Here is another note of Franco's documenting types of card games played,
this time in 18th and early 19th century Florence, in the aristocratic
assemblage known as the Academy of the Immobile. Again there is the
threefold classification of trick-taking games, betting games, and
banking games. The documents show the negotiations between the Academy
and the authorities that led to the shifting fortunes of the various
games involved. This is a translation of "Firenze nel Settecento -
Giochi di carte al Teatro della Pergola," posted on April 3, 2025, at https://www.naibi.net/A/PERGOLA.pdf.
Franco uses italics to set off his quotes, but without indentation of
long ones. Since the practice on this Forum is to indent long quotes, I
do so, while also preserving his italics. As usual, comments in square
brackets are by me, in consultation with Franco, to clarify some things
for non-Italian readers.
The Forum software is not letting me post the whole thing, so it will be divided into two posts.
Florence in the eighteenth century - Card games at the Theatre of the Pergola
Franco Pratesi
1. Introduction
In the past, I studied card games in Florence for a long time and
collected a lot of information about the grand ducal era in a book. [note 1]
The main places where card-playing was allowed in the two centuries in
question were the Casino of the Nobles [Casino dei Nobili] on the
Lungarno and the Rooms attached to the Theatre of the Cocomero [Teatro
del Cocomero], currently Niccolini, in Via Ricasoli. However, at the
time, and even previously, there were several academies in which card
playing was allowed, even if sometimes only a few rare traces of this
activity remain in the city chronicles. For example, only recently was I
able to track down receipts for purchases of playing cards at the
Casino of Santa Trinita, because they had not been reported in the
balance sheets of the official registers. [note 2]
The present study is dedicated to the gaming activity connected to the
Academicians of the Immobile [Immobili] and their Theatre of the
Pergola. To my knowledge, no studies have been published regarding this
activity with specific documents reported. Recently, the Archive of the
Academy of the Immobile [Accademia degli Immobili] (A.A.I.) has been
reorganized with all the registers and documents on the theatrical
activity, and related others, culminating with the publication of a
complete inventory. [note 3]
I hesitated for a long time before asking for authorization to
conduct research within the A.A.I., because examination of the book
cited clearly indicated that documents that did not exclusively concern
the construction and maintenance of the Theatre and connected buildings –
and most of all, theatrical activity – were very rare. The clear
impression was that all the documentation on card games (if it existed
at the time, as seemed certain) had then been dispersed as material of
little value, not worthy of being preserved in the A.A.I. In particular,
the only document I had identified was a letter from Luigi Pitti on the
game of Pharaoh, which I will present later together with other
materials found. In addition to the numerous documents of the A.A.I.,
others are preserved in Florence in the State Archives - in particular
in the Della Gherardesca collection - and in the Moreniana Library, but
in these I have not identified any documentation relating to games.
Bearing in mind that dates before 1750 written according to the
Florentine calendar in documents have the New Year set for March 25th, I
transcribe them according to modern usage. As is known, at the time the
accounting units were usually indicated with four figures separated by
points: the scudo (or ducat, or zecchino) of seven lire, with one lira
of twenty soldi and one soldo of twelve denari.
2. The fashionable card games in Florence
Before describing and discussing the documents examined, some
information on the succession of card games preferred by Florentines
over time appears useful. For a detailed description, with particular
regard to the game in eighteenth-century Tuscany, one can rely on an
important academic monograph on the topic. [note 4] For useful information on card games of the time one can usefully turn to the books by Giampaolo Dossena [note 5] and David Parlett [note 6] and, in general, to a dedicated website. [note 7]
