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Posts tagged ‘Bordoni Tarot’

Oct 13

Soprafino: Nineteenth-Century Tarot in Milan

One of the most beautiful examples of Milanese tarot landed on my doorstep a few weeks ago. Originally printed by Bordoni of Milan in 1885, it’s been reproduced by Marco Benedetti with his signature bordi rivoltinati (paper borders folded over from the back). This gorgeous deck (example on the left) led me down a rabbit hole where I pulled out all twenty of the Milanese decks in my collection and sorted through the different varieties. From the 1830s to 1890s, this distinctive tarot, with graceful lines and luscious colors, was the trademark deck of Milan and surrounding territories. It began with the Soprafino tarot printed by Ferdinand Gumppenberg about 1830 from copper plates engraved by Carlo Dellarocca. Let’s look at the origins and the evolution of this style, how it differs from the Tarot de Marseille, and the decks that are available for purchase at this time.

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Oct 9

Fool cards from three soprafino decks
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The Three Soprafinos

Tarocchino Lombardo, the long out-of-print soprafino deck published by Il Solleone, fell into my hands recently. This gave me an opportunity to compare it with soprafino facsimiles by Lo Scarabeo and Il Meneghello. The the cards in the illustrations from left to right are: Lo Scarabeo, Il Solleone, Il Meneghello.

If you need a refresher on this deck style, here’s a page with everything you need to know.

The short version: About 1835, the printing house of Gumppenberg in Milan hired the artist Carlo Della Rocca to create an exquisitely beautiful engraved tarocchi deck. Since then, many of the deck’s unique design elements have been used in other decks printed in Lombardy and Piedmont. Read more