this page." The result is adequate English; just remember that the word referring to the manure of bulls when it appears in the translation is Google's translation for the Italian minchiate, of course referring to the game and not the product produced by bulls, commentators on tarot, etc. All of Franco's essays in the list on naibi.net indicated as "first published at trionfi.com" can be read in languages other than English by the same procedure, depending on the location of one's computer and its language setting. The essays on Franco's own site should be amenable to the same procedure, but all I have been able to do is download them to my computer and then have Google translate them as a "document" rather than a "website."

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 13, 2024: Minchiate, a field too vast for the Academy

 Here is the translation another find of Franco's, from the same Biblioteca Moreniana as in his preceding notes: "Minchiate, un campo troppo vasto per l’Accademia," https://www.naibi.net/A/RICCI.pdf. This time there is a mention of a hitherto unknown minchiate designer, which Franco's sleuthing makes it not too hard to trace to a known minchiate. If you want to try your luck yourself, save the comments that I've added at the end (in my own voice) until you've done so.

The comments in brackets are mine, but they are mostly based on Franco's answers to questions I put to him for clarification. In this case, there were so many footnote so far away from the text they were commenting on that I decided to insert them at the end of every two paragraphs, or one if there were a lot. That will make it easier to jump from text to note and back.


Minchiate, a field too vast for the Academy

Franco Pratesi

1. Introduction

Recently I had the opportunity to present an academic talk on card games preserved in the Biblioteca Moreniana in Florence.[note 1] In the same library, there is another similar speech, or rather a "cicalata," this time dedicated to the game of Goose.[note 2] I thought I would find useful information on the origin of this popular game, also because it seems that the first known reference dates back to Francesco I de’ Medici,[note 3] but in the end, it seemed to me useful to transcribe only the part of the speech that concerns, again, playing cards.

We do not know the author, date, or even the academy in question. It seems, however, that the era is that of the eighteenth century, perhaps the first half. The game of Goose had already been the subject of an academic discourse, and the author of the current Cicalata [as these burlesques were called: Jabber] criticizes the approach and proposes to intervene again on the subject. However, in preparing the outline of the speech, he finds many reasons for hesitation among various alternative games to illustrate, and the part that particularly interested me is that on card games, especially minchiate. In a nutshell, I find many features of this traditional game and its practice recalled, as well as some information on the side of great interest, such as, in particular, information new to me of a pack of Florentine historical minchiate.

2. The text

I reproduce below a detail of the text and transcribe the part of interest below. Florence Moreniana Library, Palagi [section], No. 65, Fasc. 8. Detail
(Reproduction prohibited)

___________________
1. https://cittametropolitanafirenze.05505 ... -moreniana; https://www.naibi.net/A/ELOGIO.pdf
2. Biblioteca Moreniana, Palagi [section] No. 65, Fasc. 8.
3. G. Dossena, I giochi da tavolo. Milan 1984.

2

.. . I was heartened when my vast mind suggested to me the Game of Pelacchiù;[note 4] I had already made up my mind to trace its origin from the Parsnip Islands, [note 5] or from the Molucchas Islands; but the writing in the book on which I founded my opinion was so battered and faded that after I had slipped away, and almost lost my eyes in it, I could not distinguish whether it said either Parsnips, Crumbs [Molliche], or Molucchas; a gnat leapt at my nose, and I tore that little book in rage; for I was anxious to make a sure and not dubious discovery, and I did not wish to understand fireflies for lanterns around such matters deserving to be treated with care.

And then it was, academicians, that I, as if roused from a deep lethargy, raised my head, and, all cheered and laughing, I said to myself: Why am I here uselessly wasting time, lye, and soap [note 6] around certain games which are nothing more than games and amusements of shop-assistants and runaway boys, whatever his very subtle chirping Encomiasta [speech of praise] on the beautiful game of Goose might want to pretend to prove to the contrary [note 7] If I, too, have the itch to jabber away [cicalare] about the dignity and nobility of some game, why don't I choose that of Primiera? [note 8]

4. A. Milano, “Giochi su carta,” in Come giocavamo, Florence 1984, pp. 21-24. Game with dice similar to Goose.
5. A legendary location, as if from the ends of the earth.
6. He adds time to the lye and soap that are associated in the idiomatic expression.
7. It refers to an earlier talk given in the Academy, which I do not know.
8. The first had lost some of its prestige due to the laws against gambling, but it had also been a game appreciated by high society.

