Sixty-three is 'a sposa, the bride. Zezza's 1835 Naples edition has Sposi here, the married couple, so the square has narrowed from two people to one at some point in the intervening century and a half.
Sicily keeps a zita at 63, the betrothed girl, which is the same movement in a different dialect.
- 63
- 'A sposa
- the bride
- Row 61–70 of the tabellone
Where the figure comes from
The number is unexplained; the drift from couple to bride is documented by the 1835 edition and is one of the few changes on this board that can actually be dated.
Other things filed on 63
In Neapolitan life
The board's marriage cluster is scattered: lovers filed at 13, the bride at 63, the two spinsters at 66. Compilers seem to have added figures where there was room rather than where they belonged.
63 in the smorfia — frequently asked
No. The 1835 Naples list has Sposi, the couple. The modern lists give only the bride.
Not any more. The 1835 edition had the couple; the modern lists kept only the bride.