Italians are famous for their gestures, and part of this bodily vocabulary has a precise function: protection. These are called apotropaic gestures, from the Greek apotrépein, "to turn away". They are hand movements meant to repel misfortune, the envious gaze or an ill-omened word just spoken. Two of them, the horned hand and the fig hand, have a long and documented history.
The horned hand
The gesture is formed by extending the index and little finger and folding the other fingers under the thumb. It has two very different uses, which should be kept apart:
- pointed downwards or towards the feared person or thing, it serves to ward off bad luck;
- aimed explicitly at someone, it can become an insult, alluding to marital infidelity.
In the first case the gesture reproduces the horn amulet in miniature: a sort of cornicello made with the body, always at hand. It is made, often hidden in a pocket or under the table, when a misfortune is mentioned, when a hearse goes by or when someone pays an excessive compliment.
The fig hand
The fig hand is made by closing the fist and inserting the thumb between the index and middle fingers. Its name alludes explicitly to the female sexual organ, and this very allusion to fertility explains its protective power in the ancient mind: what generates life repels what threatens it.
The Roman evidence
In the Roman world there were small amulets of bronze, bone or stone reproducing the hand in this position. They were often combined with the phallic symbol in a single object: the phallus on one side, the fig hand on the other. These amulets, found at various sites across the Empire, show that the gesture already had a protective value against the evil eye.
The fig in Dante
The gesture appears in one of the crudest passages of the Divine Comedy. In Canto XXV of the Inferno the thief Vanni Fucci of Pistoia makes an obscene gesture at God:
Al fine de le sue parole il ladro le mani alzò con amendue le fiche, gridando: «Togli, Dio, ch'a te le squadro!»
("At the end of his words the thief raised his hands with both the figs, shouting: 'Take them, God, for I aim them at you!'")
Here the gesture is not protective but blasphemous: it is the ultimate insult. The passage proves that in the fourteenth century "making the figs" was a gesture known to all and charged with meaning.
Other gestures of protection
The repertoire is wide and varies from region to region:
| Gesture | Traditional meaning |
|---|---|
| Touching iron | Metal as a substance that repels evil |
| Touching wood | Common above all in the English-speaking world, also present in Italy |
| Touching one's genitals | Asserting vital force against death |
| Spitting on the ground | Driving away an ill-omened word |
| Crossing fingers | Wishing well and protection |
Touching iron is perhaps the most widely shared gesture in Italy: one does it by brushing a key, a handle, any metal object. In many cultures iron was considered hostile to spirits and invisible forces.
The pantheistic hand
An archaeological curiosity completes the picture. In the Roman world there are votive bronze hands, often associated with the cult of the god Sabazius, covered with small symbols: snakes, pine cones, frogs, scales. The fingers are arranged in the gesture of blessing. These hands, also called pantheistic because they gather many symbols together, show how ancient is the idea that the hand can be an instrument of protection.
Why a gesture protects
From an anthropological point of view the apotropaic gesture is a rite reduced to its essentials. It needs no objects, formulas or specialists: anyone can perform it, at any moment. It is an immediate response to anxiety, a way of regaining control in the face of what cannot be controlled. Its very simplicity explains its longevity: the gestures have survived even as the beliefs behind them have weakened.
There is a social dimension too. The gesture is learned in childhood, by imitating parents and grandparents, and it is passed on without explanation: one knows when to make it before knowing why. In this sense apotropaic gesture is a form of collective memory, a knowledge held in the body that a community preserves and recognises as its own.
In short
- Apotropaic gestures serve to drive away misfortune and the evil eye.
- The horned hand, pointed down, is a horn amulet made with the fingers.
- The fig hand is attested in Roman amulets and appears in Dante's Inferno.
- Touching iron is the most widely shared protective gesture in Italy.
- Their strength lies in simplicity: a rite always at hand.
