As a nation state, Italy has emerged only in 1871. Until then the country was politically divided into a large number of independant cities, provinces and islands. The currently available evidences point out to a dominant Etruscan, Greek and Roman cultural influence on today's Italians.
I have heard that a Loprinzi family left Trabia, Sicily for America because the mafia came to him and said "if you tell anyone we are here, we will kill you and your family." Did the mafia voyage far outside of Palermo and Corleone? Would they have done this?
Italians have a long and deep-rooted tradition of beliefs about luck and things that give either good or bad luck. In Italy there are colloquial names for bad luck. Think of:"sfiga" or "jella" (read it as "yella), but the most scary thing for millions of Italians is "Il Malocchio", which translate ...