And if I don't like this, since Francesco Berni wrote a Chapter in praise of it, [note 9] why do I not take into my own hands the rules and chapters of the game of the Three Sevens, [note 10] which were printed in this City in the last year, that is to say, in the year of a century that is the most enlightened, the which is ours? For if I have the pleasure of doing myself honour, [why] do I not soon read this golden book, and after having studied it well, make some additions, or some erudite and well-reasoned commentary, and then recite it before my fellow Academicians in order to amuse them profitably and gracefully?

It is also known that the Librettine [note 11] were put in ottava rima [eight-line rhyming stanzas] by a certain I don't know who, who made much credit for himself with the Literary Republic; I too, therefore, could reduce the Chapters of the Three Sevens into tercets, and read three or four of them at our Academy, making them serve as a Cicalata, as Dr. Lorenzo Bellini practiced [note 12] in an excerpt from the Academicians of the Crusca, to whom, having to talk after dinner, he read a great passage from his Bucchereide? [note 13]

9. Capitolo del gioco della primiera [Chapter of the game of Primiera], Rome 1526, Venice 1534.
10. In Lensi's Bibliography there is listed at No. 20 an unobtainable Chapters of the Muscovite tresette, of 9 pages, undated. This is probably just a later variant, but there are no convincing alternatives.
11. The first book used in school to learn arithmetic as a child was called the Librettine.
12. https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/lo ... ctionary)/
13. The Bucchereide di Dr. Lorenzo Bellini, Florence, 1729.

Thus I discoursed with myself, and I had almost made up my mind to this work when the game of minchiate clouded the idea I had conceived: it pretended to be preferred over any other game. [note 14] Capers! I was sorry for this, and this new theme for the Cicalata put me in great confusion and broke three strings of my chitarrino [small guitar].

That reflection, that I had to explain the origin of this noble game, [note 15] and that being obliged to rediscover the true meaning of so many tarocchi, [note 16] I am bound to raise myself in imagination to the empyrean Heaven, [note 17] and to enter with thought into the houses of so many Planets, [note 18] into that

________________

14.Reasonable claim only for Florence.
15. It would not have been easy to explain the origin, even if it was less distant then than from today's perspective.
16. Only the top forty cards were called tarocchi. There are several authors who are still committed today to trying to explain their "true" meaning.
17. Traversing all the skies to the highest.
18. I think he means as Planets the twelve signs of the zodiac.

3

reasoning of the verzicole declared,[note 19] the murdered Popes,[note 20] the hanged Kings,[note 21] the dead airs,[note 22] the little-esteemed virtues, [note 23] a madman who is seldom lost and who counts more than the Sages, and enters into everything, [note 24] saying, in short, that he counts as a Sixth Pope;[note 25] that there are others who always give cards;[note 26] that there are some who never pay the remainder:[note 27] that there are many who are afraid of the thirteen [note 28] and few of the Devil:[note 29] that, finally, there is no lack of people, who, promising themselves in every scuffle sure victory, then return with trumpets in the sack.[note 30] All this, in short, and many other things more, which I had to say in speaking of minchiate, made me sweat at my temples, and shiver down to my tail-bone, and put me in such apprehension, and frightened me so much, that I could not see, I went totally out of my mind, I found myself startled and thought I was almost falling down from a heart attack. The subject was beautiful, there is no denying it, but the field was too vast; and I, because of the shortness of time, saw myself squeezed between a door and a wall.

19. Verzicole are specific combinations of three or more cards that are counted before, during, and after the end of the game, earning points.
20. The Papi are the lowest tarocchi and therefore can easily be captured by higher numbered tarocchi, even if the latter earn fewer points.
21. One rule of the game dictates that the king must be played, losing it, in response to the suit led, if a tarocco has been put on the table. [Here is how John McLeod explains the rule on his site: “If on the first occasion that any particular suit is led a player trumps and a later player to the trick holds the King of the suit, they must play the King to the trick.”]
22. The Aire are the five highest tarocchi, but captures can naturally occur within this series as well.
23. The seven virtues have the numbers 6-8 and 16-19, and are therefore allocated quite low in the sequence.
24. The Fool counts 5 (more than the wise, i.e. probably the Papi, who count 3), and if it ends up in a hand won by the opponents it can be replaced with a worthless card. It can also be added to each verzicola to increase its score.
25. Pope Six does not exist, the series ends at 5; it means counting as nothing [as something that does not exist].
26. A frequent conservative tendency of not taking a trick so as to postpone playing high cards.
27. A remainder is the unit of payment and is reached with 60 points; In a game, you can win and lose multiple remainders.
28. Card No. 13 of the minchiate is Death.
29. The Devil is 14, so only a third of the way through the sequence, and it's not a tarocco with points.
30. In analogy to the popular saying "le pive nel sacco" [with disappointment for not reaching the desired goal]. The Trumpets are those sounded by the Angel, the highest card of the tarocchi, which would correspond to No. 40. It guarantees the winning of the trick in which it is played, but not that of the game.

