Eighty-five is ll'aneme d''o priatorio, the souls in purgatory. It is the square with the most documented practice behind it of any on the board, and the practice is stranger than the figure.
Naples and Trapani agree here, which they rarely do. The Sicilian board has l'armi du priatoriu on the same number.
- 85
- Ll'aneme d''o priatorio
- the souls in purgatory
- Row 81–90 of the tabellone
Where the figure comes from
The number is unexplained. What is documented is why the figure mattered enough to earn one.
Other things filed on 85
In Neapolitan life
In the Fontanelle ossuary in the Sanità, a worked-out tufa quarry filled with anonymous bones, Neapolitans practised the cult of the anime pezzentelle, the pauper souls. A devotee adopted a skull — a capuzzella — cleaned and polished it, laid it on an embroidered handkerchief and later a lace cushion, lit candles for it and prayed for its relief. The standing formula was «A refrische 'e ll'anime d'o priatorio», for the refreshment of the souls in purgatory. In return the soul was expected to appear in a dream, give its name and its story, and grant a favour. Skulls were never covered with a stone, so that they could come out at night. One, called don Francesco and said to have been a Spanish cabalist, was believed to send shades to reveal lotto numbers; people were still standing at the cemetery gates at night for them in the 1970s. A skull that produced nothing on a Saturday was abandoned and another adopted. On 29 July 1969 an ecclesiastical decree prohibited the individual cult of the capuzzelle as pagan, permitting a monthly mass and a procession each 2 November instead.
85 in the smorfia — frequently asked
The pauper souls: anonymous dead in the Fontanelle ossuary, adopted and cared for by Neapolitan devotees in exchange for intercession. The practice is documented in detail and was formally prohibited in 1969.
That is part of the recorded tradition, alongside requests for ordinary favours. One skull in particular had a reputation for it. Nothing about the practice made a number likelier to come out of the wheel, and the wheel is the only thing that decided.