Early documentary evidence suggests that the game of cards reached Italy by around 1375, from the Muslim world, and that it was soon afterwards prohibited.

Italy is also the birthplace of the tarot, originally a card game. Early sets may have had instructional value for educated people. In the 18th century the trump cards became the focus of mystification and since then the tarot has become a sort of popular religion.

Italy today enjoys reasonable political unity, but this has not always been the case. The fourteen different regional types of playing cards found in Italy reflect the influx of French, Spanish and Imperial influences in the past, and the ensuing identity struggles.

Italian suit signs were known north of the Alps as early as the 15th century. The area south of the River Po down to Sicily used to be occupied by the Spaniards who influenced the types of cards used there.