O, do you see what it has cost me in travail and sorrow to think of a subject for the Cicalata. I was at risk of putting my skin on it [i.e., dying]. Fortunately, I drove away this thought of minchiate with such fury; and although I was reminded of the historical minchiate [note 31] devised by Doctor Angiolo Maria Ricci,[note 32] also that modernly invented, if I am not mistaken, by a good French author,[note 33] even that name of minchiate raised me so much out of order and disconcerted, that I did not even want to know about these, whether smelling or burnt; and I said between my teeth the Ave Maria of the Bertuccia [note 34] for having entered with my thought into the thicket, into the labyrinth, into the mess of Games.

31. This is probably the most important piece of information for us in the whole thing: I don't know this version of the cards.
32. Information later.
33. https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_de_Poilly. This engraver perfected his craft during his seven years of work in Rome. His mid-seventeenth-century French minchiate is well known, but it does not seem very plausible that it had become popular in Florence. Unless it is the well-known book with figures of cards, C. O. Finè de Brianville, Jeu d’armoiries des souverains et etats d’Europe, Lyon 1659.)
34. To say the Barbary macaque's Hail Mary was to blaspheme between one's teeth.

3. Comments on the text

As stated, the text examined is not an entire academic discourse, but only a part that could be considered secondary. However, this part is of some interest for card games, and mainly for minchiate. The author emphasizes various aspects of this traditional Florentine game, both basic and detailed. To begin with, one encounters the claim that it is a noble game, a rare attribute for card games and usually reserved for chess.


4
In addition, some problems soon arise that are impossible to solve, and in particular how one could reconstruct both the historical origin of those cards and their intrinsic meaning.

However, even in the uncertainty about the comprehension of these cards, it is clear that they are not just any products but objects of high quality, even with references to the high heavens. In short, having to talk about it, one cannot avoid discussing high-level philosophical and theological questions. One even forgets that, after all, it would be a game.

But even if one "descends" into the typical game environment and listens to the players engaged in their game, one again encounters numerous other difficulties. Here, it is the practice of the game that presents problems, and the technical expressions used by the players certainly do not help one comprehend it.

One will encounter words that are very clear in their everyday meaning, but that in the practice of the game become terms of technical jargon. Then there are also words used only in the game and incomprehensible in general, such as verzicole, which in fact we find several times referred to as versicole.

In the end, the author sees the presence of all these difficulties as a justification to change the subject and discuss a different game more thoroughly. This is evidently only an excuse, also because in the author's own language, unusual and typical local idiomatic expressions recur one after the other; but the difficulties listed are not fictitious, so much so that they are the same ones still debated by experts today. On the contrary, for us there is a bit of regret that even in an era not too far from the origin of the game, the answers to the questions indicated had already been lost.

A positive result of this unknown presentation of the game remains, however, and it is important: in fact, the hunt for Angiolo Maria Ricci's historical minchiate opens! In this regard, I can only provide a kind of introduction, with some information about the character and a direct confirmation.

4. Angelo Maria Ricci (Florence 1688-1767)

We can begin with the portrait of Ricci, engraved in copper by Sac. Antonio Pazzi, his pupil, who was grateful for the teaching and encouragement he received.[Note 35] 

  Portrait of Angelo Maria Ricci. From the Book of Note 35

________________

35. Dissertationes Homericæ habitæ in Florentino lyceo ab Angelo Maria Riccio ... Volumen tertium. Rome 1741.


5
On the life and works of Ricci, who was a priest, professor of Greek, and academician of the Crusca, we already find detailed information in its Biographical Dictionary.[note 36] We are lucky enough to find other traces in the Moreniana Library. For now, we find his presence in a vast collection of personal information about the members of the Crusca Academy preserved in the Palagi section.[note 37] Unfortunately, the entry dedicated to him only contains a letter in which Ricci recommends keeping secret the document sent containing his biography.

On the other hand, in the Bigazzi [section], we find two handwritten versions of his autobiography, one of which would seem to be the sequel to the other;[note 38] for us, the first is enough.

Florence, Biblioteca Moreniana, Bigazzi [section], no. 282. Frontispiece
(Reproduction prohibited)

 

If we wanted, we could extend our knowledge of the personage beyond that obtained from the Biographical Dictionary, adding details about his life, career, and professional production, but this is a commitment that I think should be postponed until someone has tracked down his historical minchiate.

