Italians on the whole are VERY superstitious, and oftentimes if you see an Italian do something odd, you can most probably chock it up to either the warding off some sense of bad luck, or ensuring maximization of the possibility of good luck! In this section some of their odd behavior is explained.
Wearing the right lingerie, hearing cat noises, and spinning on a mosaic bull... whatever it takes to help the good luck come!
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Lentils & Red Panties
On New Year’s Eve eating lentils at midnight is good luck in fortune (the more lentils eaten, the more money to be had in the coming year) and ladies wearing red undergarments will have good luck in love during the year to come.
A Sneezing Cat
This is supposedly very good luck to all those that hear it.
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Turin Bull in Milan's Galleria
Most of you have seen the film “Roman Holiday” and remember the scene with Audrey Hepburn putting her hand in the lion’s mouth to determine whether she was telling the truth, yes? Well, in Milan there is a tradition around the brass bull symbol of Turin in the middle of the mosaic floor of the beautiful Galleria running between the Duomo square and the Piazza della Scala. The superstitious action involves placing your right heel on the bull’s testicles and then spinning fully around while remaining inside the Turin emblem, bringing good luck. Of course, the more expert at this modality say that if you put your left foot down whilst completing the 360 then it does not count!
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Most Milan-based students pass by the bull to perform this ritual before taking their exams, as often do Milanese politicians before walking to the nearby City Hall on the day of an important vote.
Italians are so superstitious that if you are found doing one of the following actions, most probably someone, even a total stranger, will say something to you ... perhaps in the fear that potential bad luck from simply seeing you do it might rub off on them. (Note: just reading this sentence most Italians are probably now making the horns hand gesture!)
Keep your purse off the floor!
Women should never put their purse directly on the floor. It is said to cause instant poverty (at least being the money in the bag will disappear). Many restaurants give or sell little hooks that can be kept in one’s handbag for use in occasions where the bag must be hung from the table edge do a rounded chair bag which prohibits hanging on the chair.
“Tocca ferro”
In the UK and America, we are used to saying, "knock on wood". Italians say "tocca ferro" which means touch iron especially immediately after seeing a nun, as apparently they are unlucky too. While some more polite men touch their forehead when nothing of iron is in the vicinity, other touch their genitalia while repeating the phrase.
Keep hats off the bed!
Priests, at least up to a few decades ago (and the more traditional and/or old ones still today) always wore that strange hat of theirs, and never took it off even inside a building. However, when they went to the bedside of the dying for confession, they had to take it off to put on their vestments. Then you would see the priest, who at this point was usually seated or standing next to the dying person in their bed, take off his hat and put it on the nearest flat surface - the bed! This explains the arcane: a hat on the bed recalls a scene of death (imminent or just occurred).
Take Alternate Routes to/from the Cemetery!
After-death rituals are directed at keeping the dead persons spirit from returning. Those carrying the coffin at a funeral, or even some today simply going to visit a grave and place flowers would go directly to the cemetery yet made sure to return home by another route. This was thought to confuse the dead and avoid future haunting, or more importantly to confuse the Angel of Death and avoid death for themselves.
Loaves of Bread are Dangerous!
Placing a loaf of bread upside-down is considered bad luck for Italians. The thought here is that since the Catholic church considers bread as representative of the body of Christ, it’s disrespectful to leave Jesus on his head.
Beware of the Sweeping Broom!
In Italy if you sweep the broom over someone’s feet it is said that you won’t get married.
Lottery Numbers & the Lucky Column
Cabala
Given the Italian propensity for superstition, it is no wonder that the lottery is a favorite pastime. There are books about associations and their corresponding numbers, and many old women will be happy to translate your dreams, dates, or desires into that day’s lottery numbers to be played.
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Dreams or happenstance: how do Italians pick winning numbers?
Italians play lottery numbers based on three things: important dates, dreams, and daily happenings. As for dates, people play the number of the day (or even sometimes the day-month-year sequence) which correlates to an important event in their lives, positive or negative. For example, the great earthquake of Messina, Sicily happened on the 28th of December 1908, so many Sicilians tend to play 28- the day of the disaster. The time which 28 appeared as one of the drawn winning numbers, the Government lost more heavily that week than for years previously.
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The other main ways to select numbers to play come from correlations to things and their associated lottery number. For example, if one dreams of driving along a river and seeing a cow, they play the numbers for car, river and cow.
The other means relates to when odd or unusual occurrences happens, such as a dog running into a room, upsetting a vase and angering its owner, the witnesses to the event would play the numbers correlating to dog, vase and anger. Or let’s say you are walking down the street and turn a corner running into a blonde stranger- in this instance you would play corner, blonde and stranger. In Italy there are lottery numbers for every situation which may befall you.
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The Lucky Column in St. Peter’s Square
There are many weird and wonderful ways to get rich in the world, and this is another. There is an old legend regarding one of the columns of St. Peter’s square in Rome, which has it that a few centuries ago a German pilgrim scratched his name into one of the 284 columns.
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While in the past (and even now), there was often the bad habit of autographing places to say “I was here”, but around this particular “act of vandalism”, a real urban myth has developed. The story goes that whoever finds the signed column will be lucky.
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You only need some patience and a little adventurous spirit to find the signature (which is still perfectly leggible, according to Gabriele La Porta and Francesco Fantasia in their book “Roma magica e misteriosa“). Once found you need to pass your hand over it, and then go and play lotto with your birth date - for example if you were born in 1980 you play the number 19, then 80, then followed by the month and day.
Apparently victory is assured. But whatever the luck, it could be fun to stroll and play about the columns looking for a signature that may give you a different perspective on this incredible place.
17 & the Eye Symbol
Friday the 17th…
With regard to Fridays, where many non-Italians see Friday the 13th as unlucky, many Italians see Friday the 17th as a potentially ill-fated day. The number 17 is considered unlucky for at least two reasons, both having to do with how it is written. When 17 is written using Roman numerals XVII, it can be rearranged to spell the Roman word VIXI meaning "I have lived" and was found on ancient tombstones. When written using Arabic numerals 17 is still considered unlucky since it resembles a man hanging from a gallows.
Malocchio (the Evil Eye) and Il Corno (the Horn Gesture & Symbol).
This term is best described as a curse, though strangely, can be something as simple as a compliment. The malocchio is when one gives a look to another with such envy as to seem “malefico” or harmful thus the literal meaning is bad or evil eye. The sign of the horns is given to cast-off the envy of others.
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For example, if someone tells you your baby is beautiful, the fates have been tempted. You must make the horn sign to protect your child. The hand sign of extending your pinkie and index finger, while keeping the others folded back by your thumb, is supposed to ward off the evil spirit that someone has put on you. Pointed upwards, it’s good luck - it means you’re warding off the Evil Eye. Pointed down, it’s an insult to whomever you’re gesturing at. Many Italians also wear a twisted horn-shaped charm (the corno) as a necklace for protection as well as having a corno hanging in their cars. It can be in red, gold or silver.
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An associated superstition
To have birds and bird feathers, especially peacock feathers in the home is considered bad luck, as they appear to have the Evil Eye on them.