Thirteen is Sant'Antuono, and the figure is usually explained as the saint's day in the calendar. That explanation has a problem, and it is worth setting out rather than hiding.
In Neapolitan, Sant'Antuono means Anthony the Abbot, the desert father whose feast is 17 January and whose night is marked in Naples and across the south with bonfires. Anthony of Padua, whose feast is 13 June, is Sant'Antonio in Naples, not Sant'Antuono. The Italian reference table names the figure Sant'Antuono and then links it to the saint of Padua, which cannot both be right.
So the square either carries the wrong saint's name or the wrong day's number, and no printed smorfia settles it.
- 13
- Sant'Antuono
- Saint Anthony
- Row 11–20 of the tabellone
Where the figure comes from
The calendar reading is the only one offered: the number is the day of the month on which the saint is kept. It works for Anthony of Padua on 13 June and fails for Anthony the Abbot on 17 January, which is the saint the Neapolitan word actually names. Both saints are in wide devotion in Naples, so the confusion is old rather than careless.
Other things filed on 13
In Neapolitan life
Thirteen sat inside a standing Neapolitan bet. Matilde Serao recorded «il terno della Madonna, otto, tredici e ottantaquattro» in 1884: the Madonna, Sant'Antuono and the church, played as one line. Thirteen is also the number that makes Italy run the opposite way to Britain and America. Fare tredici, to make thirteen, means to strike lucky, out of the thirteen correct results that used to win the Totocalcio football pools. Italy avoids 17, not 13.
13 in the smorfia — frequently asked
The sources disagree with themselves. The Neapolitan name Sant'Antuono means Anthony the Abbot, feast 17 January. The usual gloss points at Anthony of Padua, feast 13 June, which is the date that matches the number.
No, and it is not lucky either — the board assigns pictures, not verdicts. In wider Italian usage 13 is the good number and 17 is the one people avoid.
Anthony the Abbot is the saint of fire in Italian devotion, and 17 January is marked with bonfires in Naples and through the south. That is the saint the Neapolitan name refers to.