Mitelli’s Tarot 1660 Rinascimento Italian Style Art

“A flight of fancy, a jewel of creativity, a perfect stylistic exercise”- Gioradino Berit

Around 1660, Italian engraver and creator of board games Giuseppe Maria Mitelli (Bologna 1634 – 1718), produced a true masterpiece of Baroque art for Count Filippo Bentivoglio. That deck was titled “Giuoco di Carte, con Nuova Forma di Tarocchini” (Card Game, with a new form of Tarot). It consisted in six sheets with two groups of eleven cards and four groups of ten cards, for an amount of 62 cards. This is the Tarocchino Bolognese, absolutely identical to the traditional pack of Tarocchi except for the elimination of 16 cards: 2, 3, 4 and 5 of each suite.

A few decades after Mitelli’s death around 1750, an anonymous Bolognese card-maker, signed Alla Trombetta, reprinted and hand-painted the 62 cards in a number unknown of copies, putting them on the market for use by card-players. In 2017, after intense research, Italian historian Giordano Berti published a splendid reproduction of the Mitelli’s Tarocchino preserved at the National Library of Paris.

In this splendid limited edition, the colors, dimensions and back of the cards perfectly reflect the original. Even the marbled paper that covers the box is a faithful reproduction of the marbled paper that was produced in Bologna at the beginning of the eighteenth century. This version has been printed in only 900 copies. Each copy is numbered and hand signed by Giordano Berti on a certificate of authenticity.

 In the Deluxe box, along with the deck, there is a companion booklet in English written by Giordano Berti: 118 pages in full color, with historic introduction, life and works of Mitelli, contents of the images, divinatory meanings and methods to read the cards. The Standard box includes a leaflet with the divinatory meanings of the 62 cards and some methods of reading.

Specs

• Publisher: Rinascimento and Araba Fenice, Italy, 2017
• Curator: Giordano Berti.
• Limited edition: 900 numbered and signed copies.
• Deck: 62 cards + 1 warranty with number and signature of Giordano Berti.
• Card format: 2.5 x 5 inches
• Deluxe box design: Letizia Rivetti.
• Packaging: “RINASCIMENTO – Italian Style Art”. Handmade. Book-shaped box. Outside in blue marbled paper. Velvet interior.
• The Deluxe box, includes a companion booklet in English written by Giordano Berti: 118 PAGES FULL COLOR, with historic introduction, life and works of Mitelli, contents of the images, divinatory meanings and methods to read the cards.
• The Standard box includes a leaflet with the divinatory meanings of the 62 cards and some methods of reading.

Publisher

Rinascimento Italian Style Art is a creator, publisher and artistic team founded by historian of esotericism in art Giordano Berti and art designer Letizia Rivetti. The project is committed to historical study and reproduction of ancient Tarots, rare playing cards and oracular decks.

Giordano Berti

Giordano is a writer and historian of esotericism in Art, known throughout the world for historical studies on the Tarot and designer of educational games

Letizia Rivetti

Letizia is an art designer, founder of ArtStudioLetizia, creator of spectacular environments, art installations and art objects.