1865 (pattern from c. 1735) · Piedmontese tarocchi
Tarocco Piemontese — the Piedmontese Tarot (Solesio, 1865)
At a glance
The tarot of Piedmont, the pack most played in northern Italy today, for games such as Scarto, Mitigati and Chiamare il Re. It derives from the Tarot de Marseille and was made reversible for play: 78 cards, 22 trumps numbered 0 to 21, and four suits of batons, cups, swords and coins.
Where it comes from
Tarot was made in Pinerolo by 1505, and Francesco Piscina described the game at Mondovì in 1565. Around 1700 Piedmontese cardmakers went out of business and players imported Marseille packs from France; when making resumed around 1735 the cards copied the Marseille pattern, French captions included. Local changes through the 19th century ended in the double-ended cards of today.
What is its own
- The Angel above the World: in most games trump 20 outranks 21, as in Bologna.
- The Fool as excuse: it beats nothing but can always be played.
- Two directions of pips: batons and swords rank ten down to one; cups and coins one up to ten .
- It was the standard tarot of the Kingdom of Sardinia, so it was also played in Savoy and Nice .
In this library
All 78 cards of the pack F. F. Solesio published in Turin in 1865, from the copy at the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Where the pictures come from
The BnF's scans on Gallica (ark:/12148/btv1b10513772t), uploaded to Wikimedia Commons as public domain. The 1865 cards are public domain; the BnF lets its scans be reused non-commercially with credit, and asks for a licence for any sale. So they are listed among the flagged images, like the Minchiate and the Viéville.
The cards (78)
78 of 78 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 — The Magician
- see it at the holder2 — The Popess
- see it at the holder3 — The Empress
- see it at the holder4 — The Emperor
- see it at the holder5 — The Pope
- see it at the holder6 — The Lovers
- see it at the holder7 — The Chariot
- see it at the holder8 — Justice
- see it at the holder9 — The Hermit
- see it at the holder10 — Wheel of Fortune
- see it at the holder11 — Strength
- see it at the holder12 — The Hanged Man
- see it at the holder13 — Death
- see it at the holder14 — Temperance
- see it at the holder15 — The Devil
- see it at the holder16 — The Tower
- see it at the holder17 — The Star
- see it at the holder18 — The Moon
- see it at the holder19 — The Sun
- see it at the holder20 — Judgement
- see it at the holder21 — The World
- 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 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
- 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
Sources and credits
Tarocco Piemontese, F. F. Solesio, Turin 1865. Source: gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France (btv1b10513772t), via Wikimedia Commons.
- F. F. Solesio, Turin (1865): Publisher of the pack shown
- Bibliothèque nationale de France (holding institution): Holds the pack; scans on Gallica (btv1b10513772t), credit the BnF
- Wikipedia, "Tarocco Piemontese" (revision 1381270787, read 2026-10-23): History, composition and ranking (CC BY-SA 4.0), paraphrased
- PlayfulProcess (2026): Grammar architecture and summaries
Data: tarot/tarocco-piemontese/grammar.json, CC-BY-SA-4.0. Images keep their own licences (hover a card for its credit).