c. 1506+
Minchiate — The 97-Card Florentine Tarot
At a glance
A Florentine super-sized tarot game: 97 cards with 40 trumps instead of 22 — adding the zodiac, the four elements, and the remaining theological/cardinal virtues. Despite all that cosmic imagery it is a game, hugely popular for three centuries, and a flagship of the A-order branch.
Origin & dating
First recorded as germini in 1506 (named for the Gemini card, highest of the new trumps). The expanded 97-card pack so outsold the older form that the older name minchiate migrated to the big deck in the 1600s. From Florence it spread across Italy and into France through the 17th century.
Provenance & evidence
Many printed editions survive (e.g. the well-known 18th–19th-century Florentine Minchiate Fiorentine). Rules are preserved in gaming literature; pagat.com documents the game's structure. The expansion is the headline evidence: trumps nearly doubled to absorb astrological and elemental figures.
Game or divination?
Game. This is the deck that most tempts an esoteric misreading — zodiac! elements! virtues! — yet every record treats those cards as trump ranks in a trick-taking game, not oracle cards. The cosmology is decorative/encyclopedic, the same Renaissance visual vocabulary as the Mantegna prints, not a divinatory key.
The fear question
No fear. A mainstream parlor and gambling game for centuries. The familiar caveat applies — moralists disliked gambling — but Minchiate as such was respectable entertainment, openly printed and sold.
Counter-voices
Because Minchiate looks like a "complete" astrological tarot, occult writers sometimes present it as a survival of the true, larger sacred system that the 22-trump decks supposedly censored. The evidence runs the other way: the 22-trump form is older and the 40-trump Minchiate is an expansion for richer play, not a recovered esoteric original.
Open questions / corrections owed
- Minchiate's zodiac/element trumps have no standard equivalent in 22-trump tarot — the grammar should resist forcing a one-to-one mapping (the repo already flags this).
- Relationship between minchiate (77-card) and germini (97-card) naming needs a clean timeline in the grammar.
Sources & further reading
- "Minchiate," Wikipedia; "Minchiate," pagat.com (rules).
- "Minchiate Fiorentine," World of Playing Cards.
RESEARCH NOTE (2026-06-13) — the Papi. Scholarship identifies Minchiate's five lowest trumps as I=Bagatto (Juggler), II=Grand Duke, III=Western Emperor, IV=Eastern Emperor, V=Love — there is NO Pope card and the Popess is dropped (not folded in). Where this grammar names them Popess/Empress/Emperor/Pope/Love, prefer the scholarly identities (confidence medium; verify). The suit→element pairings are a modern overlay, not historical. See research/decks/minchiate-florence-tarot.md.
Where the pictures come from: who holds this deck's pictures, how sharp they are and what their rights allow: Sources: Minchiate.
The cards (97)
97 of 97 card images are not shown on this page (BnF scan, free for non-commercial reuse only). Each card links to where its holder shows it; the card viewer and recursive.eco still open the deck.
- see it at the holderThe Fool
- see it at the holder1 — Papa One (Il Bagatto · the Juggler / “Trivial Performer”)
- see it at the holder2 — Papa Two (the Grand Duke)
- see it at the holder3 — Papa Three (the Western Emperor)
- see it at the holder4 — Papa Four (the Eastern Emperor)
- see it at the holder5 — Papa Five (Love)
- see it at the holder6 — Temperance
- see it at the holder7 — Fortitude
- see it at the holder8 — Justice
- see it at the holder9 — Wheel of Fortune
- see it at the holder10 — The Chariot
- see it at the holder11 — The Hunchback (Time)
- see it at the holder12 — The Hanged Man
- see it at the holder13 — Death
- see it at the holder14 — The Devil
- see it at the holder15 — The House of the Devil (Tower)
- see it at the holder16 — Hope
- see it at the holder17 — Prudence
- see it at the holder18 — Faith
- see it at the holder19 — Charity
- see it at the holder20 — Fire
- see it at the holder21 — Water
- see it at the holder22 — Earth
- see it at the holder23 — Air
- see it at the holder24 — Libra
- see it at the holder25 — Virgo
- see it at the holder26 — Scorpio
- see it at the holder27 — Aries
- see it at the holder28 — Capricorn
- see it at the holder29 — Sagittarius
- see it at the holder30 — Cancer
- see it at the holder31 — Pisces
- see it at the holder32 — Aquarius
- see it at the holder33 — Leo
- see it at the holder34 — Taurus
- see it at the holder35 — Gemini
- see it at the holder36 — The Star
- see it at the holder37 — The Moon
- see it at the holder38 — The Sun
- see it at the holder39 — The World
- see it at the holder40 — The Trumpets (Fame / Judgement)
- see it at the holderAce of Batons
- see it at the holderTwo of Batons
- see it at the holderThree of Batons
- see it at the holderFour of Batons
- see it at the holderFive of Batons
- see it at the holderSix of Batons
- see it at the holderSeven of Batons
- see it at the holderEight of Batons
- see it at the holderNine of Batons
- see it at the holderTen of Batons
- see it at the holderJack of Batons
- see it at the holderKnight of Batons
- see it at the holderQueen of Batons
- see it at the holderKing of Batons
- see it at the holderAce of Coins
- see it at the holderTwo of Coins
- see it at the holderThree of Coins
- see it at the holderFour of Coins
- see it at the holderFive of Coins
- see it at the holderSix of Coins
- see it at the holderSeven of Coins
- see it at the holderEight of Coins
- see it at the holderNine of Coins
- see it at the holderTen of Coins
- see it at the holderJack of Coins
- see it at the holderKnight of Coins
- see it at the holderQueen of Coins
- see it at the holderKing of Coins
- see it at the holderAce of Cups
- see it at the holderTwo of Cups
- see it at the holderThree of Cups
- see it at the holderFour of Cups
- see it at the holderFive of Cups
- see it at the holderSix of Cups
- see it at the holderSeven of Cups
- see it at the holderEight of Cups
- see it at the holderNine of Cups
- see it at the holderTen of Cups
- see it at the holderJack of Cups
- see it at the holderKnight of Cups
- see it at the holderQueen of Cups
- see it at the holderKing of Cups
- see it at the holderAce of Swords
- see it at the holderTwo of Swords
- see it at the holderThree of Swords
- see it at the holderFour of Swords
- see it at the holderFive of Swords
- see it at the holderSix of Swords
- see it at the holderSeven of Swords
- see it at the holderEight of Swords
- see it at the holderNine of Swords
- see it at the holderTen of Swords
- see it at the holderJack of Swords
- see it at the holderKnight of Swords
- see it at the holderQueen of Swords
- see it at the holderKing of Swords
Sources and credits
Florentine Minchiate, A. Baragioli, c. 1860–1890 (public domain). Scans: Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France (ark:/12148/btv1b105161123), via Wikimedia Commons; free for non-commercial reuse.
- Florentine Minchiate workshop (c. 1860–1890): The scanned Minchiate of Florence used for imagery
- Wikimedia Commons (public domain): Card images, Category:Minchiate card deck - Florence - 1860-1890
- PlayfulProcess (2026): Grammar architecture and summaries
Research dossier: research/decks/minchiate-florence-tarot.md. Data: tarot/minchiate-florence-tarot/grammar.json, CC-BY-SA-4.0. Images keep their own licences (hover a card for its credit).