Secret

The archive reviewer owned Marco Nizzoli's Secret Tarot from 1997 and remembered its first effect: mysterious but beautiful, a fresh departure for eyes trained on RWS storytelling and Marseilles workalikes. Nizzoli, an Italian comics artist of real standing, built a deck whose darkness is atmospheric rather than gothic-costumed, unusual imagery that withholds a little, which is what the title honestly promises: a deck with secrets, not a deck about them. Comics-trained Italian artists gave Lo Scarabeo's golden era its depth, and Nizzoli's contribution wears its craft in staging and shadow, scenes that feel entered mid-story. Decks that withhold reward long ownership, the reviewer's decades with it being the testimony. It suits readers who like interpretive room, admirers of Italian comics illustration, collectors of Lo Scarabeo's nineties flowering, and anyone who finds fully-explained decks finish too quickly. Readers who want their meanings delivered labeled should choose a chattier deck; this one prefers to be asked twice.