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Published by Lo Scarabeo, distributed by Llewellyn, $19.95 USD
Review by innowen

I love the Dante Tarot for it's bright vivid colors and how they contrast to the dark symbolism many of the cards represent. I have always been a fan of Dante and the Inferno; when this deck got published, I immediately ordered a copy. The imagery does not disappoint me at all. This deck offers a rather interesting and unique perspection into tarot and it's meanings. However, the design of the deck being radically nontraditional in suite and meanings, does tend to make me think that this tarot deck is better for collectors than readings. It's not a deck for the faint at heart.

The Dante Tarot is a non-traditional 78 card deck. Black backgrounds with the title (and/or number) of the cards printed on top in english frame the cards. The title of the cards, written in 4 other languages, appears at the bottom of each card. The back of the card appears almost like a chess board, with a castle one one side with a person writing and a landscape with a knight riding a dark horse on the other.

The deck's artwork, painted by Andrea Serio, makes the deck unique. Done in watercolor and pencil Serio's images are rather dreamy and does a good job of representing Dante's ideals. Even the box the cards are kept in contains original artowrk. However, I found it hard to associate many of the images on the cards to their meanings (traditional or otherwise) as the arcana switch between ideas and people throughout the entire deck. The Dante Tarot also comes with 2 variations of the King of Fire (swords) card. One depicting an beast-like character while the other is more scenic in nature. The pamphlet that comes with the deck does not give any explainations as to why they did this.

The deck deviates from a standard deck with it's minor arcana names. The Swords have been replaced by Fire, the Coins (pentacles) become Clouds, Wands are Bricks and the Cups are Lights. The deck comes with a small pamphlet and according to it, the symbolism was changed to conform more to the standards Dante wrote about in his works, mainly the Divine Comedy. The second way the Dante Tarot deviates from standard decks is in it's interpretations. It does not follow the Rider-Waite and Crowley interpretations of the cards. For example, the Fool, normally represented by most decks as new beginnings and adventures now becomes "Need. Eccentric behavior, recklessness, and material or psychological problems".

The cardstock it's printed on is thicker and glossier than other decks. At first I thought this was a good thing making the deck appear as if it would last longer. However, shuffling the cards was a bit harder to do without damaging the darker edges of the cards. The pamphlet that comes with the book is more of a reference to the deck and does not go into great depth on each card's imagery and meaning. This was a bit disappointing since The Dante Tarot is so different from other cards. The pamphlet does include two different layouts for the card.

Because of the dramatic changes in the cards meanings and the inability to quickly "connect" with the cards makes it almost unapproachable for me as a reader to utilize quickly as a divination deck. It would take a great deal of studying this deck and practicing readings using the methods it describes for one to adequately use the Dante Tarot for divination. I do, however, love the imagery and believe that it would make a great companion to those studying Dante and his Divine Comedy.