In reality, alongside changing fashions, which have always existed, in
this case there was an intrinsic need for changes in games. Especially
in the gaming rooms attached to the theatres, the card games had to be
played quickly, also because the rooms usually closed after the
__________________
1. F. Pratesi, Giochi di carte nel Granducato di Toscana. Ariccia 2015.
2. https://www.naibi.net/A/TRINITA.pdf
3. L’Accademia degli Immobili (ed. Alberti, Bartoloni, Marcelli) Rome 2010.
4. A. Addobbati, La festa e il gioco nella Toscana del Settecento. Pisa 2002.
5. G. Dossena, Giochi di carte italiani. Milan 1984.
6. D. Parlett, The Oxford Guide to Card Games. Oxford 1990
7. https://www.pagat.com/
2
end of the shows. Understandably, therefore, the players' preference was
usually directed towards gambling games and not the traditional ones
known as trick-taking or commerce [commercio:
i.e., taking and giving, as in commercial exchanges], such as
minchiate. But against gambling there was an increasingly incisive
action by the government and, while the grand dukes of the house of
Medici had granted various exemptions to the prohibitions, with the
Lorraine dynasty there was an increasingly rigid restriction as the
years passed.
However, the succession of documented card games can be schematized
with the players' attempt to maintain the practice of their favorite
games for as long as possible even when they were prohibited. Generally,
when a game was banned, the players invented another one that was
sufficiently different to have its own rules, and above all its own name
not included among the prohibited ones. So from the forbidden bassetta
they moved on to pharaoh, again a similar banking game. When banking
games were prohibited, betting games were resorted to, and also in that
case they moved from primiera to bambara, and then to buia. After the
banking games, betting games also ended up being prohibited and for a
few decades only trick-taking games remained permitted, first of all,
the ever-present game of minchiate, but also other long-lasting ones
such as picchetto, ombre, and tressette. Finally, with the more
restrictive law of 1773, the majority of gaming environments, starting
with coffee shops, moved from card games to billiards. [note 8]
As in other gaming environments, transformations of this kind were
also followed in the Academy of the Immobile, but maintaining for longer
some exemptions, granted by sovereign grace, which still allowed the
practice of games within it that were now prohibited in almost all urban
environments.
Unfortunately, today only traces of these transitions can be found,
without that continuity in documentation (as can be found both for the
Institute of the Nobles [Istituto dei Nobili] and the Theatre of the
Cocomero [Teatro del Cocomero]) which would be useful. In short, for the
Rooms of the Theatre of the Pergola we must resign ourselves to
collecting scattered documents, faint traces that we can interpret and
use for a broader reconstruction, above all thanks to what we know from
other similar environments.
3. Beginnings of the Academy of the Immobile and gaming activity
To recall the initial activity of the Academy I use for brevity what
the academics presented in 1763 to the Grand Duke so as to renew their
sovereign protection.
The possibility of such assistance from the sovereigns for the Academy was not limited to some additional income, but extended to exemption from taxes, prohibitions, and even from the courts, leaving it subject only and directly to the Grand Duke. It is therefore clear that the response a few years later, with the continuation of protection, was greeted with great relief. In the Minutes of 14 March 1766 (A.A.I 113) we read that: S.A.R (His Royal Highness) is happy to receive the supplicants under HisA.A.I. 113 p. 5 - Minutes October 1763
Origin, Progress, and Present State of the Academy
Around the middle of the 17th century, a Conversation [i.e. gathering or club] of Florentine nobles, mostly employed in the service of the extinct Royal House of Medici, began under the auspices of the Most Serene Lorenzo, Prince of the same Royal Family, to train in one of his casinos located in the street called Parione, in Chivalric Exercises, and in the Performances of improvised Comedies.
Said Most Serene Prince Lorenzo passed away on November 14, 1648, and his Casino was sold to Marchese Bartolomeo Corsini to incorporate it into his Palace; said Conversation was moved to a house rented by it from the Ughi family in Via del Cocomero: and it is the same one where the Theatre of the Academy of the Infocati is today: and there under the protection of the Most Reverend Prince Giovan Carlo Cardinale de Medici, continuing to practice Gymnastics and Representations of Comedy, the aforementioned Conversation took the form of an Academy under the title of the Immobile, with the assumption as Device of a Windmill with the motto - In Its Movement it is still.
________________
8. https://www.naibi.net/A/LICENCES.pdf
3
Special Protection in the way that his Royal Ancestors deigned to do, and he will always meet with pleasure all the occasions to contribute to the good and decorum of the Academy.
