This is a translation of Franco's "Noto 1737 – geografia con tarocchi e altri gioch," dated Oct. 20, 2024, at
https://naibi.net/A/8-35-NOTO1737.pdf, done with Franco's help.
Here Franco reports on a publication of 1737 Sicily proposing card and board games of a new type in the category of educational card games. Other decks - we may think of the one in Bologna of 1725 - simply put information on the cards, as though students would actually read it while playing, as opposed to focusing on the game. Other strategies, the authors say, simply leave students "nauseated to the point of vomiting." They are perhaps thinking of ones that requires reading what is on the card at every play, such as the oneFranco recounted at
viewtopic.php?p=26518#p26518. In the games now proposed, the learning, in bite-sized portions, is part of succeeding at the game. Meanwhile, since the decks are consciously modeled on the existing decks of the time, including Sicilian tarocchi, we get information about their composition at that time and place.
Comments in brackets are mine, after consultation with Franco, for clarification purposes. Numbers by themselves in the left margins are page numbers of Franco's online pdf.
Noto 1737 – geography with tarocchi and other games
Frank Pratesi
1. Introduction
Michael Dummett made a decisive contribution, as usual, to the history of tarocchi in Sicily;
[note 1] useful up-to-date information can also be obtained from a recent exhibition.
[note 2] The oldest information dates back to the seventeenth century, but is based on rather uncertain sources. The first reliable testimony seems to be from 1736. In this study I present a book from the following year in which, among other things, the Sicilian tarocchi is presented in a form designed for the education of students.
The setting is that of the Accademia dei Trasformati [Academy of the Transformed] of Noto, in the province of Syracuse, active with literary and philosophical discussions from the second half of the seventeenth century until 1872. The seat of the academy was in the Convent of San Domenico and the building, very central, is still used, [now] as the seat of the Matteo Raeli Institute of Higher Education.
The book I propose to illustrate is quite rare, and seems to have escaped the research of experts on the history of tarocchi and other typical Sicilian games. I will focus more on the two versions of newly invented playing cards.
2. The book [note 3]
The book in question is listed in the OPAC SBN catalogue;
[note 4] there would seem to be four copies: in Bologna, Milan, Rome and Trapani; however, in the catalogue of the Biblioteca Regionale Siciliana appear four other copies, two in Palermo and two in Messina. I have not found any indications of copies abroad. In short, a rare book, but not extremely rare.
We can begin the examination with the title:
Study in league with play to introduce less eager young people to the sciences, a thought outlined in geography, and indicated in other subjects, by two academicians of the Trasformati of the city of Noto, approved and published by the priest d. [don=father] Giuseppe Serrentino, bidello [usually meaning "janitor"] of the same academy . . . It cannot be said that it is a concise title, and yet it already presents some problems in reading.
The author claims to present the results of an activity of the academy of which he was only a careful observer and annotator. And in fact, starting from the well-known
Bibliografia siciliana,
[note 5] it seems that the one indicated as author is, of the two academy protagonists, the one who was notoriously devoted to geography, and this attribution is again maintained in the OPAC SBN catalogue: Authors: Francesco Landolina Rao (Author), Giuseppe Serrentino; Trento, Simone (Publisher).
It may also seem strange that the priest who published the book describes himself as the
bidello [janitor, usually] of the academy, almost boasting about the position, but for that particular meaning of the term the
Grande Dizionario della Lingua Italiana helps us, referring us to the
Notes to Malmantile.
2-49: Bidello, donzello [attendant] or servant of a university or academy. And this name of Bidello probably comes from Betulla [Birch], which is that tree from which the rods for the fasces [bundles] were made, which in ancient times the lictors carried before the Magistrates, and from this carrying of the bundles of birch rods then came the name of bidello for such servants of the University, who act as lictors, ...they still carry a large silver
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1. M. Dummett,
The Game of Tarot, London 1980; M. Dummett,
Il Mondo e l’angelo, Naples 1993; M. Dummett, J. McLeod,
A History of Games Played with the Tarot Pack, Lewiston 2004.
