L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 10 THURSDAY, MAY 5, 2022 L'Italo-Americano I f you've ever been to a n I t a l i a n o l d - m e n b a r , t h e o n e where your grand- dad would go spend the afternoon with his mates if that's the type of thing he i s i n t o , o r i f y o u h a d t h e curse – or blessing, depend- ing on which way you look at it – to become acquainted with the habits and quirks of Italy's spiagge libere (those were everyone can go with- out paying any daily fee), you know it already: Italians have an obsession with play- ing cards. Pensioners from North to South organize bona fide tournaments, I am sure. And the image of a family shar- ing a game of scala 40 under t h e b e a c h u m b r e l l a i s a s " q u i n t e s s e n t i a l I t a l i a n Summer" as the man selling coconut slices on the prome- nade. Italy and playing cards go a long way back and while we didn't invent them – it was probably the Chinese or t h e I n d i a n s w h o d i d i t , sometimes in the 10th cen- tury – we certainly had a hand in making them popu- l a r i n E u r o p e . T h e f i r s t attested presence of playing cards in Europe is found in 14th century Spain and Italy, even though there were sim- i l a r g a m e s i n E n g l a n d already in the 12th century. However, historians tend to believe those had developed from the game of chess and didn't have any connection w i t h t h e o l d C h i n e s e - o r Indian- card games. Playing cards didn't come to us directly from the Far E a s t , t h o u g h : w e l i k e l y i n h e r i t e d t h e m f r o m t h e Mamelukes of Egypt, with whom several Italian towns e n t e r t a i n e d c o m m e r c i a l r e l a t i o n s . S o o n , p l a y i n g cards became popular in our country, as well as in Spain and France, as 14th-century documents attest. Little by l i t t l e , e v e r y c o u n t r y embraced the trend, adapt- ing decks to their culture. We Italians added to the oriental deck we had bor- rowed from the Mamelukes 2 2 s p e c i a l c a r d s , t h e s o - called triumphs, and voilà: the original tarot deck was born. While today tarots are associated with divination a bit everywhere around the world, with the most famous deck being British and not Italian, we shouldn't forget that the originals were not u s e d t h a t w a y : t h e y w e r e just… playing cards. We'd have to wait until the late 1 8 t h c e n t u r y t o s e e t h e m used as a way to read the future. Italians also added t h e Q u e e n t o t r a d i t i o n a l decks, a little hint of ante- litteram feminism. The popularity of playing cards in Italy is still pretty surprising: somehow old- fashioned, yet everyone has a deck at home. Not as fun as videogames, perhaps, but young people are still partial t o a g a m e o f t w o o f scopa with their grandpar- ents. Usually, children debut w i t h r u b a m a z z o ( a l s o known as rubamazzetto), the game known in English as "go fish," or "beggar your neighbor," and you can see why: it's easy, it's quick and there is nothing special to understand to play it. The more you grow, the more games you learn, of course: enter, in non-tempo- ral order, scala 40, scopa, briscola, burraco. Some of them, like briscola and bur- raco have a foreign counter- part: you guys know them respectively as "trump" and " b u r a c o , " w h i l e o t h e r s r e m a i n a n I t a l i a n – o r M e d i t e r r a n e a n / L a t i n – thing: scopa, for instance, which is the second most popular game of cards in the c o u n t r y a f t e r b r i s c o l a , i s p l a y e d i n s o m e p a r t s o f South America, especially in Argentina and Brasil, where i t w a s b r o u g h t b y I t a l i a n immigrants. Scala 40, simi- l a r l y , r e m a i n s a s t r i c t l y I t a l i a n t h i n g . A n d w e shouldn't forget that there are different types of decks, t o o , w i t h b a s i c a l l y e v e r y region having its own vari- e t y : w e h a v e l e ( c a r t e ) b e r g a m - asche, le genovesi, le bolog- nesi, le piemontesi, le napo- l e t a n e , l e r o m a g n o l e , l e s a r d e , a n d m a n y , m a n y more. However, they can be widely grouped into three large categories: those using French suits – mostly in the North West; those using the Spanish suits – in the center and the South; those using Italian suits – in Lombardia a n d t h e N o r t h E a s t e r n r e g i o n s ; a n d t h o s e u s i n g G e r m a n s u i t s – i n A l t o - Adige. Some curiosities: the old- est playing card deck still extant is called "Italia 2" and d a t e s b e t w e e n 1 3 9 0 a n d 1410. Despite being "Italian" at least in the name, it is part of the Fournier Naipes Museum in Vitoria, Spain. And one of Italy's most pop- ular games, burraco, actual- l y c o m e s f r o m S o u t h America. Who would have thought? Playing cards, in Italy, has the same generation- unifying power as watching a g a m e w h e r e t h e I t a l i a n soccer team plays: when the deck comes out, we are all the same and we all want to play. There is a clear social connotation to our games of c a r d s , t o o , b e c a u s e i t ' s something we do at every age and always in groups. There is an attractiveness to it, that makes us always say y e s w h e n a g a m e i s p r o - posed and, in a very heart- warming way, playing cards i s t r a n s - g e n e r a t i o n a l , because it's often something g r a n d p a r e n t s t e a c h t h e i r grandchildren. Ah, game of cards after dinner with my nonni… what wouldn't I give to do it again! L a s t b u t n o t l e a s t , w e shouldn't discount the aes- t h e t i c b e a u t y o f c a r d s . I n d e e d , c a r d s c a n e v e n b e c o m e a f a s h i o n i t e m , something to display proud- l y i n y o u r s i t t i n g r o o m : T i f f a n y , P r a d a , H e r m è s , Alexander McQueen, all cre- a t e d t h e i r o w n d e s i g n e r decks. CHIARA D'ALESSIO Italian playing cards. In Italy, cards decks are different from region to region (Photo: Stefania Leonardi/Dreamstime) From tarots to briscola, Italy can't get enough of playing cards! LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE

• Cover