At the beginning there is no information on games connected to the Theatre, and even when the possibility was approved in a proposed statute in 1720, the related vote did not reach unanimity of consensus. Evidently, there were academics who would have preferred that the activity be limited to theatrical performances, with their already heavy organization.
A.A.I. 110 p. 59 - Minutes of 8 August 1720
A draft statute is submitted to the Academy for approval, voted on chapter by chapter. The sixteenth is about games.
Chapter Sixteen. Of playing games, and doing other recreations
All non-prohibited games are admitted to the theatre and its properties with the permission of the Magistrate; provided that a continuous practice of any game is not introduced.
Any authentic Academician with permission from the Magistrate may perform Dances there for honest recreation, Dinners, and similar entertainment as he pleases.
This sixteenth Chapter was sent to a vote and passed despite three blanks.
As stated, I have not been able to reconstruct with continuity the game activity associated with the Theatre nor to pinpoint its beginnings precisely. I therefore believe it is useful to divide the information according to the games involved.
Insignia of the Academy of the Immobile. The black one is printed on many pages of the minutes
(Archive of the Accademia degli Immobili | Teatro della Pergola of Florence)
Reproduction prohibited
4. The Game of pharaoh
The game of pharaoh had extraordinary success throughout Europe, before finding the most fertile ground - under the name of faro - in the territories of the American Far West; only poker managed to replace it in the country where card games were most widespread, and particularly those in which large sums of money are at stake.
The game appears to be of French origin, and its diffusion from there to the whole of Europe took, understandably, only a few years; it has some resemblance to roulette, as you bet on the outcome of one or several combinations of cards after placing the bets on the table corresponding, in this case,
to the thirteen cards of a suit (usually spades) of a deck of fifty-two. There were platforms dedicated
4
to this game with the figures of the thirteen cards inlaid on the surface of the table in a 6+1+6 horseshoe pattern. In addition to bets on a single card, bets on two or more neighboring cards were allowed. The gaming environments were the most varied, from the exclusive ones reserved for the highest classes to gambling dens of the lowest order (the latter being typical of the American frontier).
The banker [dealer] statistically had some advantages, as in all banking games, but among these it was one of the fairest; however, these theoretical benefits were either increased or decreased for frequent intervention of various tricks and sleight of hand, always possible both on the part of the dealer and the players. To at least partially control the possibilities of illicit intervention by the banker, a mechanical device was usually used to extract the cards which made them come out automatically without direct manipulation by the banker. We only have traces of pharaoh in the Rooms of the Academy for a limited period of time.
Afterwards, no more information is found about pharaoh, but something was recorded about games in general, as in the following case.A.A.I. 112 - Minutes of 3 February 1737
(On the occasion of the Second Opera) and on this evening all the Masks were introduced as well as the Game of Pharaoh, and the Game of Pharaoh admitted in all the other evenings of performances and dance parties until the end of Carnival, all with permission and License of S.A.R. [His Royal Highness, like English HRH] our Royal Sovereign and Protector.
A.A.I 5.26.4 Undated, but preserved among documents from 1737
Note of what the SS:ri [Signori] Impresarios have reclaimed from the Signori Academicians
For the quarters of No. 4 Women at 6 scudi per Month, and No. 1 Men at 3 scudi per Month in 3 1/2 Months scudi 94.3.10.-
For the Carriage, which was to be taken for service of the Virtuosi, 15 scudi
For the rent of the two rooms of the Game of Pharaoh at L 20 per evening scudi 65.5.-.-
Total Scudi 175.1.10.-
A.A.I. 5.26.10
Ill.mo [Most Illustrious] Signore,[Col.mo] Most Respected Signore Master
I am hereby to inconvenience Your Excellency and to inform you that by the Ill:mo [Most Illustrious] Signore Marchese Luca Casimiro degl'Albizi I am [?] precluded from taking advantage of the grace granted to me [he passes at once from I to he] by S.A.R. [His Royal Highness] of the Game of Pharaoh, with being closed for this purpose; therefore I beg [literally, he begs] V: S: Ill:ma [Your Most Illustrious Lordship] to be willing to grant it for this effect for the 21st next, subjecting himself however to all the burdens, which will be declared just by their Ill:ma [most illustrious] Academy, and with submission your most humble Servant I give myself the honor of signing below
Florence 20. June 1737
From VS: Ill:ma Devotis.mo e Obbl.mo Servitore [Most devoted and most obliged servant]
Luigi Pitti
A.A.I. 112 - Minutes of 5 December 1737
It was then suggested that in above-said Concession of 1732, the above S.me [Signore Marchese] Albizzi had obliged himself to cover all the costs of adjustments and changes that were necessary for the current works... at present there was no need and therefore in the future Carnival it would be better to pay to the Academy Fund instead of making another New Stage some sum of cash, as well as the fact that the building of many Rooms to house the musicians and also two Rooms for games having been completed, that for these he would also give the Academy another sum of cash, ... for the Game Rooms he said that as there was no certainty of obtaining the License to Play the Game of Pharaoh, he promised that he would pay the Academy some sum based on the evenings in which the above-said Game of Pharaoh will be played.
