Eighty-nine is 'a vecchia, the old woman. Her counterpart, 'o viecchio, is thirty-six squares away at 53, and no list explains the separation.
The printed dictionary files a witch, a cemetery and despair on the same number, which tells you how the compilers felt about the figure. The board is not always kind.
- 89
- 'A vecchia
- the old woman
- Row 81–90 of the tabellone
Where the figure comes from
Unrecorded.
Other things filed on 89
In Neapolitan life
She sits immediately before fear at 90, on the last row of the tabellone, where the caller reads out the closing numbers of the game. Whether that placement means anything is not something any source will say, and it is exactly the kind of pattern people find afterwards.
89 in the smorfia — frequently asked
No. Trapani puts the mouse at 89 and its old woman at 26, and notes that its 89 precedes fear at 90 because a mouse causes revulsion.
No source explains it. The board separates several obvious pairs, which is one reason it reads as compiled by many hands rather than designed by one.