“Il colpo della strega”, a very Italian ailment

My aunty knows everything about ailments. No, she is not a doctor. She is Italian! Her knowledge comes from years of personal, luckily most of the time hypochondriac, experience.

According to my dad she started talking about disease and having all sorts of medical check- ups when she was very young. Fortunately, despite her passion for diseases her health has always been really good.

I remember her keeping a picture of her operated foot in her bag and she had the habit of showing it after lunch. Once she even mentioned to have arthritis on the tip of her nose! Also her dog had all the medical check-ups available, even though she is a healthy happy dog.

Apart from the jokes on my aunty, Italians are quite obsessed with health problems.

Anyone who has lived in Italy or has Italian origins knows that the most popular subjects at a family lunch are food and diseases, not severe ones of course!

Talking about disease is more common amongst the elderly but less severe ailments are always a good subject for a chat!

How are you? In Italy is not a formal question so you must be ready to hear all sorts of things after you have asked the fatal question.

A friend of mine who lived in London for a while was really upset by the way English people ask each other “how are you ?”. “They don’t really want you to answer”, she told me “and what is even worse is that they don’t even listen to your answer!”.

Well, we know that this is true, it is a formal question, in fact, an extension of the greeting hello.

So, let’s go back to the point, if you ask “How are you?”, be ready to listen to all sorts of even bizarre ailments.

My favourite, because I’ve always found it funny, is “Il colpo della strega” literally translated as “the witch’s stroke” , a back strain. “Il colpo della strega” can sometimes be a subject for jokes. From a medical point of view it usually occurs as a result of excessive muscular efforts, bending to fast, twisting of the torso, perhaps after having maintained the same position for hours, as happens to pianists. The nerve endings close to the lumbar vertebral joints are irritated by the movement and lead to an intense contraction of the par vertebral muscles, hence the block, hence “Colpo della strega”.

According to the common opinion “Il colpo della strega” is caused by “ Il colpo di freddo” (the untranslatable Italian disease already mentioned by Dany Mitzman in his article on Italian special ailments on the BBC website), but also from a quick movement.

What could be really terrible is that you could get the “Colpo della strega” and while you are walking around the house bent double you might hit your elbow on the wall and you will have a lot of pain, if you are Italian, and if you are English you will just have hit your funny bone (Humerus).

Giulia Lombardo