Italian evil eye
In many Italian regions bad luck and evil-eye are considered very important issues. I already talked about bad luck in this article: How to get rid of bad luck – Italian practices. Today I focus instead on evil-eye.
Evil-eye is an old curse known in Italy by the name of malocchio or jettatura. Evil-eye is always caused by the jealousy or envy of someone who, just staring at people, can cast the curse. You may know this person or not, but s/he certainly knows you.
The peculiarity of this curse is that it can be cast by a person both consciously – going to a “healer” and asking her to cast a fattura (spell) – or unconsciously.
For example, if you invite some friends to your place to show them your new cottage, and while visiting it, they tell you something like: “wow it’s so beautiful! You’re so lucky”, they can have unconsciously evil-eyed you. Indeed, such a compliment may mean that, deep inside them, they’re feeling envious because they would like to have a house like yours too.
A person who has been evil-eyed can experience different types of problems like bad luck, business failure, headache, diarrhea, miscarriage, marriage breakdown, weakness, and so on.
Evil-eye curse can be diagnosed and broken by going to a “healer”. One of the most common rituals is performed using water and oil.
Visiting Italy? A not-to-do list
They say when in Rome, do as Romans do. However, travellers know quite well that there are also some behaviors they should avoid if they don’t want to be labeled as tourists.
So, for those of you visiting Italy, I’ve decided to write a brief not-to-do list:
1. Don’t use ciao to greet someone you don’t know, or in situations requiring formality. Use buongiorno (good morning) or buonasera (good evening), instead.
2. If you’re invited to someone’s home, don’t bring chrysanthemums as a gift. These flowers symbolize death in Italy.
3. Don’t do this gesture. 
This means cornuto (your wife cheates on you) and is an insult.
4. Don’t say ti amo to a woman/man unless you’re in love with her/him. To say I love you to a family member or a friend you say ti voglio bene.
5. Don’t use the familiar form tu to refer to people unless they are friends or they invited you to do so. Use the polite form lei, instead.
6. Don’t decline an invitation, except if you have a good reason to do so. It’s considered rude.
7. Don’t be disgusted if Italians kiss you on your cheeks. This is a very common way to greet someone in Italy.
How to get rid of bad luck – Italian practices
One day, you wake up late: your alarm clock didn’t go off. Damn it! You have an exam today! You rush to get your car but you stumble and fall. When you finally get to school, you fail your exam. And, on the way back to your car, a bird decides to poop right on your shoulder.
If you normally experience these situations, congratulations, you are like Donald Duck or Ugo Fantozzi. In short, you are having bad luck – or someone evil-eyed you – and you’d better batten down the hatches…
Italians usually believe that some things can bring bad luck. And since they generally take bad luck very seriously, they have also invented many ways to fight it.
THINGS THAT BRING BAD LUCK
- A black cat crossing your path
- The number 17
- Breaking a mirror. This will bring you 7 years of bad luck
- Opening an umbrella inside a house
- Spilling salt
- Walking under a ladder
Keep on reading How to get rid of bad luck – Italian practices
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