Let's try to imagine the scene... New Year's Eve dinner, everything ready, the table set, the seats assigned, then suddenly a voice exclaims, after counting the guests: "But there are thirteen of us at the table... it's bad luck!" Some will probably laugh at the exclamation, others will pretend nothing is happening, perhaps even secretly resorting to a spell, still others will worry about how to resolve the situation, suggesting dividing the table in two. A nice table for six for the younger ones, a table for seven for the older ones!
Naturally, the imagined scene is a bit surreal, even though the idea that thirteen people shouldn't sit at the table is part of our tradition. It naturally dates back to Jesus' famous Last Supper, where thirteen people sat at the table, and we all know what happened afterward! Fortunately, however, our number isn't only linked to tragic events. A few years ago, "making thirteen" meant winning a fortune at the football pools, and even today, when the "thirteenth salary" arrives (for those lucky enough to still have it), one can't help but celebrate. In short, we are faced with a number with countless connections, with historical, literary, cabalistic, and folkloristic references, as demonstrated in the booklet Tredici (Il Mulino, 2025, €14.00, 160 pages. Also available as an ebook) written by Vittorio Marchis, professor emeritus at the Polytechnic University of Turin and a leading expert in social history.
In this short but densely packed essay, Marchis evokes Apollo 13, a particularly ill-fated (but happy-ending) lunar mission. He also reminds us that, going back much further, the Mayans counted thirteen lunar phases in a twelve-month year, and thus thirteen was a sacred number. For mystery writers, especially Agatha Christie, being thirteen at a table could indicate a thorny or dangerous situation, while flowers with thirteen petals are extremely rare, almost as if nature refused to "create" this number, so loaded with symbols and even ambiguity. In the tarot, thirteen is the card of death, and Lucifer is associated with this number. By contrast, in the Neapolitan smorfia, the number thirteen is linked to Saint Anthony, just as in the Jewish Torah, thirteen categories of mercy surround the people of Israel and thirteen attributes refer to God. Between science and literature, music, art, and sport, Vittorio Marchis's book is a tale of free and fascinating connections held together by this number. Connections that are delightful to discover and rediscover in a sort of puzzle game that the author conducts with sly amusement.