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Journey into luck between magical places and superstitious rites

2020-09-22T14:23:23.569Z


Among statues and fountains of good luck around the world (ANSA)VERONA - Never as this year we are all looking for a little luck; traveling we discover that every city hides magical places and lucky objects whose stories are often very intriguing and mysterious. Among superstitious rites and popular legends, here are the monuments, fountains, statues and all those most famous amulets that, by touching them, promise prosperity, health, love and money.     If yo


VERONA - Never as this year we are all looking for a little luck;

traveling we discover that every city hides magical places and lucky objects whose stories are often very intriguing and mysterious.

Among superstitious rites and popular legends, here are the monuments, fountains, statues and all those most famous amulets that, by touching them, promise prosperity, health, love and money.


    If you travel to Italy in search of original and propitious places, you can start from the famous Juliet balcony in the historic center of Verona: here, rubbing the right breast of the bronze statue of the famous Shakespearean heroine is believed to bring a lot of luck, especially in love, even if for some years, tourists visiting Juliet's house-museum have touched a copy of the statue; the original, in fact, created in 1972 by Nereo Costantini, was moved inside the museum to preserve its conservation. Less poetic but equally propitious is the gesture that takes place in Milan under the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, where stepping on the attributes of the bull portrayed in the mosaic of the pavement is auspicious, but only on condition that you make a triple turn around yourself with your heel. Nothing could be easier since now a hole has formed in the smooth floor that allows everyone to rotate quietly, attracting good luck. There is an animal that also brings good luck to Florence, where for 380 years in the loggia of the New Market Florentines and tourists have caressed the muzzle of a wild boar, nicknamed the "pig". To tell the truth, the complete rite consists of putting a coin between its jaws and letting it fall into the grate of the fountain where the water flows; only in this way is good fortune assured. In Pisa, a two-tailed lizard is the protagonist of the popular superstitious gesture: the chestnut has been bringing good luck for centuries from the bronze portal of the Duomo that looks towards the Baptistery. The animal was sculpted in the late sixteenth century by the architect Raffaele Pagni and since then it seems to guarantee good luck especially to the students. However, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage has long since decided to cordon off the door of the Cathedral to avoid wear. Therefore, all that remains is to ask for a miracle from afar or, alternatively, to make a tour of the Baptistery on one leg. Finally, there is a place full of charm and beauty, also immortalized in the cinema, which lends itself to a superstitious gesture: it is the Trevi fountain, in the heart of Rome, where it is customary to throw a coin from behind in the monumental eighteenth-century basin to fulfill the desire to return to the capital. If you want to get more luck you need to throw at least three with your right hand passing over your left shoulder.


    Even abroad there are plenty of lucky places and the popular legends associated with them. In New York, in front of Wall Street's Bowling Green Park, the statue of the bull created in 1989 by Arturo Di Modica is the symbol of capitalism and legend has it that, by touching its now worn bronze attributes, success in business is assured. Moving west, in Springfield, Illinois, outside the tomb where the sixteenth president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln rests, there is a bronze bust in his honor where the nose is worn out: touching it, obviously, is a gesture good luck charm for those who visit the burial place. Even in the old continent it is easy to come across places shrouded in mystery. In Dublin, for example, between Grafton Street and Suffolk Street is the statue of Molly Malone, "the most famous fishwife in Ireland": the Gaelic legend has it that the ghost of the woman still roams those alleys with her loaded cart. of clams and molluscs; rubbing the breast of the bronze statue is a gesture that brings prosperity. Also in Ireland, the stone of Blarney, in Cork Castle, is linked to a superstitious ritual that is not easy to carry out but which ensures luck and a lot of fun: you have to kiss the stone set in the wall by lying on the ground, holding on to the railing and leaning up to reach it. To tell the truth, luck here lies in carrying out the gesture without harming oneself.


    In the center of Bremen, Germany, the statue of the musicians from the famous tale of the Brothers Grimm is worn out by the many hands that rub the paws of the protagonists - a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster - placed one above the other, they ensure a lot of luck. Under the portico of the smaller building of the Grand Place in Brussels, the Maison de l'étoile at the corner with rue Charles Buls, rub the right arm of the statue of Everard t'Serclaes, the knight who liberated the Belgian city from the dominion of the Flanders in 1365, makes every wish come true.


    This popular belief was born in the dark years of the German occupation during the First World War, when the citizens of Brussels began to caress the statue to entrust it with the hopes of liberation. In the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, where many illustrious names rest, there is a tomb that is visited every year by thousands of women seeking maternity; it seems that the tomb of Victor Noir, a French journalist shot dead by Napoleon's nephew, gives fertility to those who touch his belly carved in bronze. Just kissing her lips or leaving flowers in her hat is enough. Also in France, stroking the owl carved in stone a meter and a half above the ground on the walls of the Notre-Dame Cathedral of Dijon is a good omen, but for a good dose of luck you have to do it with your left hand.


    For students in search of fortune it is necessary to locate a small frog carved in stone on the facade of the University of Salamanca, Spain, to be successful in their studies. The animal, which is hidden among the many sculptures, is found on a skull from the sixteenth century, when it was carved, they say, to ward off syphilis. Finally in Prague along the famous St. Charles bridge, symbol of the Czech capital, touching the statue of St. John of Nepomuk brings prosperity. The sculpture has been found since 1683 on the spot where St. John, then a court priest of King Wenceslas IV, was killed for refusing to break the secret of confession; today it is believed that stroking the cross of the martyr and hero brings a lot of happiness. (HANDLE).


Source: ansa

All life articles on 2020-09-22

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