2. S. Bonaccorsi, E. Maggio,
Il Mondo in Mano, Catania 2019.
3. F. Landolina Rao, G. Serrentino,
Lo studio in lega col giuoco . . . , Catania 1737.
https://www.google.it/books/edition/Lo_ ... frontcover
4. https://opac.sbn.it/it/web/opacsbn/risu ... 9436872436
5. G.M. Mira,
Bibliografia siciliana, Vol. 1, Palermo 1875. On p. 502.
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mace, signifying the ancient fasces, when they go to public functions, before the College of Doctors.
Inside, we initially find five unnumbered pages with the dedication
To Sig. D. [Don, now an honorific]
Michele Bonanno e Landolina of the Princes of Linguagrossa [a territory on the north side of Mt. Etna, built on a “great tongue” of lava], dated Noto 12 August 1737, followed by four pages with the significant introduction
To the Readers, which insists in particular on a delicate point: it was not possible to insert in the book the appropriate plates with the figures of the proposed cards. It would have been only six large plates reproduced from copper engravings, and a couple of decks of playing cards of new design, but from Noto it was possible to find the typography in Catania only to print the book, and not, however, the desired engravings.
In this regard, on the second page of this part we read, among other things, the following.
You will raise a difficulty with me, kind Readers: that with this little book, which I have taken care to publish, there should be attached six geographical Tables, drawn according
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to the intention of the two Academicians. I confess that you have every right to do so; nor can I otherwise satisfy you, than by imploring your kindness to excuse me, and in the meantime, so as not to render useless a Work of such value, to give you the way to obtain them. Whoever is born in a country restricted and besieged by misfortunes, if he does not have the convenience of leaving it, must be considered a prisoner, and must daily sacrifice many desires to the God of malignant Fortune. As much as ways have been considered and attempted, it has not been possible to find the way to engrave the plates, to make the Tables sought by you to run commercially; and let this be enough to excuse the defect. However, even if a way were found, or if there were some generous Prince who would take charge of it for the public good, I would undertake to obtain the exact drawings, according to the will of the Authors.
Let us hope that this is only the “restrictiveness” of three centuries ago! The Tables in question are six: Europe in general; Europe in provinces; Germany in particular; Italy in particular; two Coasts.
Following is a page dedicated
To the Critics, which highlights the pioneering nature of the work, which implies the possibility of future improvements.
After these premises, the numbered pages begin with the six-page
Introduction, which explains how the member Volgare of the Accademia dei Trasformati of Noto had the idea of using the habit of the students to play cards to introduce special cards with teachings in various subjects and in particular geography. The idea was then realized with the help of another academy member, the Taciturn, "as well informed in Geography." In the book, there are then more dialogs between the two members, within the usual discussions of the academy. The specific treatment then develops with various "lectures," of which I maintain the order.
First Lecture. Preparations for the assumption. p. 7
Once it is decided to dedicate oneself to geography, there are many questions to discuss about how to divide Europe so that each card then reasonably represents one of its parts. First, twenty Kingdoms and sixteen Seas are identified, postponing Islands and Rivers. The Lecture ends with Description of the instrument for transforming figures, a lesson on the pantograph [instrument for copying a drawing or plan to a different scale] and its use.
II. Lecture. Various preliminary speeches; and the game of Winds is proposed. p. 13
In the initial discussion, the fact that similar works had already been produced is commented on, but it is specified that only in the present case does one go beyond a simple exposition of scholastic notions in the form of images, presenting the figures as objects to be used in various types of pastimes.
