Red underwear is traditionally associated with luck and love during New Year celebrations in Italy.
Wearing red garments, especially red underwear, is a popular Italian New Year custom. Red is commonly linked with passion, vitality, good fortune, and protection from misfortune. The practice is often treated as playful folklore rather than a formal religious observance.
Some versions of the custom say the garment should be new, and older traditions may add rules about receiving it as a gift or discarding it after New Year’s Eve. These details vary by family and region, so the central stable feature is the association between red and New Year luck.
Italy’s celebrations also include festive meals, fireworks, and lentils, whose coin-like shape makes them a symbol of prosperity. Red underwear is not the same custom as wearing red clothing for Lunar New Year, a separate tradition found in several Asian cultures.