Affascino: The Harmful Gaze in Southern Italy

Salento · Puglia

The tradition and its place

Affascino names a family of beliefs about a gaze that can unsettle someone, encountered in Salento and elsewhere in the south under different words. Blessings, gestures and protective sayings belong to varied household repertoires, not one uniform system. The expression makes emotions such as admiration, jealousy and sudden fatigue discussable within a community.

Reading the evidence

Compared with Sardinian “eye medicine,” the underlying concern is recognisable but the local vocabulary and practices are not interchangeable. A presumed evil eye cannot identify the cause of persistent symptoms. This is a comparison of folk traditions; when physical or psychological symptoms persist, seek qualified medical advice.

Another angle

The comparison also warns against treating “the south” as a single culture. Sardinian expressions, Salentine family words and Neapolitan jettatura have histories and speakers of their own. Record whose expression is being used before translating them all simply as “evil eye.”