Dal Negro - Carte Romagnole

10/02/2026

Dal Negro - Carte Romagnole

INTRODUCTION

This time we examine an Italian regional pattern on which I have barely been able to gather any information, and what little I found sheds little light when trying to delve into its history or conducting a rigorous analysis. For this reason, we will use this post to provide a broad overview of these decks and patterns. A reference framework that will serve both as a guide for future entries and as background for those already covered on the blog.

IDENTIFICATION DETAILS

Produced by Italian maker Dal Negro, we present this deck marketed under the name Carte Romagnole. It consists of 40 Spanish-suited cards and, as its name suggests, features the Romagnole pattern. This is a modern edition currently available in the brand’s catalog.

ON ITALIAN REGIONAL PATTERNS

Playing cards arrived in Italy by the second half of the 14th century at the latest. This long history across a territory shaped by numerous internal transformations explains why, even today, we find such a wide variety of styles.

Their classification encompasses a total of 16 patterns, all distinct from one another, though often sharing common traits. We can begin by dividing them into two broad groups:

Northern Patterns.
Central-Southern Patterns.

Across these groups, we find decks using Italian / Spanish suits (Coins, Cups, Swords, Batons), French suits (Spades, Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds), and even German suits (Hearts, Acorns, Bells, Leaves).

Northern Italian suits bear striking similarities to 14th- and 15th-century tarot decks, which in turn seem to trace back to Mamluk cards, likewise considered a possible origin for Spanish suits. From this, one could infer that these Northern Latin suits may have evolved in parallel (not necessarily anchored to Iberian roots) from a common ancestor. Below is a brief overview of their iconography:

Coins (Denari): Feature geometric motifs in blue, red, or yellow.
Cups (Coppe): Usually hexagonal in shape and generally vertically symmetrical. They also use blue, red, and yellow.
Swords (Spade): Curved like scimitars or sabers, and typically appear interlaced on the pip cards.
Batons (Bastoni): Resemble richly decorated ceremonial batons with pommels at both ends. Like the swords, they are usually interlaced.

By contrast, patterns from central and southern Italy show a very strong affinity with Spanish playing cards. In this case, their iconographic closeness finds a historical explanation in the presence and rule of the Spanish Crown across these territories.

Coins (Denari): Rendered in yellow, sometimes with red accents, with varying degrees of ornamentation.
Cups (Coppe): Chalices with rounded or curved contours. They may feature handles.
Swords (Spade): Straight and usually blue with double-edged blades. In some patterns, they include yellow or red accents.
Batons (Bastoni / Mazze): Rough, knobby cudgels sprouting branches, leaves, or even blossoms.

For their part, cards from the country's northwestern region bear a distinct French imprint, dominated by French-suited patterns. In the northeast, Italian suits prevail, though Austrian and Tyrolean influences are also present. In this regard, special mention must be made of the Salzburger pattern (Salisburghesi). Although a German / Central European pattern, its 40-card Italian variant is likewise considered a regional pattern due to the annexation of South Tyrol (Bolzano) to Italy after World War I, preserving deep cultural roots that extended to their playing cards.

Below is the complete list of these patterns, noting their standard Italian designation and the card count for each deck:

Northern pattenrs · Italian suits

Bergamo (Bergamasche) · 40 cards
Brescian (Bresciane) · 52 cards
Bolognese (Bolognesi) · 40 cards
Trentine (Trentine) · 40 or 52 cards
Trevisane / Venetian (Trevigiane / Veneziane) · 40 or 52 cards
Triestine (Triestine) · 40 cards

Central-Southern patterns · Spanish suits

Napolitan (Napoletane) · 40 cards
Piacentine (Piacentine) · 40 cards
Romagnole (Romagnole) · 40 cards
Sarde (Sarde) · 40 cards
Sicilian (Siciliane) · 40 cards

Northwestern patterns · French suits

Genoese (Genovesi) · 36, 40, or 52 cards
Lombardy / Milanese (Lombarde / Milanesi) · 40 cards
Piedmont (Piemontesi) · 36, 40, or 52 cards
Tuscan / Florentine (Toscane / Fiorentine) · 40 cards

Northeastern pattern · German suits

Salzburger (Salisburghesi) · 40 cards

As in any classification attempt, this geographical scheme is not without exceptions. which is precisely the case with the deck we examine in this post.

* Note: Regarding northern patterns with Italian suits, certain IPCS pattern sheets, as well as the website of the Italian Playing Card Society (Associazione 7bello), refer to them as northeastern patterns. However, they do not establish this designation within their taxonomic classification, using it in a purely descriptive fashion. On the other hand, various sources favor a geographical division between Northern and Central-Southern, treating the northwestern patterns and the German-suited northeastern pattern as incidental notes rather than defined subcategories. With no established consensus, and given that the main reference bodies (IPCS, 7bello) do not explicitly classify them this way, I have chosen to use the "colloquial" breakdown set out above.

ROMAGNOLE PATTERN ANALYSIS

Romagna is a historical region located in northern Italy, part of present-day Emilia-Romagna. Based on what we have just seen, one would expect this pattern to feature Italian suits; however, it displays Spanish suits. This phenomenon is less surprising if we recall the Piacentine pattern from the adjoining region of Emilia, which shares these suits. Nevertheless, unlike Piacenza and the southern territories, which were under the control of the Spanish Crown during the 18th century, Romagna was part of the Papal States. Therefore, the adoption of Iberian suits here was not the result of direct political rule, but rather seems most likely to have stemmed from trade and cultural exchange with adjacent regions.

Beyond the geographical proximity between the Romagnole and Piacentine patterns, there are certain shared iconographic details, such as the Ace of Swords featuring a large scimitar held by a putto, and the King of Coins bearing an axe. However, we also find notable differences, especially on the Ace of Coins, which in the Romagnole pattern takes on an almost sterile appearance, with a horizontally elongated ornament that varies according to maker and era; in our copy, it is somewhat more 'elaborate' than usual, with a central circle—once reserved for the tax stamp—here occupied by Dal Negro's characteristic harlequin.

Added to this is the format of the court cards: like nearly all Spanish-suited pattens, the Romagnole features single-ended figures. Although today's Piacentine pattern employs double-ended figures, this is not a foundational divergence in their origins, but rather a later innovation that eventually became standard.

The remainder of the deck exhibits no especially remarkable differences or similarities, adhering in one form or another to conventional Spanish-suit norms. In this regard, an interesting partially related detail appears in the classification by the Associazione 7bello: when categorizing Spanish-suited patterns based on their morphological traits, it places nearly all of them into a group distinguished by a 3 of Batons with crossed cudgels, the only exception being the Roxas / Sarde pattern, where they lie parallel.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Although this post ultimately took us considerably further than anticipated, the initial aim was precisely to contextualize our pack within the complex landscape of Italian regional patterns. The Romagnole stands as a clear example of how geographical, historical, and cultural boundaries do not always coincide with those of playing-card patterns themselves.