Tarocchino Al Soldato Bologna 1750 and Tarocco Bolognese Al Mondo Comparison 

I love learning the histories of the very first decks. So much more interesting to me than the many many modern decks. Thanks!

I love this historical deck. It just became available in my country, and I ordered it today. Thank you for showing it, and giving us your thoughts, because you are very knowledgeable.

Hi, Marilyn. I finally broke down and bought the Lo Scarabeo Al Soldato deck. And I really like it!. I like the narrow cards and the illustrations are lovely. The card stock has that nice almost waxy feel to it. I would have loved to have a full 78 card deck but it's just not going to happen. The four Moors are fascinating! Maybe, one day I'll get really ambitious and make my own 2 - 5 pips for this deck. I find the courts are particularly lovely. Anyway, I have you to thank for exposing me to this and many more historical tarot decks. Tally ho!

I just got my Al Soldato and am loving it.. I didn't realize you also had a video on this gorgeous (and available, and affordable!) reproduction. Just something I found in my studies that I thought was fun... while the Italian cards generally call the Fool some variation of Matto (drunkedness or madness) there was of course some overlap with French names, so some regions started using some variation of Folle. Where this gets interesting is that the words related to "Fool" all come from the Latin Follis, which refers to inflated bellows, or puffed cheeks. In English we might say that someone is an "air head" a "wind bag" or "full of hot air". But the connotation of blowing air also applies to playing pipes and especially to bagpipes! For identifying the Moors, here are some shortcuts: The religious figures wear cloaks clasped in an X shape... X for X'ian, Christian or Church. The secular leaders hold the Orbis Mundi, the globe of dominion, and scepters of power. The male cards are all holding their hands down at their laps, while the female cards hold their hands up. The keys of the Popess have been replaced by multiple arrows. It is a little harder to see this with the Al Mondo, but IMO the Moors with the arrows are the Pope and Papess, the ones with the scepters are the Emperor and Empress. Again we can identify the Papess as having multiple arrows representing her keys, and her right hand is up on her bow. The Al Mondo Pope has one arrow, like the spear of the Al Soldato. For the secular rulers, I suppose you could equate the sun scepter with the Emperor and the moon scepter with the Empress. Or you could say that the figure with their hand higher up is the female card and thus the sun scepter is the Empress. Note that the Moor with the bow and the Moor with the sun scepter both have jewels on their turbans while the other two do not, another indication to me that these are meant to be the ladies. The Hermit was called Vecchio (the old man) and he has wings because he represents the passage of Time... as in Tempus Fugit, time flies! His hourglass has morphed into a column in the same way it morphed into the lantern in Marseilles decks. An "error" I see in many of these reproduction decks is that the Hanged man was in some cases in Bologna represented right-side-up. I don't know enough to know exactly which decks this happened in, but I wish these reproduction decks offered a duplicate card in this orientation!

Lovely to see someone showcase the AL SOLDATO. I do belief what number of deck you get is by luck. I got my copy yesterday as well, but I ordered mine only 2 days ago, when I came across it by chance. I got nr. 977. I just fall in love with the Al Soldato! The artwork is just loverly and elegant. I think it's still a workable deck after making some changes in my normal reading style. The Moors will give some interesting interpretation to a reading. I love to see some sample reading with either decks. I'm found that I'm not the best at relationships readings. So a sample reading about a arguing couple can get over say pride issues and get to connect again.

I love this video. I just ordered the new tarrochino by Anima Antiqua.. it’s coming today!! 😅

Beautfiul deck Marilyn, thanks for sharing

The Soldato Devil looks like he's chomping on a stogie.

Lovely cards. I have got some coming, forgetting the cheapest version is pip short, darnit! I don’t mind mismatched cards, so I’ll see what I can do to add some pips from something else.

Very interesting, Marylyn! It was really exciting to see the 4 Moors and the 2 female pages. The decks are very beautiful, but I can't see myself with the abbreviated Lo Scarabeo deck. And the Al Mondo isn't available. Has anyone else produced a deck like this? Anyway, always fascinating, Marylyn. Always a treat. I'll try to think of some questions. Thanks!

Funny thing is, RU-vid got an auto-translate function (to English mostly) at some point, so I used that on Italian videos explaining how to read with Bolognese Tarots (62 card decks like this, with moors). Apparently they reduce the deck further: They remove one of the moors, and also some of the pips. So, there are 45 and 50 card versions. Also, demonstration questions: Querent wants to decide whether to study abroad vs in their home country for college. (something I struggled to decide back in the day) Querent wants to navigate a career change from academia to the private sector, they are in arts and film as a field (One of my professors struggled with something like this, I modified it and removed specificity) Querent wants to understand why they end up having similar toxic relationships again and again, and how they can stop it. (a very common question, I think) Querent wants to know whether they should join a local amateur theatre group as a place to socialize with people that share their interest, but worries about the level of work they expect being too much for a novice. Querent wants to know why a friend suddenly cut them off, and should they reach out or reconnect. Querent wants to know how to navigate a situation in which two people from their friend group were in a relationship, but broke up. They don't want the friend group to take sides and wants to communicate this to the ex-couple and to the friend group in a healthy way. Some fiery questions from our present times: Querent wants to know the best approach to learning about cryptocurrency (internet, experts, friends etc. as a right source). Querent wants guidance on forming a healthier relationship with social media (body image, too much time spent etc). Querent wants to know if streaming gaming content on Twitch can be a full time job for them. Querent wants to know if they should go vegan, they are undecided. Querent is LGBTQIA+ and wants to know how to navigate coming out to their family and friends. Querent wants to know how best to approach transitioning as a transgender person. Querent wants to take a course on astrology, but is undecided between the cheaper online zoom class option and the more expensive face-to-face option. Querent is an influencer and wants to decide between following algorithmic trends or following their more personal style. Feel free to modify them to your sense of better question or to ethical limits.

Ughhh at first I was excited to see a deck that went up to 10 but then I saw the swords and rods in the french style..I'm looking for a deck similar to the neoplitan style..one deck that I like is the Tarocco Neoclassico Milano 1810 by Il Meneghello. Unfortunately its difficult to find at an affordable price.

The only Tarochino I have is Mitelli. And I’m a HUGE Mitelli fan 😍 So the red dots are a new one on me and found that rather interesting. I do like Anima Antiqua collection and the Soldata just happened to pop into my basket 😱 Thank you for the education and my new word for today is “secular” Everyday’s a school day 🙃 A demo question: I feel I’m being asked subconsciously to seek answers/advice from a spiritualist church for questions I have been asking myself regarding ancestral research. Do I attend? The evidence I appear to be dreaming seems for than just a coincidence. Hope that question is OK 🫣 Thank you for another great presentation ~ Richard