You are certainly familiar with it, thecurnicello, or cornetto, that red chili pepper Neapolitans use to attract good luck and be protected by evil forces, or malocchio, as they call it. Found often on market stalls, it has become a symbol of fortune a bit everywhere in Italy, even if, of course, its Neapolitan roots remain strong.
To be fair to the little curnicello, keeping one around to feign evil is a very ancient tradition, and one that deserves respect. References to it in the area around Naples can be found as far back as Roman times, with many associating the phallic symbols so popular on the walls of Pompeii and Herculaneum —themselves considered propitiatory — as the ancestors of today cornets.