5
5. The game of thirty-oneA.A.I. 112 p. 161 - Minutes of 7 September 1744
Restricted budget of our interests
In the budget there are five income items and the same number of expenses. The total is 451.5.11.8 scudi of which 282.4.16.4 remain in the cash box. Among the revenues the following item is notable.
From Pinacci for the Theatre Game Rooms and Dance Scenes for the summer and Carnival scudi 233.2.6.8.
The name of this game derives from the maximum score that one had to reach with the cards received from the dealer (usually three, with the possible ability to change some of them), with the condition that one would lose either with a score lower than that of the banker [dealer] or, however, if the limit of thirty-one was exceeded with the face cards counting ten, the ace eleven, and the others their numerical value.
There were similar games, and identical names, in other countries, such as trente-et-un in France and thirty-one in England. Game historians are, however, sure that there were more or less significant differences in the details of the rules, both from country to country and from one era to another.
What appears certain is that it was one of the most popular games and, at the same time, one of the first bank games to be banned. It was also prohibited in Tuscany in 1730, but as usual with the exceptions granted by the grand dukes of the Medici family. So it was that the Academy of the Immobile defended itself in this regard so as not to "prejudice its rights of possession."
A.A.I. 112 pp. 173-174 - Minutes of 4 March 1745
On the morning of 22 February, while the Convened SS.ri [Signori] Academicians were awaiting the No. [number] necessary for deliberations to be made, our Honorable Prince of the Academy was informed that Doctor Casali, Secretary of the Signore Fiscal Auditor, had been at his home, and having found him gone from there, went in search for him at this Theatre, to represent him in the name of the Above-named Sig. Aud.[Auditor], that he came with a Note from Sig. Gaetano Antinori, wanting to know if in the three previous days allowed for entertainment, the game of thirty-one had been played in public places and theatres against the provision that was supervising it, and as it was understood that in our theatre there had also been a game of thirty-one on the evening of Tuesday [;] he wanted to know with what motives and reasons the academy had allowed playing the same, in order to be able to inform those ministers from whom he could believe had been asked to write that note, and whom he had to see that same morning, to which replied by our Prince, [who took the opinion of a few Academicians who had already attended] that he thanked the Auditor for the competent manner in which he made this known to the Academy and that in their name he should reply that our Academy as it was composed of 30 Knights under the protection of the Sovereign, had never been included in the general prohibitions, but always was distinguished by all the more particular Signs of Love, of protection, by His Sovereign who on all occasions had always shown to favor and benefit it, never from 1730 onwards, had anyone who enforced this prohibition prevented the Academy from profiting from a game which, being one of the best incomes of the same, enabled it to cover the serious daily expenses, where it would not have been able to cover the same if removed.
