Italian Roosters - Good Luck, Prosperity & Protection

Since the Italian Renaissance, there has been a long tradition of associating roosters with good luck.  This all stems back to an unsuccessful assassination attempt on one of the most notorious families in Italian history – The Medici.

The Medici were a powerful Italian banking family that ruled Florence and Tuscany for centuries (c. 1434–1737). They were synonymous with the Renaissance, funding great artists like Michelangelo and Botticelli, producing four popes, and marrying into European royalty (like Catherine de' Medici of France). Their immense wealth and influence transformed Florence into a cultural and mercantile hub.

Many looked down upon the Medicis who were not of the aristocratic class but were successful self-made men who had propelled themselves to wealth and power through their banking enterprises. Their rise in power, along with their ability to bribe and threaten thrust them into the rulership of Florence and surrounding Tuscany. Along their climb, they created bitter rivals who would do anything they could to bring the Medici down.

One of these rivals was the Pazzi Family, a powerful banking family in Florence. The Pazzi family were an old, venerable noble family from Florence who traced their roots back to Pazzo di Ranieri who was reputed to be the first man over the walls during the Siege of Jerusalem of 1099, during the First Crusade. Pazzo was rumored to have returned to Florence with flints supposedly from the Holy Sepulchre.

The Pazzi despised the upstart Medici family and sought to overthrow them and claim the rule of Florence for themselves for they were old Florentine nobility and the Medici descended from middle class merchants. The Medici’s immense wealth and banking success overshadowed the Pazzi, which caused deep resentment within that family and that resentment grew into a plan to assassinate Giuliano, who was the Florentine ruler Lorenzo the Magnificent younger brother.

The Pazzi plan was simple. The Pazzi would have one of their undercover allies suggest to Giuliano that he should throw a festival in the small village of Gallina.  They knew that the Medici and their guards loved to drink and figured that after a night of heavy partying, they had a pretty good shot of assassinating Giuliano and his guards.

The festival was a huge success, and a merry time was held by all. Later that night, the Pazzi family sent their assassins into the town to kill Giuliano and the guards. All was going according to plan, but the Pazzi overlooked one major detail – the yards around the village were full of roosters. As the assassins slipped through into the village, the roosters were so startled by all the commotion so early in the morning that they began to frantically crow which awoke the guards who sprang into action and captured the assassins. The Pazzi were discovered to be behind this plot which resulted in their exile.

The Medici were so thankful for the roosters’ warnings that they threw another festival and ordered their craftsmen to create wine vessels in the shape of roosters as gifts for all. From then on, the rooster was seen as a good luck charm from their success warding off the assignation attempt.

To this day Italians will gift a rooster pitcher to friends and family as wedding and housewarming gifts as a sign of good luck and protection against calamity.

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