|
TAROT:
Symbols, art, magic
A journey into Emilia Romagna’s historical palaces discovering a magic world of triumph and the Major Arcana
There are places which keep precious secrets, the footprints of a past hidden within the images of art and history. Our journey shifts through historical investigation, iconographic itineraries and parallel worlds that relate to Tarot and all the episodes that carved them out, like marble statues in the fantastic world of Art!
   
Introduction:
Michael Dummett, Tarot scholar, and the expert and collector Tom Tadfor Little agree to affirm that the archetypes of the many variety of Tarot can be traced both in Milan – at the court of the Viscontis – and Ferrara and Bologna. The latter gave Tarot the so-called “southern style” the most popular of the three, which can’t be related to no particular court.
It is actually in Bologna where our journey into the world of the Major Arcana starts….
1st Path
  
The Museo dei Tarocchi in Riola - Montovolo - Misa (Bologna)
Subject: the Museo dei Tarocchi, its history, past and future
Riola (Bologna) - to the museum: a journey within contemporary art through the unique works of artists all over the world the precious world of Triumphs.
Subject: the ancient divinatory practices and the oracle centres.
Tarot, an eternal wandering…
Montovolo (Bologna) - Visit to the sacred mountain: the old oracle centre celebrates in the church the ancient glories related to Etruscan and Celtic cultures, to eventually come back as an imaginary world linked to the Templars. The value of the pilgrimage related to Tarot.
Misa (Bologna) – to the museums and the archaeological site in the only entirely preserved Etruscan town in the world: divinity in the Etruscan world, from omens to Runes …
Total time 1 day
2nd Path
  
Bologna
Subject: history of Tarot in Bologna and Tarot iconography
Archiginnasio: the study of Bologna, when astrology rhymed with medicine…. In the anatomic theatre the figures of the stars crown a Pythagorean setting!
Piazza Maggiore, the city’s energetic heart, an excuse for an historical investigation of the origins of Tarot in town: from Bernardino da Siena’s burning of Tarot to the affaire Montieri.
Church of San Petronio: in the magnificent Bolognini chapel the classic iconography of the Hanged Man. The church with its 22 chapels celebrates the world of the Bolognese art between symbols and heresies.
King Enzo Palace, the son of Frederic II: the place of his captivity, the culmination of his spiritual journey.
The Neptune fountain: example of overlay of pagan and Christian symbols, a monument to decipher.
Felicini Palace: Fibbia Castracani, the legendary inventor of Tarot according to Oswald Wirth, in the palace tradition affirms to be the place where Leonardo painted the magical Mona Lisa … in an historical street full of hermetic symbols.
Bocchi Palace, - Achille Bocchi, the master of double language, from ancient Egypt, and his academy (today a private study) full of symbolic questions…
The Jewish ghetto: the magic world of Tarot meets the Cabbala and alchemy within one of the most enchanted places in town.
Poggi Palace: Niccolò dell’Abate’s painting reminding the game of Tarot in Bologna.
Saint James church: Lorenzo Costa’s Triumph of Fame and Death inspired by Petrarch’s ones and source for the XXI e XIII Major Arcana.
The two towers: the city’s most important symbols remind the Devil and the Tower, while we discover their history.
Saint Stephen – Isis guides us through the century in a place where ancient masteries hid symbols and art that inspired Dante’s Inferno (the fortune-tellers).
Saint Domenico church: Bologna’s tribunal of Inquisition Not only because of Tarot, the places where the witches burned… historical investigation on witches and heresies in Bologna, the scene of followings attempts to undermine the worlds of Arcana.
Saint Francis church: the analysis of the portals recalls an allegoric pathway which features alchemy, astrology, hermetic…
The colonnade of St. Luke: 666 restless arcades that lead the pilgrim towards the top of the mountain overlooking the city, where the old black Virgin attributed to Saint Luke is displayed.
Total time 2 days
3rd Path
  
Ferrara
Subject: iconography of Tarot
The Pythagorean cathedral: the secret patterns and geometries conceal an hermetic value. One of the first representations of the fiendish devil inspires the Tarot, as well as the gorgeous tympanum and its final judgement, probably inspired by the Masters from Strasbourg.
The cathedral museum – Cosmé Tura and the Officina Ferrarese, a melting-pot of artists and magicians celebrates hermetic and its symbols
Schifanoia Palace: the astrological Decans – unique in the entire world – set the frame for a court where the world of Tarot experienced honours and glory!
Casa Romei – The Sibyls around the fireplace, the old prophets painted in a beautiful room wink at San Bernardino da Siena’s beautiful sun, the city’s real talisman, inspired by the micro world of Tarot.
The Castle: the Wheel of Fortune and heraldry, the art of the crest turns into an image that needs be interpreted…
Total time 1 day
4th Path
  
Modena
Subject: origin and iconography of Tarot
Piazza Grande: Pico della Mirandola in connection with Ramon Llullo, l’Ars memorandi at the origins of Tarot.
cathedral: a beautiful complex from the 11th telling the magic history of mediaeval symbols, from the portal of the months to the concept of time in the transcendent vision all the way to a sublime rise.
Matteo Boiardo, the city’s Governor, also the creator of a very personal deck.
Total time: ½ day
5th Path
  
Rimini
Subject: Tarot and astrology
The Malatesta Temple: the chapel of planets celebrates Basino da Parma’s genius, the author of astrological symbols that make an unforgettable place out of this temple.
Total time: ½ day
6th Path
  
Parma
Subject: Symbols, alchemy, bestiaries and Tarot
Saint John’s Camera Picta: Correggio’s and its profane stories full of pagan symbols and allusive patterns…
Church of the Steccata: Parmigianino the fresco of the Virgins, the prelude of alchemic art that gives Tarot a new colour.
Benedetto Antelami’s baptistery: an unique work that turns stone into a magic book which needs be interpreted.
Total time; 1 day
|