If you allow me to say something about your Idea, I could well remind you that teaching Geography, and even History by way of a game, was invented before you by Cardinal Mazarin, and it is not long since I saw certain French sheets, which by way of dice or cards teach military fortification, Chronology, Geometry, and even the Art of making love. I do not therefore want to push you away from your thought, which either by new material or by new method will bring some benefit, more than those after all very beautiful inventions have brought. (p. 15)
To put it briefly: they do nothing but present a book split up into sheets, in order to give drink to those who delight in swallowing it sip by sip; but with those who are nauseated to the point of vomiting, they bring no profit. There they play with numbers, and those who have little thought of learning neglect the written words [the text on the card]. Our Idea, if, after all, it succeeds according to our wishes, is to make it so that Children fond of playing games, coming with no other thought but to pass the time, find themselves in some way roughly informed without realizing it, just like someone sleeping or reading on a large ship, who when he least thinks of it finds himself at the mouth of the port. (p. 16)
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The proposed game of winds consists of drawing a circle with 32 houses and an arrow placed in the center to be spun with various prizes (in hazelnuts), depending on the house the arrow reaches. Alternatively, a scheme similar to that of morris could be used for this purpose. (In short, these are preliminary games, while they prepare to fill in the map of Europe with its subdivisions.)
III Lecture. Europe in Kingdoms alone. p. 20
A list of Kingdoms numbered from 1 to 36 and two with the number 0 is compiled, together with a list of Seas numbered from 1 to 16. The game associated with the geographical map is played by rolling two dice, based on the product of the two points obtained.
IV. Lecture. The second part of the Game for another Higher Class follows. p. 26
Playing cards are introduced, corresponding to 20 seas and 22 rivers, and are distributed by allocating prizes in lupin beans. In particular, the rivers take a lupin bean from the kingdom in which they rise and pay one to the sea in which they flow. Finally, it is recognized that the system of cards devised can be considered equivalent to a common deck of playing cards, and, thanks in particular to the inclusion of the 22 rivers, also to a deck of tarocchi cards. The four suits of cups, batons, swords and coins can be indicated with four constellations, namely Cygnus [the Swan], Lyra [the Lyre], Ursa [the Bear], and Corona [the Crown].
The result, on how the tarocchi deck is achieved, is shown in the following table, taken from the book.
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Once the tarocchi deck has been formed, one might expect that the proposal would be to play a traditional tarocchi game, with the sole educational advantage of learning geography while playing, but the author instead continues to propose games of winning and losing lupin beans, depending on proximity or not between territories, or similar cases. In short, one can see that the deck of the new game proposed is indeed equivalent to that of the tarocchi, but is used in a completely different way, such as to make one learn geography information still better while playing.
V. Lecture. Europe divided into Provinces, for the Young People already introduced. p. 42
As a step to an advanced stage, it is proposed to include provinces in the game, with each card marked with three names, that of the capital, the province and the kingdom. This leads to a hundred cards from which decks are formed with rules for winning and losing depending on the cards drawn.
VI. Lecture. The same Game continues and then is reduced to Cards. p. 51
Here we see a further step: the kingdoms are divided into provinces and the borders between the kingdoms are taken into account in a more detailed manner, so that the number of cards exceeds one hundred. Then the game proposed in this case becomes one analogous to Stucci [described later], a type of lotto or lottery.
VII. Lecture. Germany divided into Provinces for the Young Introduced. p. 68
Once the mechanism is understood, more advanced variants can be proposed, with further details in the notions of geography to be learned by playing. For Germany, the division into circoli [literally, “circles,” but meaning what Germans now call Länder, “lands”] and electorates presents some difficulty, which is discussed and overcome. The result in a map with 14 "genera" with six provinces each; as before, in parallel with the game on the geographical map table, it is proposed, without going into details, to obtain a deck of 66 cards for other games, more similar to traditional card games.
VIII. Lecture, Italy in Provinces. p. 81
The division of Italy into provinces results in a table divided into four parts (Church, Naples, Venice, Lombardy) and each divided into twelve provinces, therefore 48 in total.
IX. Lecture. Italy reduced to Cards, and we digress to other games. p. 87
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From the map of Italy one can easily move on to the corresponding deck of cards, which also in this case becomes similar to a traditional one. The four parts thus correspond to the four suits of cards, but with the new names of Church [i.e. Papal State], Naples, Venice and Lombardy. Furthermore, the deck of cards is extended to include the eight cards with Rivers, to be added to form the tarocchi deck.
A discussion is also opened on the criterion to be adopted for later adding the twenty-two upper cards of the Tarocchi, concluding on the need to provide those essential notions of chronology.
