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