Twenty-six is Nanninella, an affectionate Neapolitan diminutive of Anna. The saint is Sant'Anna, mother of the Virgin, and her feast falls on 26 July.
The reference lists gloss the entry as the saint's day in the calendar, exactly as they do for 25, and here the arithmetic works without argument.
- 26
- Nanninella
- little Anna
- Row 21–30 of the tabellone
Where the figure comes from
The calendar: 26 July. Unlike 13, where the saint's name and the date pull in opposite directions, this square is internally consistent.
Other things filed on 26
In Neapolitan life
The Sicilian board puts a vecchia, the old woman, at 26 and the Trapani compilers add a cautious note of their own — forse riferimento a Sant'Anna, perhaps a reference to Sant'Anna. Two boards reaching for the same saint through different figures, one of them frankly unsure. That hedging is rarer in this material than it should be.
26 in the smorfia — frequently asked
Sant'Anna, in a Neapolitan diminutive. Her feast is 26 July, which is where the number comes from.
Its own compilers suspect it is the same saint arrived at sideways, and say so in a note rather than asserting it.