After a few days, another opportunity to meet taken, our Prince was informed by the Lord Auditor that said game was not appreciated by some Ministers, nor was it believed that this distinction should be admitted to the aforementioned Academy, but the Prince insisted on uninterrupted possession, and in not wanting to deny the continuation of the Same without an express and particular prohibition by the Council of Regency so as not to jeopardize the rights of possession that it enjoyed; the Auditor concluded by replying that the note by Signore Antinori was not in the name of the Council and that for now he had no other orders from any of the members to bring to mind the prohibition in force to the Academy, as he intended to have done; not wanting to be a guarantor, that one would not move on to further orders which finally have not come up to this day, for which reason they continued to allow playing 31 in all 4 the last evenings of Carnival.
There is no subsequent information on thirty-one, but some games in the Rooms continue.
6. The games of bambara and buia
Bambara was in turn a later variant of primiera, a game that was long
appreciated in all European environments from the courts to the
taverns, as long as the possibility of playing it lasted. By the
eighteenth century, bambara had taken over, at least in Florence, and
the rules of this game can be usefully obtained from a note by Antonio
Maria Biscioni, of the time and place of interest to us, as follows.
Bambara is usually played by three or four or five players. Otherwise, everyone discards as many cards as they want, to receive as many from the dealer of those that have not yet been taken from the deck: and tries to make either Flussi or Primiera in the second time, according to how the first cards have arranged the suits. After this, each player decides his game: and there being no one with either flussi or primiera, the one who has the most points wins, in two or three cards of the same suit. The value of the card points in the game of Bambara game is this. The face cards count ten each, the ace, that is, the one, sixteen, the two twelve, the three thirteen, the four fourteen, the five fifteen, the six eighteen, and the seven twenty-one: and whoever puts the three largest numbers together, that is, ace, six and seven of the same suit, equals fifty-five, which kills a primiera, that is, wins the stake, even if others have declared a primiera.[note 9]
Answer inserted together: CopyA.A.I. 5.37.2
Sig:r March:e Giov: [Signore Marchese Giovanni] Corsi
Ill.mo Sig:re mio Sig:re [Most Illustrious Signore] my Lord and Most Respected Master
The Regency has instructed me to tell VS: Ill:ma [Your Most Illustrious Signoria] that Bambara being one of the games prohibited by the laws of His Imperial Majesty, may it be content to give the necessary orders, so that in the future it will also be considered prohibited in this Theatre in via della Pergola; with the usual distinct respect I below sign myself
From the Secretariat of State on 27 January 1748
From Your Most Illustrious Most Devoted Servant Gaetano Antinori
_________________Signore Cavaliere Gaetano Antinori
Dear Sir, my Lord, Most Respected Master
In fulfillment of the most venerated order of the Imperial Regency sent to me by Your Illustriousness with your most revered paper dated yesterday, I have made prohibited the Game of
9. ll malmantile racquistato di Perlone Zipoli colle note di Puccio Lamoni e d'altri, Florence 1731, pp. 270-271.
7
Buia was a later variant of Bambara, and it has not been reconstructed with certainty what the differences were in detail. Its success, although not long-lasting, was due precisely and solely to the fact that, after bambara was banned, players could legitimately claim both that they were not playing that game and that the new one was not listed among the forbidden ones. It took some time (in general longer than would appear from this privileged environment) before, after bambara, buia was also prohibited.Bambara, and I have taken the necessary measures to ensure that such a law is promptly executed and respected. And with obsequious submission I have the honor of declaring myself
Of Your Illustriousness – From the House, the 28th January 1748
Together, a copy of the response from Sig. Marchese CorsiA.A.I. 5.37.3
Signore Marchese Giovanni Corsi. Dear Sir, my Lord, and Master Col.mo
The Regency has declared that the game called Buia should be considered one of those prohibited by His Imperial Majesty, being worse than Bambara, and in the class of gambling games [literally, games of hazard], and therefore I bring the news to Your Most Illustrious Excellency, so that you are content with giving the necessary orders in this theatre in via della Pergola. And with the most distinguished respect I confirm myself
From the Secretariat of State on the 6th February 1748
From Your Most Devoted and Most Obliged Servant Gaetano Antinori
A few years pass before we find any news about the Game Rooms, but what we read implies indirectly an increase in activity.Signore Cavaliere Gaetano Antinori
Just as the Academy of the Theatre of Via della Pergola has prided itself on always venerating the Laws of His Imperial Majesty, and interpreting its orders with the most scrupulous restriction, so it may please you, Your Excellency, to assure the Council of Regency, that the Game of Buja was never practiced after the prohibition of that of Bambara. Nonetheless, the necessary precautions will be taken by me to ensure that such a signal remains rigorously followed; While I have the
honor of constantly declaring myself Of Your Illustriousness.
