PLAYING "LOTTO"

"The Neapolitan people, who are sober, do not get corrupted with brandy, do not die of delirium tremens; it becomes corrupted and dies for the Lot. Lotto is the brandy of Naples". These words belong to the immense writer and journalist Matilde Serao (co-founder of the most important national newspaper of Neapolitan origins, ("Il Mattino") and, although old in time, they still have the same value. In Naples, the lotto is a way to live the reality. And to survive it. The Reality is read with the "smorfia" in hand: the book which offers meaning to everyone of the ninety lotto numbers. Once again the unearthly dimension, that of fate or of the ancestors who come in sleep to reveal lucky Numerical combinations, penetrates the daily experience of the Neapolitan people. Once again the mystic insinuates himself into the exactness of reality, in this case the inviolable impartiality of the numbers drawn. Playing Lotto is a ritual that will last forever when there will be a reality to interpret.