A facsimile deck produced by Il Meneghello of Milan from the uncoloured original owned by Osvaldo Menegazzi in Italy. Though national suits were eventually developed German card makers were extremely inventive with their suit signs. Packs of cards used flowers, combs, fishes, crowns, bellows, frying pans, shields, knives, and the four suits of this deck: Books, Printer\'s Ink Pads, Wine Pots and Cups. This 52-card deck is one of the most significant works of Jost Amman, one of the more prolific wood cut artists of the German Renaissance. The courts are Kings on horseback, and the usual German Ober and Unter. On the 10s are women, perhaps borrowing from the 10s of Spanish packs which are sometimes female figures. The pips feature many illustrations of everyday life as associated with the suit of the card they are on. Placing detailed little pictures on the pip cards was common in German decks, often with a plant rising up in the background of the scene with the pips attached to it as though they were leaves or fruit of the plant. The cards are protected by the usual hand-made Meneghello book cover that ties with a ribbon at one side and has an inner card wrap. Card dimensions are true to the originals at: 6.8 cm x 10.9 cm.

Marvel Poker deck from Italy

Carte Romane were designed by Giorgio Pessione for Capitol Carta Roma, 1973. The publishers were aiming to establish “Carte Romane” as a distinctive regional pattern for Rome, the most famous of all cities, capital of Italy, which up to that time was missing from card tables. The deck celebrates the ancient history of Rome, founded on an act of love and death. The cards have traditional Hispano-Italian suit symbols, and the courts feature Roman-style warrior-knaves, centurion-knights and emperor-kings. Symbols and allegories such as the Mouth of Truth for coins, Roman daggers, Vesta’s Temple, the Colosseum, Arch of Titus, the letters S.P.Q.R. etc. decorate the cards. Unfortunately they were not successful owing to the greater popularity of the Piacentine pattern.

Italian Napoletane deck