Playing cards (
carte da gioco) have been in
Italy since the 14th century. As Latin suited cards, they use swords (
spade), cups (
coppe), coins (
denari), and clubs (
bastoni). All Italian suited decks have three
face cards per suit; the
fante (
Knave),
cavallo (
Knight), and
re (
King). Italian suited cards normally only refer to cards originating from northeastern Italy around the former
Republic of Venice as the rest of Italy uses
Spanish suits,
French suits or
German suits. Until the late 19th century, Italy was composed of many smaller independent states or under foreign occupation which led to the development of various regional patterns. Italian suited cards are largely confined to northern Italy and pockets in
Switzerland. Popular games include
Scopa,
Briscola,
Tressette,
Bestia, and
Sette e mezzo.