Italians are victims of superstition.
Not all of course, but a vast majority. We grow up with unspoken rules to ward off bad luck and just as casually perform rituals to draw good fortune. These ‘habits’ are very hard to lose, despite rationality and Cartesian logic.Superstition runs deep in the Italian upbringing. Southern Italians are known to be more superstitious than others. Most unfounded beliefs, old wives tales and myths originate in other areas of the boot-shaped peninsula.
Oddly much of what Italians are superstitious about happens at the table and is in many ways related to food. For example, single men and women should not sit at the corner of the dinner table for they will never marry. Kiss the bread crumbs before throwing them in the trash? Why is this?