Monday, May 5, 2014

Fools Head Inn

Francesco Piscina, in 1565, explained Matto and Bagatto. He explained them badly, albeit creatively.




  1. I just noticed your post, Michael. I am glad this passage is on the web, what with Tarotpedia being temporarily removed. However the translation suffers from a confusion of tenses, making Piscina's allegory more mysterious than he intended. In the 6th line it uses a past perfect that should be present perfect (not "had preferred" but "have preferred") and at the end a past tense that should be present (not "to which most people used to go" but "in which most people prefer to stay". Marco Ponzi, the original translator, posted a revised translation at It is both more literal and clearer than what you have above (which is the version in the print edition), although still not the clearest English. He wanted me to correct the version on Tarotpedia (he did change "used" to "use", but that's not enough). However we couldn't figure out how to get me access and the project was dropped. The point, which may have been clear enough anyway, is that people used to go to the Inn of the Mirror, i.e. self-reflection, but now prefer the Inn of the Fool, whose picture is outside the Inn, as a kind of advertisement, and whose innkeeper is the Bagat.

    1. Hi, Mike,

      I am usually inclined to take such things on faith, and so I've made those two changes. This part of the interpretation is pretty frivolous, if not fatuous, anyway. It is, however, an interesting reminder that the author(s) of those two readings were just making things up, without much serious consideration.

      And it offered a great opportunity for a bit of creative sign making.