Which of the following is the unlucky number in Italy?

In Italian culture, the number 17 is considered unlucky. When viewed as the Roman numeral, XVII, it is then changed anagramtically to VIXI, which in the Latin language it translates to "I have lived", the perfect tense implying "My life is over." (c.f. "Vixerunt", Cicero's famous announcement of an execution.) In Italy, it is not uncommon to notice that buildings do not have 17th floor, hotels do not have a room 17. You would certainly expect the Italian airline Alitalia to be missing row 17, but this is not the case. The Alitalia airline carrier does not have a seat 17. Renault sold its "R17" model in Italy as "R177."

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37 Comments

Joyce Mathews Weinmann

Bill Coe, The word isn't made up, but it is misspelled. It should read "anagrammatically".

kathimcleod

My favorite number is, and has always been ‘13’. I don’t believe in ‘good’, or ‘bad’ luck. But I do believe in Karma and God😊🙌🙌

GONavarini

Malcolm Harris, Kind of like if you ask someone in New England if they lived there all their life, and they respond "well, not yet."

Akeel1701

deborahpmercer, me too

Wyla Reedy

Lucky numbers, unlucky numbers. People believe in them, or they don't.

Comniní Tsinari

Since 13 IS an unlucky number in Italy, though maybe not the only one, it should never have been included among the answers. I have lost my bonus to your incompetence.

earlepg

LunaAtlas, More than useless. When I clicked on the reference, I expected to see an article expanding upon what was written. I only saw that the article was no longer available. I've seen this happen many times, so it is really not a good practice.

teresab

13 should not have included as option, as 13 is unlucky in Italy, same as most countries. SPG should have explained this and why, ie the unluckiness may relate to 13 people at the Last Supper.

james parrillo

belgasem goma, Why is that day bad? Thank you, Christine, James's wife

james parrillo

LunaAtlas, Reviewers are supposed to reject questions on that basis. Thank you, Christine, James's wife

james parrillo

Malcolm Harris, Maybe, the Italian players, who know Italian well, could verify this, or explain it better. Is there a rationale behind other superstitions, like fearing black cats? Thank you, Christine, James's wife

deborahpmercer

Good question, though somewhat disheartening to me as I was born on a 17th!

Sue Gembrini-Spataro

My husband was born in Italy..his family and many of our friends...talk about superstition BUT NEVER was #17 ever mentioned. I took a guess and got it right!

Gold Toy Box

Never heard anyone in our family ever mention '17' as unlucky?

Jakob Gerber

Why would use an anagram on a number ? You could possibly take most Roman numerals ,and make them into an arbitrary number. Technically this would have to be 591 ,however it would not exists as such ... What do the Italians do when someone turns seventeen years of age, skip it ,and leap a year to eighteen ...