Sixty-one is 'o cacciatore, the hunter. It is a plain figure with an unusually good paper trail: Michele Zezza's Naples smorfia of 1835 already has Cacciatore at 61.
Nine squares on Zezza's list match the modern one exactly. This is one of them, and the coincidence across a hundred and ninety years is the best argument that there was ever a stable core to the board at all.
- 61
- 'O cacciatore
- the hunter
- Row 61–70 of the tabellone
Where the figure comes from
Not explained. The continuity is the fact worth having.
Other things filed on 61
In Neapolitan life
Sicily has u scarparu, the cobbler, at 61 and its hunter nowhere obvious. The overlap between the two boards is real but partial, which points to shared ancestry with a great deal of local drift rather than to one list copying another.
61 in the smorfia — frequently asked
At least 1835, when Zezza's printed Naples smorfia puts him there. It is one of nine squares that match between that edition and the modern lists.
Nine squares match the modern one exactly, several more are close, and a handful have changed outright. It is continuity with drift, not an unbroken tradition.