Ancient Minchiate Etruria

The card game minchiate was created in Florence, Italy around the mid-16th Century. Minchiate decks are similar to tarot decks, but there are 97 cards instead of 78, and the order is different. The extra cards in the major arcana are the 12 zodiac signs, 4 virtues (faith, hope, charity, prudence) and 4 elements (fire, water, air, earth). The High Priestess is not included. The majors do not have titles, but are numbered with roman numerals given in a banner. For the court cards, the knights are man/beast creatures. The valets (or pages) are men for clubs and swords, and women for chalices and pentacles. This minchiate deck is published by Lo Scarabeo of Italy and distributed by Llewellyn in the US. The publisher dates the original deck as 1725. Etruria was a small kingdom in the Tuscany region of Italy.

Number of Cards Size Copyright Card Back Design

97
41 major/56 minor 2 1/4" x 4 1/4" 1995 [back design]

Number of Cards	Size	Copyright	Card Back Design
97 41 major/56 minor	2 1/4" x 4 1/4"	1995

Language of Card Titles: English

Style of Suit Cards (2-10): suit symbols

Also Included: fold-out instruction sheet, title card, publisher card

Major Arcana:
Fool, Magician, Empress, Emperor, Hierophant, Lovers,
Temperance, Force, Justice, Wheel of Fortune, Chariot,
Time (Hermit), Hanged Man, Death, Devil, House of the Devil,
Hope, Prudence, Faith, Charity, Fire, Water, Earth, Air
Libra, Virgo, Scorpio, Aries, Capricorn, Sagittarius,
Cancer, Pisces, Aquarius, Leo, Taurus, Gemini, Star
Moon, Sun, World, Last Judgment (mislabeled as Justice in instruction sheet)

Suit Names: Clubs (Wands), Chalices (Cups), Swords, Pentacles

Court Cards: King, Queen, Knight, Valet (Page)

SAMPLE CARD IMAGES:

[Earth] [Pisces] [Knight of Swords]

References -
The Encyclopedia of Tarot: Volume 1 by Stuart Kaplan, pgs.49-53
The Encyclopedia of Tarot: Volume 2 by Stuart Kaplan, pgs. 191, 198, 200, 222, 245, 247, 256-267