Red underwear is traditionally associated with love and romance on New Year’s Eve in Italy.
The custom is a popular New Year superstition in which wearing red underclothes is thought to attract love, passion, or good fortune in the coming year. In some versions, the garment should be new and may be given as a gift. Details vary by region, family, and modern commercial interpretation.
Red has long carried associations with vitality, celebration, protection, and romantic desire. The Italian practice is therefore part of a wider group of New Year customs in which colors or garments symbolize hopes for the future. It is a folk tradition rather than a religious requirement.
Italian New Year celebrations also commonly include festive meals, fireworks, and the dish cotechino with lentils. Lentils are associated with coins and prosperity, while grapes and pomegranates can carry additional symbolic meanings. The red-underwear custom should not be confused with the separate practice of wearing red clothing in several other countries.