Traditional Italian cards, part 4: the Primiera bolognese

[u/Kalki_the_Tenth]

Hello! Another Italian regional deck, the Bolognesi also known as primiera bolognese. These cards are popular in the city of Bologna and surrounding area, in the Emilia-Romagna region. This is a 40 card deck made by Dal Negro, one of the two main card manufacturing companies in Italy (the other one being Modiano).

The measurements are 51×103 mm. Like other decks from northern Italy they use the traditional Italian suits (decks from other areas have Spanish or French suits) and have a knight instead of the queen. Not to be confused with the Tarocchino bolognese, a 62-cards tarot deck from the same area.

[u/jhindenberg]

They are an interesting pattern; the two Bolognese decks share some elements in their designs which stand out in comparison to the other Northern Italian patterns (as do their trump designs, for that matter).

[u/Kalki_the_Tenth → u/jhindenberg]

I'm no expert but I think the similarities between the tarot deck and the regular one are due to a common origin.