Digression by the fellowship [the academicians]. In which various other very useful Exercises are inserted. p. 99
While preparing the set of twenty-two tarocchi cards, a new discussion opens on other topics. The first is the teaching of calculation, or the abacus, as they used to say. Both mnemonic and instrumental devices are proposed to help with multiplications, including a disk with two numbered circles that provide the product by rotating one with respect to the other. The second is how to teach children to ride using the “movable wooden horse on pulleys” or a modified swing.
The Game of Tarocchi Resumes with the legitimate and usurping Rulers of Italy. p. 106
The twenty-two cards of the tarocchi were meant to help learn chronology, and the result is shown in the table below.
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In addition to the suggestion of the little picture inserted to keep the attention alive, each card contains a short list, in order of date, of characters or events that fall within the era in question, as in the examples in the following figure.
X. Lecture. Sailing along the Mediterranean Sea: First by rowing, then by sail. p. 114
So we come to the latest invention, a new game that is based on rolling dice to advance along one of two paths in a way that, as the author admits, resembles the game of Goose. As usual, the discipline involved is geography and two maps are used as boards on which to advance. Naturally, there are long lists of correspondences between rolls and movements, including stops and going back.
The first board contains maritime provinces and rivers and goes up to number 85 Kingdom of Fez and Morocco ‒ as in Goose, you go back by the excess points if the throw exceeds the goal. You proceed by rolling a single die or, as in Goose, two dice using the sum of the points.
The second board is more extensive and detailed, also containing capes and gulfs. In this case, two dice are rolled and the product of the two points is used. Here we arrive at 129 Tangier. (Curiously, the book digitized by the library of Rome also makes us play the game of Goose, because to read the related group of pages [
fascicolo = 8 or 16 pages printed on a larger sheet, then folded and bound], we have to go back to p. 24.)
Conclusion of the Work p. 125
It is recommended never to move on to the next games without having mastered the previous ones, with the exception of the “two cards alone of Germany and Italy.” The proposed games are valid for a number of children greater than that usually found in a family, but expedients can be used such that it becomes possible even for only two children to play. The academy members think they can develop their proposals by extending them to other continents. In particular, a chess game using the two Americas would seem possible.
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3. Information about Tarocchi and other games
The aim of the authors of the book is to replace the games with which students spent their time without educational results with different games, focused on the goal of combining the game with scholastic information.
Now for us the useful path is exactly the opposite: to obtain some information on traditional games from the few references necessarily interspersed in this treatise. Unfortunately, the author states several times that he has never dedicated himself to these games and therefore we must be content with second-hand information on what interests us most: that is, information on the games in vogue in Sicily in the first half of the eighteenth century, for which we currently have very sparse evidence.
The worst part is that, instead, the same author dedicates many pages to the proposal of new games that could be played with cards or with other newly invented objects. It may be that these also reflect the customs of the time and that they would be of some interest to historians of board games or children's games.
As far as this study is concerned, I intend to focus only on the few pieces of information we find on card games. First of all on tarocchi, because for information on these the date of 1737 is very early.
We obtain some interesting information about tarocchi. The first is the confirmation that in Sicily the complete deck of 78 cards was still used, probably corresponding to type I of the IPCS
Pattern Sheets [the earlier of their two patterns for “Sicilian Tarot”].
[note 6] Unfortunately, a comparison of the traditional figures with those substituting in this book does not appear promising: trying to find a correspondence of meanings immediately appears to be a useless effort. However, we have confirmation that there were twenty numbered cards, while the Fugitive and Poverty (still with that name, possibly corresponding to a number zero in the tarocchi, the lowest of all) were without a number. A significant detail concerns the names of the court cards of the four suits. While for the King and the Knight there are no alternatives, the remaining two courts have names that do not seem well-defined.
The Jack [or Page: Italian
Fante] is always the minor card, but it is sometimes called the Woman [la Donna], and this alternative is known to historians, who generally explain it by the clearly female figures present on the same cards. This is not unusual if the Sicilian tarocchi cards in fact derived from the Florentine ones, possibly through the Genoese variant of ganellini or gallerini. In my opinion (which could be considered simple parochialism), the Florentine derivation of the Sicilian tarocchi is directly confirmed by the “Portuguese” model of those cards ‒ a term that I would willingly translate as “Florentine,” because I do not see any early cultural passage in the direction of Lisbon-Florence.