Florence, February 8, 1748
A.A.I. 113 - Minutes of 18 June 1763
To which Messrs. Academics it was proposed, and asked by Messrs. Deputies at the Factory, that the authority granted to them by the Vote of April 11th be increased by the Academy, that is, to make a Staircase, which from new corridor lead into the threshold of the Game Rooms, and if possible lead into the Diacciatina Room: and to make a new path in the threshold of said Game Rooms, and once this proposition was sent to the table, it remained counted with all votes in favor.
7. The new rooms and trick-taking games
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the situation is difficult to reconstruct, especially because we know that with increasingly restrictive laws the government's battle against gambling had been won some time ago. But at the end of the eighteenth century, instead of the Habsburg-Lorraine, the Tuscan government was ruled by the French, and for a while things changed. In this new situation, the Academy of the Immobile undertook the construction of new rooms for games. It seems likely that the academics were counting on some special concession to make that investment pay off; in the Petition, copied below, they point out the need for gaming to be permitted in the Rooms. The answer can be considered positive or negative, because it allows the game, and thus prevents the new Rooms from remaining inactive, but specifies that "non-prohibited games" can be played there, with which
8
the possibility of the greater revenues of other times, linked precisely to gambling, disappears. This license for trick-taking card games is already something that in recent decades almost no longer existed in coffee shops where only billiards and trucco were allowed.
The possibility of opening the Rooms for gaming was taken into consideration by the Theatre impresario Gaetano Contini, who on 21 December submitted the offer to the Academy to take on the commitment of managing the activity for a year at a fee of forty zecchini. However, he concludes the offer as follows.A.A.I. 11.3.186
Cover: 1802 - 8 September
Petition presented through a Deputation to His Majesty to obtain permission for Games in the new Rooms of the Theatre
See - Academic Deliberation in Filza N. N - Registers in Protocol of Letter I to p. 149
No. 11. Draft.
Majesty
The Academicians of the Royal Theatre of the Immobile of Via della Pergola of the City of Florence Humble Servants and Subjects of Your Majesty, with the deepest respect represent them as having undertaken a vast Building to serve as an annex to their Theatre, and for the joint relief of Poor families, this is almost at its end.
Having to open the new Rooms, this will not be able to have a good effect or meet the Spirit of
Public, if it is not allowed to have the diversion of Games, that therefore
They earnestly implore the Innate Goodness and Clemency of Your Majesty to deign to allow Games in said Rooms as has been granted on other occasions to Their Academy, and in accordance with modern times has been pleased to grant to other Theatres and Academies for an Honest Treatment of the People who will participate, That of Grace etc.
A.A.I. 11.3.191b
Signore Head of the Academy of the Pergola
Most Illustrious Signore, Signore Most Respected Master,
His Majesty, who was informed of the prayers submitted by the Academy of the Royal Theatre of the Immobile, in view of the particular circumstances, has deigned to allow that in the new rooms recently built, which form an annex of this Royal Theatre, can be taken the honest entertainment of non-prohibited games, in accordance with what is practiced in the rooms of the other Theatre of the Cocomero.
In participating in this Sovereign Resolution by notice and Rule of the aforementioned Academy, I have the honor of confirming myself with the most distinguished respect
From the Royal Secretariat of State Li 28 October 1802
Of your Most Illustrious Lordship Most Devoted Most Obliged Servant G.B. Nuti
A.A.I. 11.3.197
He is willing to make the offering to Their Most Illustrious Lordships of Forty zecchini for a Year, that is for the next four Seasons of Carnival, Lent, Spring, and Autumn, reserving the right to produce before Their Most Illustrious Lordships in each Season the Accounts of Income and Expenses made, and hoping that in case of Loss they will not want to allow that he, in addition to lending himself with his Person, must also be subjected to Sacrifices, for which he is entrusted to the protection of Their Most Illustrious Lordships and to the magnanimous Heart of the entire Noble Academy, pass with distinct respect to pay them most devoted reverence.
