A Taste of Italy - but not on the 17th!

Italy needs no introduction, no sales pitch, no glossy brochure. Simply stated — Italy's beauty, charm, and charisma attract travelers worldwide.  It remains on top of my Must-See-Places-Before-I-Die list. I was supposed to have my great Italian experience last December 17.  The taste of succulent food and immersion in the warmth of the Italian culture was all I could think of for months.  But as bad luck would have it, it never materialized putting a final stamp on the heartbreak that went with it.

Recently, I attended a Fresh Pasta workshop with an Italian and Milan-raised chef instructor who refused to start the workshop until the last participant came.  The typical passionate, traditional and loquacious Italian that he is, he explained that he didn’t want to start the workshop with 17 attendees, seventeen being a traditional bad omen among Italians.  

The number 17 is considered unlucky on its own.   Anything associated to the number is bad luck.  Friday the 17^th is bad luck day in Italy like Friday the 13^th in the United States.  Italians stop whatever they are doing at the strike of 17:17 on the clock.  Seventeen 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 are still considered unlucky since it resembles a man hanging from a gallows. 

This particular information interests me because I was born on the 17^th and I had a Friday the 17^th birthday three years ago.  It was not so much of an unlucky day for me but I remember talking to an Italian restaurateur on that day.  Upon knowing that it was my birthday, he immediately touched his genitals through his clothing which I found rather ostentatious and disrespectful. 

Later I found out that crotch-grabbing is a common habit among superstitious Italian males who believe the gesture wards off bad luck.  It goes back at least to the pre-Christian Roman era when people believe that a covetous person can harm you, your children or your possession just by looking at you.  Men then would block such pernicious beams by shielding their genitals: the seat of fertility, the future fruit of their loins.  These days, Italians resort to phallic amulets to repel adversity.  They come handy when they come across traditional bad omens like the number 17.

Too bad for me, the Italian restaurateur didn’t have any phallic charm handy on my birthday.  And too bad that I had to schedule a grand Italian tour on a 17^th.    I guess no Italian birthday for me in this lifetime too.  Unless, I want to see half of Italy’s male population grabbing their crotches while I walk around the seven hills of Rome, of course.