![]() The designs have evolved over the centuries and one of my favorite books which illustrates this evolution is. The southern cards: Neapolitan, Piacentine, Triestine, and Sicilian are divided into Coppe (Cups), Ori or Denari (Golds or Coins), Spade (Swords) and Bastoni (Clubs), while the northern cards: Piemontesi, Milanesi and Toscane use the French suits, Cuori (Hearts), Quadri (Diamonds, literally “Squares”), Fiori (Flowers) and Picche (Spades, literally “Pikes”). ![]() As all things in Italy there is variation of the four suits depending on the area of the country. While Scopa and Briscola have different rules they both utilize the same deck of 40 cards, beautifully illustrated, which are divided into four suits. Joe’s father Richard taught me how to play both games which he learned from his father who grew up in Sicily. You don’t even to say “napoletane” it’s the default in Italy.Playing Cards, Rome, 2008 Looking back through my travel journals I realized that one of the most often enjoyed activities were the many card games played with our family and friends. Just go in and ask, in your best Italian, for “un mazzo di carte”. These playing cards are available in any “Sali e Tabacchi”. Women, of course, stayed home with the children. In the “olden days”, before the advent of TV and of the habit of spending most evenings at home, Italian men headed for their circolo or for the neighbourhood bar to play billiards or cards in the evening. ![]() In the smaller towns, perhaps at the only bar in town, one often finds Italians playing cards over a glass of wine for hours and hours, much as in other countries people play chess in public squares. The cards are slightly smaller than their American counterparts, but generally stiffer. The four suits parallel the suits in a standard American poker deck – bastone (club), spada (spade), coppa (heart), and denaro (diamond). ![]() The Italian artistic flair is evident even in the design of these cards. There are four suits, as in American cards, but only ten cards to a suit (think of American cards minus the 8, the 9 and the 10.) The face cards instead, called il fante (the groom), il cavallo (the horse) and il re (the king), play the role of the 8, the 9, and the 10 cards respectively. These are “ Carte Napoletane“, ubiquitous all over Italy. Children use a miniature version of the same card deck and play a game called “ asso piglia tutto“, meaning “the ace takes all”. Allora, facciamoci una partita a carte! With these words Italians whip out un mazzo di carte and sit down to play scopa or briscola or tressette. ![]()
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