A.A.I. 11.3.197
Cover: 24 December 1802
9
In the attached Writing there are additional details, such as, for example, the closing of the Rooms at the end of the show and the need to provide bundles of firewood for the fireplaces, and that the Gentlemen who ask for them will have to pay two Crazie [unit of money] for each Bundle. (However, there is no mention of possible reimbursements in the event of a management deficit.)Gaetano Contini Impresario rents the new Game Rooms of the Academy for the time and terms of one year with the obligation to provide the Cards and other Games, and illuminate the same, as well as remaining at his responsibility the Expenses of the Ministers, and with having to correspond to the Academy at the end of the Year Zecchini Forty by way of Canon and with other agreements expressed in the annexed Writing. See Academic resolution in Filza NN 16.21. Register in the Protocol of Letter I at pp. 155-157.
With attached documentation. Today we can see the episode positively: if there are players ready to force the barriers to enter the new Rooms, even before the work is finished, we can expect a rosy future for the management. However it would appear differently from the next documentation.A.A.I. 11.3.197
Notice
The Games permitted in the rooms of the R.[Royal] Academy of the Pergola in the form of the Note of the R. [Royal] Secretariat of State dated 28 October 1802 are the only ones not prohibited by the Government, that is, those so-called Trick-taking, Chess, Royal Tables [precursor to backgammon], Billiards, or Trucco.
Access to the aforementioned Rooms will be given to those who have access to the Door, provided they are decently dressed.
The Game will not begin before the Ministers and the Guard have arrived at the entrance door to the Theatre; and must end at the end of the Show, of which object the Players will be notified by the ministers half an hour before.
A.A.I. 11.3.198
Cover: 26 December 1802
Illustrious Signore Marchese Gio. Batt. Andrea Bourbon del Monte with a note headed to Ill. Signor Marchese Franc. Ant. Corsi Salviati, Secretary of the Academy, makes him aware of the injustice received by one of the Royal Guards of the Corps, to whom, like all the others, access had been denied to the new Rooms of the Theatre for the purpose of completing the necessary Works entrusted to the Care of said Signore Marchese del Monte. See Protocol of Letter I on p. 155.
It contains a Demonstration of Entry and Exit of the Game Rooms of the Royal Theatre of Via della Pergola for the 1803 Carnival Season, as shown in the Original Book kept by Mr. Franco Scutellari Cashier, and a similar one for the Lent Season. The accounting situation is not rosy: Carnival ends with a loss of 721 scudi and Lent also ends with a loss of 160 scudi. To know the details of gambling expenses, it is a big obstacle that one cannot find the original book cited, like the others of the genre, with perhaps even the receipts for minute expenses. There is only one note here, undated.A.A.I. 11.4.206
Cover: 4 April 1803
Determination to keep the game Rooms of the Theatre closed in part to avoid the expense of
Illumination, which becomes useless due to the lack of gathering for the same.
See Academic Deliberation in Filza N, N 27. Register in Protocol of Letters, I to 162.
10N 73. Note of evening expenses to the Ministers of the Games Rooms of the Theatre of Pergola
to Giuseppe Loi-------------------------l. 2.-.-
To “ Stagi--------------------------------2.-.-
8. BilliardsFilippo Calvi, Help----------------------1.6.8
Two Masks of the two Entrances
at said Rooms at S.13.4 each----------1.6.8
------
---------------------------------------------6.13.4
Billiards is destined to become an essential tool for games in the Rooms, but speaking of it began even before card games were strictly limited.
