Why Italians Dread Friday the 17th: A Superstition Rooted in Ancient Rome

While much of the Western world dreads Friday the 13th, Italians hold a unique superstition: Friday the 17th is their "unlucky day." This deep-seated fear, known as heptadecaphobia, stems from ancient Roman beliefs and a peculiar linguistic twist.

In Roman numerals, the number 17 is written as XVII. When these letters are rearranged, they form the Latin word VIXI, which translates to "I have lived." This phrase, often found on Roman tombstones, carries a somber implication of finality and death. Over centuries, this association with mortality has cemented the number 17's reputation as a harbinger of bad luck in Italian culture.

Further contributing to the number's negative connotations are ancient Greek beliefs. The Pythagoreans considered 17 imperfect, as it fell between 16 and 18, which they viewed as perfect numbers representing mathematical harmony. Additionally, the Old Testament notes that the Great Flood began on the seventeenth day of the second month.

In Neapolitan tradition, the "Smorfia," a system that assigns symbolic meanings to numbers for dream interpretation and lottery play, directly links the number 17 to misfortune ('a disgrazzia'). When this inauspicious number combines with Friday, a day already carrying religious weight as the day of Jesus's crucifixion, it creates a potent symbol of bad luck for many superstitious Italians. This combination is encapsulated in the saying, "Né di venere, né di marte ci si sposa, né si parte, né si da principio all'arte!" (Neither on Friday nor on Tuesday does one marry, leave, or begin one's art).