In the late 18th century French occultists made elaborate, but unsubstantiated, claims about their history and meaning, leading to the emergence of custom decks for use in divination via tarot card reading and cartomancy. However, some older patterns, such as the Tarot de Marseille , originally intended for playing card games, are also used for cartomancy.
Like the common playing cards, tarot has four suits that vary by region: French suits are used in western, central and eastern Europe, and Latin suits in southern Europe. In addition, and unlike standard packs, the tarot also has a separate card trump suit and a single card known as the Fool. Depending on the game, the Fool may act as the top trump or may be played to avoid following suit. The use of tarot playing cards was at one time widespread across the whole of Europe except the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula.
The game of Cego has grown in popularity again in the south German region of Baden. Tarot cards, then known as tarocchi , first appeared in Ferrara and Milan in northern Italy, with the Fool and 21 trumps then called trionfi being added to the standard Italian pack of four suits: batons , coins , cups and swords.
The first records of playing cards in Europe date to in Bern and they appear to have spread very rapidly across the whole of Europe, as may be seen from the records, mainly of card games being banned. An early pattern of playing cards used the suits of batons or clubs, coins, swords, and cups.
These suits are still used in traditional Italian , Spanish and Portuguese playing card decks, and are also used in modern occult tarot divination cards that first appeared in the late 18th century. A lost tarot-like pack was commissioned by Duke Filippo Maria Visconti and described by Martiano da Tortona, probably between and since the painter he mentions, Michelino da Besozzo , returned to Milan in , while Martiano himself died in He described a card deck with 16 cards having images of the Roman gods and suits depicting four kinds of birds.
