Italian regional pattern. From ‘The World of Playing Cards’: Primiera Bolognese was a gambling game played in Italy from the first half of the 16th century and this pattern derives from that period or even earlier. As it is now produced as a double-ended deck, some archaic features have been chopped off. Originally it had maids instead of jacks in cups and coins (a feature shared in Florentine Minchiate) and it also shares court card designs with Tarocco di Bologna. The dragon head on the ace of swords can still be seen.