The newest term, at least to my knowledge, is that of “Count,” attributed to the figure added to the common deck to transform it into a tarocchi deck. It is clear that calling it “Woman” would have confused it with the Jack, but if on the card you see a female figure with a crown, it is not clear why not call it Queen directly, unless she was painted with a beard and mustache. And in fact the author will call her Queen when he returns to the theme a second time.
In addition to tarocchi, there are also other card games, and not only them. The ordinary deck of playing cards is implicitly indicated as being composed of 40 or 48 cards, which corresponds to what we know for the decks used mainly in Italy and Spain respectively.
The first card game we encounter is Ombre, but in this case the author's lack of knowledge is evident. In fact, it is a game with more rules than average, and instead it is cited as a simple game of tricks only, so much so that it is compared with the new cards that would allow not only to count those won but also to assert in some way the proximity and borders of the various countries.
For example: when playing, as they call it, at Ombre, to take into account not who makes the most tricks, but to see who can collect in their tricks the most neighboring lands,
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6. https://i-p-c-s.org/pattern/ps-12.html
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or something similar, as they do in that gamble they call Stucci. I, to tell it as I have it, do not want to get involved in finding pacts [agreed-upon rules] on [common] Cards and Tarocchi, which, almost by instinct, since childhood I have held in contempt; therefore, I defer to those who have more talent and less worry. (p. 41)
To find out more about the “gamble” called
Stucci, one should perhaps look more closely at Sicilian literature. In Italian, the term
stucci has several meanings, extraordinarily different and uncommon, but if you exclude the technical terms in the scientific field, it simply remains
astucci [from
astuccio, small box, case, pouch]. I looked for information on a compatible use of it and found it . . . in Trieste, not exactly in the immediate vicinity of Noto. I report it in full, in the belief that the Sicilian one was substantially similar, even if probably organized in a slightly simpler way.
1812. In this year the extraction from lottery was introduced in Trieste for the first time. The large hall of the redoubt was designated for this function. At the back of the hall a stage, or flying or removable railing, was erected. Each extraction was presided over by the Intendant of the province of Trieste, the Magistrate appointed by the General Commissioner of Justice, the Commissioner of Police, the General Director of the lottery, and the General Secretary of the Directorate. The latter drew up the minutes and signed them after the officials mentioned above. The extraction was then carried out using two Wheels of fortune placed at the two ends of the long table, in front of which were placed the officials named above. The said wheels were empty and covered with glass in such a way that the motion and the movements made internally by the little boxes [stucci] of cardboard containing the respective numbers could be seen. Into one of these wheels, 90 of the aforementioned little boxes [stucci] of cardboard, uniform in every way, were thrown one by one by a child, after being weighed in the presence of the public. These little boxes [stucci], after being shaken vigorously, the wheel moving around with several turns and turns again, were withdrawn by the hand of another child, and into each of them was introduced a small square piece of tissue paper with the inscription on both sides of one of the 90 numbers of the lottery, this being shown beforehand each time to the public, and proclaimed aloud by the auctioneer. A third child threw these same boxes [stucci], one by one, into the second wheel, in which they were again mixed with great turns and turns again after the introduction of every ten boxes [stucci]. A fourth child, with his eyes blindfolded and a gloved hand, then extracted a box [uno astuccio], which was opened by the President; he extracted the sheet enclosed within, unfolded it, read the number written on it, and proclaimed it to be the first number drawn; and the crier repeated the number in a loud and intelligible voice, showing the piece of paper to the public. The extraction of the four other numbers was repeated with the same formality, after several turns and turns again of the wheel repeated at each extraction of a number, which was interspersed with a performance from the band of the national militia. [note 7]
For other games, we are more fortunate, because in the dialogs between academy members that the author reports, there are also requests for information about them, with some answers. Generally speaking, what we read falls within the general framework that is quite well known, but some names and details are of considerable interest.
