Looking for a deck to go to Italy with...

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 19 Apr 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

hyatt	19 Apr 2004
hello guys! i am going to Italy in a month and will be there a while. since i am going to be there i thought i might want to get a new deck to study while i am there and on the plane, etc. Could anyone recommend a deck that has italian influences or landmarks. i will be in venice and i guess i could buy a casanova deck - but i will be around some people that might find it offensive if i do a reading for them. does anyone have a good suggestion? THANKS!

Hedera	19 Apr 2004
How about the Secret Tarots, by Marco Nizzoli? http://www.tarotpassages.com/secret.htm http://www.tarotpassages.com/bursten46.htm http://www.tarotpassages.com/secrets-jpk.htm Apart from it being drawn by an Italian artist, and published by an Italian publisher, somehow it has a distincly Italian flavour to me. Many other options of course: Dante Tarot, Ancient Italian tarot, Leonardo da Vinci tarot..... etc, etc, etc. Enjoy your stay! :)

HudsonGray	19 Apr 2004
The Da Vinci, yeah! Make sure to BUY some when you're over there too! Remember there are collectors at this end who would take them off your hands if you get anything cool.

punchinella	19 Apr 2004
Whereabouts is Alidastore anyway? --& can anyone just *gulp* walk right in???

le pendu	19 Apr 2004
Hi Hyatt, I'm so jealous! I'd recommend the Dante deck because the art is really nice, yet contemporary. http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/dante/ or maybe go totally classical with the Visconti Gold? http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/visconti/index.shtml or perhaps an old fashioned Italian? http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/ancient-italian/ robert

BlueLotus	19 Apr 2004
Quote: Originally posted by punchinella Whereabouts is Alidastore anyway? --& can anyone just *gulp* walk right in ??? Yeh, I am just as curious...!

Alta	20 Apr 2004
Somewhere in San Marino I guess.

Jaelle	20 Apr 2004
The Golden Tarot by Kat Black has a lot of Italian art in it! :) Where are you going exactly?

hyatt	20 Apr 2004
Oh, thanks you guys for the helpful advice!!! I will be staying in Venice,Rome and Florence. I will stay in venice the longest to take part in a glass blowing workshop. Someone mentioned a store I should go to...is it somewhere in one of those cities? Or does anyone know of a good store to stock up on decks while I am over there?

Astraea	20 Apr 2004
Hyatt, you are so fortunate to be going to those wonderful places! I know you will have a marvelous time. Alida is in San Marino, as Marion says, on the eastern coast of Italy. Lo Scarabeo is in Turin. I think that if you're going to be in Venice for awhile, Alida might be a distinct possibility!

jema	20 Apr 2004
Oh my, just imagine walking into Alida! I would never leave, or if I did it would be without my wallet. Suddenly my new dream vacation is no longer Egypt but San Marino... As for a nice deck with italian motifs, perhaps you could just buy a beautiful Folchi deck.

Cerulean	22 Apr 2004
1. Duomo (Dome) and Medici related banner seems to be in Judgment for the Ancient Minchiate Etruria. It is a small deck, 97 cards and small foldout--the only book related to anything minchiate is a Brian Williams book-deck set, beautiful and bigger than the original Ancient Minchiate Etruria. Alidastore.com / tarotgarden.com or Amazon.com. I believe it is under twenty dollars. 2.If you want humor, Dario Fo is the Nobel Prize winner and he has funny graffiti characters in front of famous murals, I believe all Italian. Might be a little racy grafitti, but looks humerous. ALidastore.com or tarotgarden.com and may be expensive. 3. I like Trevisan's Tarot of the Renaissance, but might be too cartoony or light-hearted for you...Scapini's Romeo and Juliet is related to Verona and is Italianesque...his Stained Glass is colorful. I think this is twenty to thirty dollars... 4. I have seen some 22 card ones based on a city...I know of some really expensive ones, one related to the Duomo of Siena and another, a famous story out of Milan and Lake Como. I have heard that you could go into 'tobacco' shops and buy tarots off the shelf...let us know! Cerulean Mari

Stregaverde	29 Jan 2005
This thread was a while ago, but I just saw it (while doing a search on the Casanova deck). How did the trip to Italy go? Yes, anyone can just walk into Alida, and I plan to do that next month! I'm going in with a certain amount of cash and leaving the credit card with my hubby, though, because otherwise I'd be leaving a large chunk of change in San Marino! We live about two hours away from SM. The tobacco shops here, called tabaccherie, do indeed carry tarot decks, while the bookstores that I've seen generally do not, unless they are biblioteche esoteriche (occult bookstores). I myself hadn't looked in the tobacco shops too much (some carry decks, some don't), but lucked upon one today that had basically the entire LS catalog in stock! Woohoo! AND they were offering 20% off if you bought two or more decks! I picked up Tarocchi di Vetro (Crystal Tarot) and Tarocchi di Casanova for 28 euros, not bad! If anyone does buy in the tabaccherie, be warned that the LWB will be in Italian only, most likely, instead of multilingual.

Cerulean	29 Jan 2005
1. Maria d'Onofrio's Tarot had some Florentine allusions: http://www.spiritone.com/~filipas/Masquerade/Reviews/corte.html 2. Minchiate from Lo Scarabeo is Florentine as well http://www.learntarot.com/midesc.htm 3. Trade sites of Milan--but has French suits http://www.spiritone.com/~filipas/Masquerade/Reviews/trades.html 4. England and Verona from Romeo and Juliet http://www.spiritone.com/~filipas/Masquerade/Reviews/giulnew.html Best wishes! Cerulean

Kissa	29 Jan 2005
I ordered Maria d'Onofrio's La Corte dei Tarocchi last week from alidastore. Expecting it... Arcana XXI Le Monde is a view of Florence and the minors though non-scenic are all illustrated with some italian ornementation (crests, etc.) Viewing the scans on Filipas' site and on Tarot Garden, I fell in love with this deck. I am a bit sceptic about reading with it but I just had to get it. It's not even very expensive for a limited edition and rare deck. Kissa

The Looking for a deck to go to Italy with... thread was originally posted on 19 Apr 2004 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.