Meals, music and tradition have made the Italian southern metropolis of Naples well-known across the globe. However there’s one other Neapolitan custom that fascinates locals and guests alike: the cornicello, an iconic image of prosperity, love and fortune that has turn into a well-liked current amongst lovers on Valentine’s Day.
The Neapolitan cornicello, a small horn-shaped amulet, represents good luck and safety towards the evil eye, and is related to fertility and energy, whereas its purple, intense colour is taken into account a strong antidote towards unfavorable energies.
Some auspicious Neapolitan horns are displayed inside Italian sculptor Lello Esposito’s artwork gallery in Naples, Wednesday (February 12, 2025)
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As with all self-respecting superstition, the facility of the Neapolitan horn, to be efficient, should meticulously observe some guidelines. A very powerful one is that it should be a present, and that’s the reason, over time, it has turn into a well-liked current that lovers alternate on Valentine’s Day, usually embellished with little hearts.
Its historic origins date again to Greek and Roman mythology, because it reproduces the phallic form and purple colour in a reference to Priapus, the god of male fertility.
Mariana Mattei places a closing contact on Neapolitan horns in a store in Naples, southern Italy.
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Neapolitan artisans meticulously handcraft cornicelli in purple coral, terracotta and even gold or silver. However a key ingredient of the custom is that cornicello should be porous, enabling it to soak up all of the unfavorable energies, defending pals and family members.
“The genuine cornicello needs to be handmade in Naples,” says Delia D’Alessandro, 30, founding father of Cosmos, a tiny workshop producing the fortunate charms within the coronary heart of San Gregorio Armeno – Naples’ slim lane identified for its “pastori,” or nativity-scene collectible figurines.
Serena D’Alessandro places a closing contact on Neapolitan horns within the household’s store in Naples, southern Italy.
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D’Alessandro and her sister Serena keep it up the craft discovered from their mother and father — Vicenzo and Rosaria — and now run the household enterprise within the metropolis’s historic heart.
“It’s a fantastic strategy to proceed the household custom and contribute to the town we love,” Serena stated, as she paints terracotta horns crafted by a staff of younger artisans.
Deeply entrenched in Naples’ cultural roots, the purple horn turns into a strong image within the creations of Neapolitan sculptor and painter Lello Esposito.
Esposito, 67, began his lengthy worldwide profession from the favored streets of Naples as a younger artist, promoting his handmade puppets of Pulcinella, the well-known character of Neapolitan commedia dell’arte.
“That is the unique horn that has impressed those within the bottegas across the metropolis,” he stated, gesturing towards an enormous red-horn sculpture that dominates his atelier at Scuderie Sansevero, an impressive palace in Naples’ historic heart.
A large Neapolitan horn, much like the one he made for the 2024 Bangkok Biennale, is proven inside Italian sculptor Lello Esposito’s artwork gallery in Naples.
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“It’s purple as a result of that’s the colour of ardour,” stated Esposito, who has targeted his analysis on the relation between up to date artwork and common custom.
“If we take into consideration Pompeii, we consider Pompeiian phalluses. These penises have been displayed within the little outlets across the metropolis. So, the horn is an historic image going again over 2,000 years,” he provides.
Esposito’s creations, impressed by Naples’ iconic symbols, have traveled the world, with certainly one of his large horns exhibited just lately on the Bangkok Artwork Biennale.
Printed – February 14, 2025 02:57 pm IST