Continuing to read, after the quote from Ombre, one comes across the game of Gabella [Excise tax], which only with lupin beans in play, as here, would seem suitable for young students.
I do not know the game of Gabella [Excise Tax], resumed the Vulgar, please explain it to me with the example of ordinary Cards, and then we will do it your way, my dear Sig. Taciturn. And he: Let two urns be deposited, placed empty at the beginning: one is for the common lot, the other is for the Excise-man; Then the game is announced in the form of an auction, until the Ace of Cups comes out, for example, or another card chosen before the announcement, which serves as a substitute for the [more usual] extinction of the candle. And finally, the contract will be awarded to whoever offers the most, e.g. to Tizio for 80 lupin beans. So Tizio the Contractor, or we want to say Excise-man, takes the cards in his hand, offers one to each Player; then the First Player will ask the Excise-man for three, four, or five cards, as many as he likes, and deposits in the urn of the common lot
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7. G. Mainati,
Croniche ossia memorie sacro-profane di Trieste, Tomo Sesto, Venice, 1818, pp. 76-77;
https://www.google.it/books/edition/Cro ... frontcover
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as many lupins as he wants of cards. With these new cards that he buys, and with the one he had, he draws to make 31. And if he is lucky enough to do it right, he will win what is found in the urn of the common lot, and will demand the 80 lupins offered for the Contract by the Excise-man, and thus the game will end. But if he makes a number greater than 31 or less than 24, he will pay the Excise-man as many lupins as the points he is away. If the entire round of Players finishes without making 31, the one with the best [highest] point between 24 and 31 will take the Deposit of the common Lot. And the game continues another time, until 31 is made to take the 80 lupins of the Contract. This is a commonly known Rubric. (p. 65)
Definitely more interesting and suitable is the game of Calabrache, which is a fairly well-known precursor of Scopa and had already been mentioned in Aretino’s
Le Carte parlanti, and also the variant of Smidollarsi (never found before, not only the name, but the variant itself).
In the game of Calabrache it is usually arranged that with a seven I can take from the cards another 7 exposed, and in lack, I can take a 4 and a 3 etc. Now wouldn't a similar game be better, which is called Smidollarsi [usual meaning: to lose one’s strength]? This goes with the same conditions as Calabrache, if differing only in that one does not take the same number but a bordering one, for example; with a 7 one takes either the Queen or the 6; with a 5 one takes the 6 or the 4; with the Ace one takes either the 2 or the King. We will now say that finding myself with the card of the Swiss in my hand, for example, without regard to the number I can take either Lombardy, or Burgundy, or Alsace, or Swabia, or Austria, and so on, that is, one of the Provinces bordering the same Swiss. (p. 67)
As can be read, one can learn a completely forgotten game here (
A smidollarsi [usual meaning: to lose one’s strength]). A significant detail is also the value of 8 assigned to the Queen. If the term “Woman” [Donna] had been used as a synonym for Queen, in the manner of chess, it could have indicated a lack of acceptance for the card with the value 9, the most common in other regions (but on this ranking of the two lower court cards there are variations even today, even from one Tuscan city to another), but here there is no deviation and no error: the Queen was not present in the deck with Italian suits, and this Queen was the Jack, even in the common deck.
In the next attempt to use the playing cards, up to including all 78 tarocchi cards, the subdivision is different from the first, because while the first was based on the number of 40 cards of the common deck, the second adopts that of 48, reasonably hinting at the fact that with that it would certainly not be difficult to choose to play using only the 40 necessary for the game in question.
4. Conclusion
A Sicilian book from 1737 was presented in which are reported the attempts of two members of the Accademia dei Trasformati of Noto (Syracuse [province]) to replace the traditional games of the students with newly invented games in which elementary and then advanced notions of geography are administered. The aim is to teach geography (but other possible subjects are also mentioned) while the students are playing. For us this attempt is interesting in itself, and even more so for the information on tarocchi and other traditional games that are interspersed in the description. For the tarocchi, the most significant data is the date of the book, because it is one of the first testimonies on Sicilian tarocchi.
Florence, 21.10.2024
