Some language info that may be useful for those going to l'Eroica...
Most parts of Italy have their own regional pattern with latin or French suits. Latin suited cards, with suits of swords (spade), batons (bastoni), cups (coppe) and coins (denari), are prevalent in the North-East (where the pip cards have curved swords and straight batons which cross in a trellis), and in the South (where the pip cards have short separate swords and batons). Elsewhere the regional patterns are French suited, with suits of spades (picche), clubs (fiori), diamonds (quadri) and hearts (cuori). Most of the regional cards come as 40 card packs; 52 card versions of the North-Eastern Italian regional patterns are also made for certain games.
Found at http://www.pagat.com/
David Bean
Arlington, MA