Italians refer to New Year's Eve as La Notte di San Silvestro, named after the fourth-century pope whose feast day falls on December 31. The evening revolves around the Cenone di Capodanno, literally the "big dinner", a marathon meal that routinely stretches from 8:30 PM until well past midnight. Trattorias and home kitchens alike follow strict culinary customs designed to guarantee wealth, health, and luck in the coming twelve months.
The centerpiece of every table is Cotechino con lenticchie. Cotechino is a rich, slow-simmered pork sausage spiced with cloves, nutmeg, and pepper. It arrives alongside tiny brown lentils, which have symbolized prosperity since ancient Roman times when citizens gifted leather pouches filled with the legumes, hoping they would turn into gold coins. Superstition dictates that every spoonful of lentils eaten after midnight increases your financial abundance for the year. Rejecting the dish, even after four courses of pasta and seafood, is considered an invitation for bad luck.
Red underwear remains another mandatory tradition. Italian shop windows fill with crimson lingerie throughout December because wearing red on New Year's Eve is believed to ward off evil spirits and bring fertility and romance. The garment must be brand new and thrown away on January 1 for the spell to work.