The autobiography is written in clear professional handwriting, but in Latin, and this would not be the worst of evils. In fact, I can't attribute to an insufficient knowledge of that language (mother or grandmother of the one I speak) the fact that it took a bit of effort for me to look for a trace of minchiate. To tell the truth, I had little confidence in finding simple playing cards mentioned, even if with them he would have committed himself to depicting historical events or personalities. And yet evidently the fact was not to be kept silent, and the author himself also speaks of it, towards the middle of his autobiography.
________________
36. https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/an ... ctionary)/
37. Biblioteca Moreniana, Palagi, 382.R.
38. Biblioteca Moreniana, Bigazzi, 282 and 282bis.

6

  Florence, Biblioteca Moreniana, Bigazzi [section], no. 282. Detail of f. 28r

 

Ludum Minchiatarum, quas vocant, historicarum depictis figuris, subiectisque explanationibus excogitavi, quas vel in tabulis duabus explicatas, vel in folia fugitiva iisdem archetypi Ludi Legibus discretas ad eruditam animi relaxationem adolescentibus proposui. Iis vero elementa historica Regnorum Assyrii, Persici, Graeci, atque Romani compendio collegi.

[I invented a game of Minchiate – as they call it – with scenes depicted and explanations underneath, which I proposed separately to young people for an erudite relaxation of the soul, either on two big sheets or in [normal-sized] loose sheets, with the same rules as the original game. With these, in effect, I summarily collected the historical elements of the Assyrian, Persian, Greek, and Roman kingdoms.]

So the information in the cicalata was correct for real! The author even talks about two different versions of his pack of minchiate. One version is clear: printing on [normal-sized] loose sheets, and the uncertainty is only whether it is made of thick paper or, more plausibly, of normal paper to be glued on cardboard before cutting out and packaging the playing cards. Also, it seems to me, there is uncertainty as to whether the cards are to be sold already cut out or on the loose sheets. The big sheet version could be the same, but divided into only two sheets [i.e., with 49 and 48 cards each].

The four ancient kingdoms seem to correspond to an original way of distinguishing the four suits of the cards. But we can only speculate about the transition to the final deck of cards, as well as about the spread and use of this game. of which all information was lost (at least to my knowledge).

5. Conclusion

A part of interest was presented for the playing cards of an eighteenth-century academic "cicalata" in which the game of minchiate is also briefly discussed. In form, it is a good document in the Florentine dialect of the time, with many popular and idiomatic expressions.

Of special interest is the news of a pack of historical minchiate designed by Angelo Maria Ricci, priest and professor of Greek. The date is not indicated, which can be assumed to be in the thirties of the seventeenth century. In an autobiography of the author we read that he had proposed these, with information on the main kingdoms of antiquity, for the "erudite relaxation" of young people.

So, while the description closes, the hunt is on for the hitherto unknown pack of minchiate. Good luck!

Florence, 13.04.2024



Translator's addendum to the above:

I remembered seeing such a minchiate described by Stuart Kaplan (Encyclopedia of Tarot vol. 2, pp. 257-261), mentioning the four suits as the four "monarchies" and the rest. He says that the deck can be dated to 1721-1731, based on the tax stamp and signature, that being when Anton Giovanni Molinelli had the concession. He says the inscription on the unnumbered card in the deck reads "engraved with the assistance of C. Migelli." The back design is a crown above an escutcheon and Maltese cross. The cards are wrapped from the back to form the border decorated with dots. He adds that some of the dates in the historical texts are from a pre-Gregorian calendar. I don't know if that helps date the deck or not.

I also recalled a page in Christie's 2006 auction catalog of the Kapaln Collection. (I've seen it online, too, but it seems to be down at the moment.) The catalog is in "Ask Alexander" via my IPCS membership, where I can download it. It reads, p. 101:

127
Minchiate of Ancient History, circa 1725, Florence, Anton Giusepppe Molinelli, 90 of 97 cards, includes 34 trumps (lacks XXI, XXII, XXIX to XXXI, XXXVIII), and 55 suit cards (lacks 8 of coins), copper engravings in black except trumps XXXIII to XXXX in red, square corners, wrap around spotted paper edges around each card, trump XXXII has black stamp monogram of MGM between two lions beneath the Florentine lily and signature in brown ink of Anton Giuseppe Molinelli, holder of the playing card concession from 1721 to 1731. Trumps are full length-figures, Roman numerals, extensive Italian text, describes historical places, persons, events and objects including, for example, I Tower of Babel, II idolatry, III Semiramis, V Zoroaster, VI Amazons, XXIII Ulysses, XXXX Rome, etc. Suits are full length figures, Roman numerals, Italian titles and descriptions devoted to ancient nations, swords relate to Greece, batons to Rome, cups to Persia and coins to Assyria, suits of cups and coins are yellow tinted, one index. The deck was designed by A. Pazzi with assistance of C. Mogalli as evidenced on the unnumbered card, Statua Vedutada Nabucco. Backs are wood block printed crowned coat of arms of the Medici family. Size 4 in. (10 cm.) high, 2 3/8 in. (6 cm.) wide. Slightly worn, a few minor worm holes. Kaplan II, 257-261.

