Demystifying the Tarot: The Italian Renaissance and the Birth of Tarocchi
Many people believe Tarot cards began as a mystical tool for predicting the future. However, history tells a very different story. The Tarot did not start in ancient Egypt or secret occult societies. It began in the courts of northern Italy during the 1430s as a secular card game called Tarocchi.
This post explores the true historical origins of Tarot, stripping away the myths to reveal a fascinating Renaissance parlor game.
The Origin of the Deck: Mamluk Roots
Before the Italian nobility invented Tarocchi, playing cards had already arrived in Europe. They were imported from the Islamic Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt in the late 14th century.
The Standard Suit System
The Mamluk deck introduced a structure very similar to modern playing cards. It featured four suits:
- Cups (which later became Hearts)
- Coins (which became Diamonds)
- Swords (which became Spades)
- Polo Sticks (which Europeans transformed into Batons or Clubs)
Each suit contained ten numbered cards and three court cards: the King, the Viceroy, and the Under-Viceroy. Europeans quickly adapted these cards, replacing the Islamic polo sticks with clubs and changing the court figures into a King, Knight, and Knave (Jack).
The Birth of Tarocchi: Adding the Triumphs
In the 1430s, wealthy courts in northern Italian cities—specifically Milan, Ferrara, and Bologna—decided to upgrade the standard card game. They added a fifth suit of permanent trump cards to the existing 56-card deck.
Trionfi: The Game of Triumphs
This new game was originally called carte da trionfi (cards of the triumphs). The word “triumph” is the root of our modern English word “trump.”
The imagery on these new trump cards was inspired by popular Renaissance festival pageants. These pageants were based on I Trionfi, a famous poem by the Italian writer Francesco Petrarch. In these allegorical processions, abstract concepts triumphed over one another: Love triumphed over Desire, Chastity triumphed over Love, Death triumphed over Chastity, and Fame triumphed over Death.
Changing the Name to Tarocchi
By the early 16th century, the game had spread widely, and ordinary playing cards with trumps became more common. To distinguish this specific game from other trick-taking games, players renamed it Tarocchi (singular: Tarocco). The exact etymology of the word remains a mystery, but it eventually spread to France, where it was translated as Tarot.
The Luxury Decks: The Visconti-Sforza
Because printing technology was still in its infancy, the earliest Tarocchi decks were luxury items. They were commissioned by ultra-wealthy nobles to showcase their status, wealth, and political alliances.
Hand-Painted Masterpieces
The most famous surviving early cards are the Visconti-Sforza decks, painted in Milan during the mid-15th century. These cards were not mass-produced. Artists hand-painted each card on thick cardboard, using expensive pigments and decorating the backgrounds with actual gold leaf.
Family Portraits in the Cards
The characters on the trump cards often bore the physical likenesses of the Visconti and Sforza family members. The court cards dressed in the exact high-fashion garments worn in the Milanese court. These decks were played with at lavish parties, serving as the ultimate Renaissance status symbol.
The Original Gameplay: A Game of Skill
For the first 350 years of its existence, Tarocchi had nothing to do with divination, fortune-telling, or the occult. It was a competitive, trick-taking card game similar to modern Bridge or Spades.
Rules of the Renaissance Table
- The Deck Structure: The game used a 78-card deck consisting of the 4 standard suits (56 cards), 21 numbered trump cards, and 1 unnumbered wild card called Il Matto (The Fool).
- Trick-Taking: Players had to follow the suit led by the first player.
- The Power of Trumps: If a player could not follow suit, they could play a trump card to win the trick.
- The Fool’s Role: The Fool could be played at any time to avoid following suit, allowing the player to protect a valuable card without winning or losing the trick.
The game required intense strategy, memory, and point-counting. It was enjoyed by everyone from popes and duchesses to tavern patrons across Europe.
Summary: The Secular Foundations
The Tarot deck was designed for entertainment, artistic appreciation, and intellectual gameplay. The iconic imagery of the Magician, the Empress, and the Pope reflected the everyday reality, religious beliefs, and theatrical culture of Renaissance Italy—not a hidden magical code. It would take another three centuries before mystics reinterpreted these gaming cards as a tool for prophecy.
“But how did an innocent Renaissance card game suddenly become labeled as dangerous and evil? In Chapter 2, we uncover the exact moment in history when the fear began…”