Filippo (Filippo Maria) is the last Visconti, inventor of the “games of triumphs” (juegos de triunfos), which is to say tarot. The Archive also records a Doctor Filippo, de facto regent of Milan, who may be the same figure.
| Type | Character |
| Chronicle | Invisible Cities |
| Era | 1494 |
| Location | Milan |
| House | Visconti |
| Spanish entry | Filippo |
Filippo Maria
A great mage and alchemist, fat and a recluse, shut in his castle and asking for strange materials. His brother is Galeazzo Visconti.
His death opened a void. The republicans proclaimed the Ambrosian Republic and destroyed the old Visconti castle. Francesco of the house of Sforza waited; the Venetians fell upon the city, it called him to save it, then drove him out, and so Milan ended up changing houses.
Doctor Filippo
One afternoon in the Ambrosiana library, beside the botany section, Doctor Filippo points out a wrapped deck to Iriscan. He is a fat man with a small beard and red hair, a learned astrologer who remained as de facto regent of Milan. The chronicle of the Invisible Cities receives the deck.
Open questions
- Whether Doctor Filippo is a second man or Filippo Maria “in another skin” is not settled; at the least, the recluse who made cards and the learned man who hands them over are the same figure repeated.