After the law of 1773 against card games, the transition from card games to billiards became a rule in Tuscany in coffee shops and the like. You can feel the atmosphere even in the exclusive environment of the Academy. If we were only interested in gambling games, we could put an end to the search here, at least as far as documentation still accessible is concerned.A.A.I. 6.14.17bis -12 September 1764
Ill:mi SS:ri
Santi Biagi Humble Servant of their Most Illustrious Lords represents them with every respect, as the orator has contracted the Galleries from Giuseppe Compostoffe, and the game of the Noble Signori, and since the game is so desolate, that the Petitioner would lose His own; Therefore he decided to include the game of Billiards to further decorate the game rooms as well as for his own interest; Who therefore appeals to the Clemency of their Illustrious Signorie to grant him the faculty of putting in said billiards; that of Grace etc. Quam Deus etc.
This Memorandum was read by our Prince at the meeting of 12 September 1764 from which what he asked for was not granted to the Petitioner, as was the case with the Current Book of Votes, at 358.
However, with billiards you can completely eliminate playing cards from the rooms, but not gambling, if you want. There are no traces of it in the case of the Immobile, but in environments of this kind, even if obviously the active players in the Rooms had become few, the spectators could have been numerous and, however surprising, it seems that they were often very involved in the game and intent on betting vigorously on the outcome of the matches.
In the specific case of the Immobile, it seems that even billiards did not bring profits to the impresarios.
A.A.I. 113 p. 236 - Minutes of 23 December 1774
And finally having heard the request of the Impresario Andrea Campigli, with which he asked to be able to put Trucco and Billiards in the Game Rooms, and to be able to give a Dance Party in the future Carnival on the evening of the penultimate Sunday; it was proposed to the Party of Academic Members, and was overwhelmingly won, that they should also hold the Dance Party, and put Trucco and Billiards in the Game Rooms, provided that they validly oblige themselves to relieve the Academy from any damage that could arise to the Same both in relation to the Walls, the Boxes and the Bricks, to be called Guarantee through their Chancellor. And so the meeting was dissolved.
A.A.I. 14.2.492 1812
Memorandum
For the Honorable Superintendent and Academicians of the Imperial Theatre of the Immobile known as of via della Pergola.
Luigi Magherini Most Humble Servant of Their Most Illustrious Lordships with the most humble Respect represents you as from more and several years in which he has exercised [as] the Billiard Marker at the Rooms of the Above-said Theatre in via della Pergola, and always with very small remuneration; as for three years now, the tenant Signore Luigi Dreoni has given you a good sum of his own money every year, both due to the changed
On the cover we read ... Rejected for the reasons of which in the Academic deliberation in Filza O No. 170 See Letter Protocol I at p. 366-367.circumstances and to the too burdensome fee of the Rent, for which reason he would now have come to the decision to divest himself of said Rent, and to cede everything to the Exponent under different conditions.
But for the same reasons mentioned above, the Exponent cannot be able to accept such a Transfer to his notable detriment, if he is not relieved of the Fee of said Rent so that therefore He begs the Supreme Kindness of Your Excellencies Lordships to deign to take this matter into consideration in the next Collation of the New Undertaking of said Theatre and to relieve the Exponent of the rent, so that he will be able to work hard to earn something for himself and his family, and will be able to keep the billiard rooms with greater decorum and cleanliness as he solemnly promises to their Illustrious Lordships, and hoping in Their Charity on the example of similar Grace granted a few years ago for similar reasons to the tenant of the Cafe of the same Theatre; that of Grace etc.
I Luigi Dreoni approve in my own Hand.
9. Conclusion
The Academy of the Immobile has a long tradition that has manifested itself above all with the prestigious activity of its Theatre of the Pergola. This activity is richly documented in its archive, recently reorganized and provided with a detailed inventory. An activity that in past centuries was often associated with theatres was that of the attached gaming rooms. In this specific case, it was evidently a secondary activity, but not as much as the few documents preserved in this regard would suggest. If one had not delved deeply into the documentation, one could have concluded that games were played inside the theatre premises on very rare occasions, and only for short durations.
In this study, however, several fragments have been identified and transcribed which allow us to reconstruct (with the help of what we know from similar environments, and completing it if necessary with a little imagination) a practically continuous gaming activity, even if with the Grand Duchy of Lorraine there occurred, also in this environment, a gradual transition towards games with an increasingly smaller gambling component.
Florence, 03.04.2024
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