In the first three parts of this series the focus was on gestures understood throughout Italy, from Milan to Palermo. Yet Naples has its own deeper layer of this silent language: gestures so closely interwoven with the city, its history, and its superstitions that even Italians from the north are left puzzled when they encounter them for the first time. These five gestures have been gathered here because they demonstrate how much local identity can be contained in a single movement of the hand.
Toccarsi: the discreet protection against the jettatura
In Naples, many people to this day believe, more out of cultural habit than genuine superstition, in the jettatura, the evil eye, which can unintentionally bring misfortune upon others. As a quiet form of protection against it, older men in particular will discreetly touch their trouser pocket, a gesture already described in detail by Andrea de Jorio in his work of 1832 whose origins stretch back to Greco-Roman antiquity, when a similar touch was considered to bring fertility and offer protection. Outside Naples and Campania, almost nobody is familiar with this gesture in its specific, very casual form. It is performed quickly and almost imperceptibly, often mid-sentence, while a misfortune or illness is being mentioned. Those who see it for the first time will easily take it for a random movement, yet behind it lies symbolism thousands of years old.
The secret signals in card games
Anyone who has ever watched a game of Tressette or Scopa in a Neapolitan bar will have noticed that, alongside the loud calls, the players also communicate through barely visible glances and tiny gestures: a wink, a brief touch of the nose, a suggested stroke across the lip. These signals, in Naples often simply called i segnali , serve to hint to one's partner in the game which cards are being held in hand. Officially forbidden, yet socially entrenched for generations and tolerated with tacit indulgence . Every family, every bar, and sometimes even every individual card-playing group develops its own slightly varied version of these signals. A northern Italian sitting at such a table for the first time will usually not even realise that lively communication is taking place, and will at most wonder at the many small, seemingly meaningless movements on the faces of the other players.
Vasa 'a mano: the hand kiss as a mark of respect
A gesture that has almost entirely disappeared in northern Italy but is still observed in Naples and Campania, particularly among older generations, is the Vasa 'a mano, literally "kiss the hand". Younger people traditionally use it to greet older relatives or figures of respect, briefly raising the other person's hand to their own lips, sometimes with an actual touch of the lips, sometimes merely suggested. Its roots lie in the Spanish influence of the period when Naples was part of the Spanish Viceroyalty, as well as in the Catholic tradition, in which the hand of a priest is still greeted in this manner in some places today. For many younger Neapolitans, this gesture now feels somewhat old-fashioned in its own right; it survives above all in the more rural areas of Campania and on particularly ceremonial occasions such as christenings or weddings.
Menà 'e mmane 'ncoppa 'a panza: contentment after a meal
After a particularly successful meal , many Neapolitans will gently pat their stomach with both flat hands, accompanied by a satisfied sigh or a brief Che mangiata. This gesture of satiety differs markedly from the finger kiss for good food discussed earlier, as it does not express enthusiasm for the flavour but simply physical fullness and wellbeing, almost like a small celebration of one's own satisfied stomach. In a city where a shared meal has traditionally been far more than mere sustenance, this small ritual moment at the end of a meal is firmly embedded in the social routine, usually accompanied by compliments to the cook of the household. Travel further north and this specific gesture disappears almost entirely; there, one tends to limit oneself to verbal compliments.
'A man' aperta cu' 'e ddete tremmuliette: trembling with fear
A particularly vivid but lesser-known Neapolitan gesture is the gentle trembling of the open hand, fingers spread and loosely quivering, expressing fear, nervousness, or joyful excitement, often accompanied by the exclamation Che fifa. This gesture is typically deployed very theatrically, almost caricature-like in its exaggeration, which suits the pronounced storytelling culture of Naples well, where tales are gladly delivered with visible drama. A northern Italian will usually be entirely unfamiliar with this specific quivering movement and would sooner resort to a simple shake of the head or a verbal expression of nervousness. In Naples, by contrast, it forms a firm part of the repertoire of everyday storytelling, especially among older women, who are fond of using it to recount small dramas from daily life.
A city that speaks its own language
What connects these five gestures is how closely they are bound up with the history, the superstitions, and the storytelling tradition of Naples. They can scarcely be separated from the city in which they arose, and that is precisely what makes them so remarkable. Those who know them understand Naples a little more deeply than language alone could ever allow. In the final part of this series, the focus turns to how Italian cinema, from Fellini to Gomorra, discovered these very gestures and brought them to the screen.
