It is considered to be ill-fated in Italy and other countries of Greek and Latin origins, while the date Friday the 17th is considered especially unfortunate in Italy.

[2][non-primary source needed][clarification needed] It has been suggested that the Romans found the number 17 disturbing because in Roman numerals XVII is an anagram of vixi, meaning "I have lived" (i.e.

[3] In La smorfia napoletana, a "dictionary" that associated certain vocabulary words to numbers to be played in the lottery, the number 17 is associated with 'a Disgrazzia ("misfortune").

[5] It occurs when the 17th day of the month in the Gregorian calendar falls on a Friday, which happens at least once every year but can occur up to three times in the same year.

In mass media, the theme is portrayed in movies, such as The Virtuous Bigamist (Italian: Era di venerdì 17) and Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th (Italian: Shriek - Hai impegni per venerdì 17?