Tarocco Siciliano. Modiano, Italy. Stripped playing-tarot deck, Mediterranean suited, 65 single-headed cards. Size: 51mm x 84mm.
Deck make-up:
Trumps: 1-20 (+ miseria, unnumbered).
Coins: 4-10, foot jack (female), mounted jack, queen, king.
Clubs, cups, swords: 5-10, foot jack (female), mounted jack, queen, king.
Extras: joker, title cards x2.
The tarocco Siciliano is a tarot deck found in Sicily and is used to play Sicilian tarocchi. It is one of the three traditional Mediterranean-suited tarot decks still used for games in Italy, the others being the more prevalent tarocco Piemontese and the tarocco Bolognese. The pack was introduced into Sicily from the mainland (probably from Rome) around 1663. The deck was shortened from 78 cards during the 18th century.
This deck is known for its female jacks (that are sometimes referred to as maids). This was a feature also found in the Portuguese pattern. Since this deck also includes queens, this is the only traditional playing-card pack to have survived into the present that includes two ranks of women. It is also the only surviving tarot deck to use the Portuguese depictions of the suits which died out in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Siciliano depicts these suits like the extinct Portuguese design by the intersecting of the swords and clubs.
Click on any card to explore the design.
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The trumps have some interesting changes from those regularly encountered. As the lowest trump, we have a character called miseria (misery) – this is the only trump to be named. Two other standard trumps – the popess and the pope – are missing. To fill in, an unusual one is added at number 4: la costanza (constancy). The joker/fool (below) is added in to act as the highest trump. Meanwhile, the ship is a benign replacement for the devil, which apparently offended some sensibilities (the figure of death didn't, it seems!)
The pack leaves the 4 of coins in, whereas it is removed from the other suits. Note also the aforementioned female lower jack.
The crossed-sticks idea (taken from a Portuguese pattern) can be detected filtering through to, for example, Japanese kabufuda packs, where decks using this same sort of design were introduced by Portuguese merchants to the isolationist Japan.
The joker/fool (left) is used as the highest trump. The third card is the remnant of the ace/1 of coins, and was kept to hold the tax stamp even though it is no longer is used in play.