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Atlas  /  Against envy  /  Mano ficoNo. 41
Plate IWestern & Southern Europe · ItalyMano fico, drawn by Wishlore
Pl. IMano fico. A small clenched hand making the fig sign. Drawing: Wishlore.
No. 41  ·  Against envy  ·  Western & Southern Europe

The mano fico

A small hand making the fig gesture, worn in Italy against the evil eye. The gesture goes back to Rome, and it is also a rude one.

Earliest record
Italian figa, Science Museum, 1850–1920
Source
Science Museum Group, mano fica, coral gesture set in silver
Region
Western & Southern Europe · Italy
Wish
Against envy
Layers
Record Folk Modern
Keep this symbol · from £2.99Read the sources
The story · three layers

The story, in three layers.

Record, Folk and Modern are kept apart, and each one carries its source.

I
Record
Verona, 1850–1920

A coral hand from Verona

The Science Museum holds a coral mano fica set in silver, made in Verona between 1850 and 1920. It was worn against the evil eye.

II
Folk
From Rome to the 19th century

An old, rude gesture

The gesture goes back to the Roman manus fica, and it is also a rude gesture. The V&A holds a 19th-century Spanish coral figa, made against the evil eye. In Italy, people also wear horn-shaped charms against the malocchio.

To verify: Which source traces the gesture to the Roman manus fica

III
Modern
Wishlore, today

How we tell it

Many old pieces were carved from red coral. We don’t use coral, and we tell the gesture’s rude side as well as its old one.

Mano fico
Italian figa, Science Museum, 1850–1920
Story and sources on the reverse
Pl. IIThe story card. Every printed piece carries the story and a code that opens the full source list.
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In one breath
A rude gesture, made small enough to wear. Who would you keep it for?
Also against envy

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No dated early record of the horn itself
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Figa
Spanish coral figa, V&A, 19th century
No. 60
Zhong Kui
Shen Kuo’s Mengxi Bitan, Song dynasty