By Franco's information about the portrait, Pazzi would have been the engraver, perhaps also responsible for the drawings from which the engravings were made. The text and conception, from Franco's investigation, would appear to be Ricci's, not previously credited that I can find. Christie's has a few low-resolution pictures.

But where do they get the information that Molinelli was publisher as well as tax collector? And for that matter, where does "A. Pazzi" come from? Is it on the card?

There is also information on Gallica, with a high-resolution set of scans, but just of trumps 1-32 and no other cards: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b ... k=171674;4. They say:

Title : [Série des atouts d'un jeu de Minchiate istoriche] : [jeu de cartes, estampe] ([Exemplaire incomplet avec dos aux armes de Médicis])
Publisher : Anton Giuseppe Molinelli (Florence)
Publication date : 1725
Relationship : Notice de recueil : http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb403402878
Relation : Appartient à : [Collection Georges Marteau. Recueil. Cartes à jouer]
Relationship : http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb40917708m
Type : image
Type : still image
Type : engraving
Language : Sans contenu linguistique
Format : 32 cartes à jouer : gravure à l'eau-forte ; 10,1...
Format : image/jpeg
Format : Nombre total de vues : 65
Description : Ancien possesseur : Marteau, Georges Edgard...

Anton Giuseppe Molinelli's signature, with tax stamp, is on card XXXII, Aratro,
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b ... 63.highres.

Unfortunately they don't say where the "publisher" information comes from, or the date. Perhaps it is from Mr. Marteau, the well-known collector and playing card manufacturer (he headed Grimaud for a time).

Reading more about the Molinelli family of card makers and concession owners (often simultaneously), I see that Giambattista Monzali, The Playing Card 50:1 (July-Sept. 2021), says on p. 21, about Anton:

In the first example, together with the signature of Anton Giuseppe Molinelli affixed to the XXXII triumph (Aquarius) are the initials AGM placed between two rampant lions and surmounted by a lily as a symbol of the stamp Fig. 19. This stamp and signature remained in effect for three contracts from 1721 to 1735.

Yes, we can see the stamp on the Gallica image. This extends the range that Kaplan gave by 4 (or 5?) years.

But is it accurate? Monzali tells us that Anton Guiseppe died in Sept. 1731, after being awarded the contract through 1735. The concession passed to his sons, Monzali says (p. 20), Gio Francesco Gastone Molinelli and Pietro Xaviero Molinelli, "who do not change the stamp. Only the name of their uncle, their will tutor G. Domenico Molinelli, is signed." If "is signed" implies Domenico's signature, this contradicts what Monzali himself says on p. 21. The signature on the card clearly reads Anton Giuseppe Molinelli. I leave the matter there.

I have one more comment. Ricci does not seem to have been the first to have had the idea of assigning the four suits to the four empires. John of Rheinfelden (1379 or 1428, depending on which argument you accept) writes about such a deck, assigning one of to each of the suits of a moralized 60 card game. He called them monarchies, because of his suits only went up to kings. Arne Jönsson writes, of Johannes' suits (“Card-playing as a Mirror of Society. On Johannes of Rheinfelden's Ludus cartularum moralisatus,” In O. Ferm & V. Honemann (Eds.), Chess and Allegory in the Middle Ages, 2005, pp. 359-371, on p. 370):

As regards the four suits, they represent, in Johannes’ opinion, four kingdoms, namely the four successive world monarchies, Babylonia, Persia, Macedon (or Greece), and the Roman Empire. As his symbol the Babylonian king has a man’s head, the Greek king has bells, and the Roman king an eagle. Johannes tells us that he does not understand the Persian king’s symbol.

An 1847 allegorization of minchiate summarized by Andrea Vitali at http://www.letarot.it/page.aspx?id=784 speaks of the four suits as representing the same four "empires," as he now calls them. The author, also of Florence, probably was influenced by Ricci's deck, but the four ancient empires, each conquering the one before, seems to have been a tradition of sorts.