In the heart of Milan, the Sforza Castle is a main drawcard for tourists. It’s now a noted museum and art gallery, but very few tourists realise its significance in the history of Tarot.

Historians agree that Tarot was invented within the walls of this castle around 1441. At this time, the Duke of Milan asked his artist, Bonifacio Bembo, to create an extension of the standard playing cards. Twenty-two hand-painted trump cards and some extra Court cards were added to existing playing cards to create a game called Tarocco, or Tarocchi (plural). For his trump cards, Bembo designed an allegory of religious teachings which were easily displayed in a series of pictures.

We know the original deck was made for the Visconti-Sforza families who lived in this castle, because their heraldry is included on those original cards.

A few years ago I was lucky enough to explore this castle, but despite the huge significance this dwelling has on the history of Tarot, I couldn’t find any mention of these cards in guidebooks or signage within the castle. Could that be because Italy is a very religious country? Perhaps they are not interested in the historical significance of the link between this castle and Tarot, or maybe they have deliberately chosen to ignore this aspect of its role in Tarot.

I wasn’t expecting this castle to be a shrine to Tarot, but I’d hoped there would be some links to the cards for those who knew what to look for, but this wasn’t the case. Despite this, it was exciting to walk through the buildings where Tarot was conceived and brought into reality.

And I did get to see one particular image that I had hoped to find…on the ceiling of a room in the castle is a fresco of card players. Perhaps they are using the first ever Tarot cards!