In Italy, red underwear is traditionally worn on New Year’s Eve as a good-luck ritual.
The custom is associated with Italy’s New Year celebration, known as Notte di San Silvestro on December 31 and Capodanno for New Year’s Day. Red is widely treated as a color of luck, vitality, love, and protection from misfortune, so wearing red underwear became a playful private ritual for entering the new year positively.
The tradition sits alongside other Italian New Year customs. Families and friends may share lentils, whose coin-like shape symbolizes prosperity, and dishes such as cotechino or zampone. At midnight, people commonly toast with spumante and watch fireworks or public celebrations.
The practice is a popular superstition, not a universal rule followed by every Italian. It is also easy to confuse with other countries’ New Year customs, such as Spain’s twelve grapes or Denmark’s traditions involving plates. In the Italian version, the canonical color is red.