Malocchio
The Italian evil eye: harm believed to follow envious looks, countered by horn charms and a household rite known mostly to older women.
Also: mal occhio, malocchio, occhio, jettatura
In Italian, malocchio or mal occhio, the bad eye, is the belief that envy, even from someone who means no harm, brings headaches, illness or misfortune. It is strongest in the south, in Sicily and Naples, and in Italian American communities. Defences include the corno, a small red horn worn on a chain, the mano cornuta, a hand gesture, and a coral or a red bit of cloth. A woman who knows the diagnosis rite, tradition says, learned it on Christmas Eve from an elder and may not teach it at other times. Some priests have frowned on it, others have left it be. Jettatura, a related southern Italian word, names a person believed to bring bad luck by a glance.