There’s a saying in Italian, “nato con la camicia” that is often translated as “born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth”, but those two phrases aren’t interchangeable.

In English, when we say that someone was born with a silver spoon in their mouth, we’re basically saying that they were born into a rich family. In Italian, anyone can be “nato con la camicia”. It only means that someone is very lucky - someone who always falls on their feet, so to speak.

I’ve read that the Italian expression comes from babies that were born with part of the amniotic sac still attached to them. In English we call that being “born with the caul”. There are various traditions around the world regarding this phenomenon. Some say the child we be lucky (as is the case here in Italy), some say that the baby will never drown and others say that he or she will have a second sight (some sort of psychic power).

It is apparently from this event that the tradition in Italy of giving a lucky shirt to an expectant mother was born.

I, of course, was unaware of this tradition, so the other day when O came home and told me not to worry about the lucky shirt because his sister-in-law was going to buy it, I just looked at him like he stepped out of a flying saucer. (Obviously, I wasn’t worried about it since I didn’t even know what it was.)

He then explained the tradition to me. It seems that this shirt has to be a gift and it is put on the baby right after birth, under whatever other clothing he has. So, I couldn’t go out and buy one myself, it wouldn’t convey the “luck” at all then.

Obviously, I was then curious to see what this shirt looked like.

It’s very delicate - made of thin silk with just a tie in the back and “buona fortuna” sewn on the front.

Here it is…

So, now my baby will be born with his “lucky” shirt on. I hope it will bring him lots of luck.

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