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Italian high court bans public crotch-rubbing

Italy's highest court has ruled that men who scratch, adjust or otherwise manipulate their genitals in public are committing a criminal offence.

Judges in the highest court of appeal in Italian law, have moved to criminalise not only shameless crotch-scratching, but also a specific local superstition.

According to Italian folklore, a swift grasp of one's generative organs - known by Italians as their "attributi" - protects against bad luck. A funeral procession passing by, or disaster or disease cropping up in conversation, brings a flurry of men's hands descending crotchwards.

The issue came to light after a 42-year-old workman from Como, near Milan, was convicted of indecent behaviour after "ostentatiously touching his genitals through his clothing".

Despite claims by his lawyer that the action was nothing more sinister than a "compulsive, involuntarily movement, probably to adjust his overalls", the court was unimpressed.

Such behaviour "has to be regarded as an act contrary to public decency, a concept including that nexus of socio-ethical behavioural rules requiring everyone to abstain from conduct potentially offensive to collectively-held feelings of decorum," they said in their ruling, ordering the man to pay a €200 (£152) fine and €1000 (£760) costs.

While superstitious groin-grabbing has become less acceptable in recent years, the phrase "io mi tocco i…", or "I touch my…", is still used in much the same way as "touch wood" is in English.

Judges in the case were helpful enough to suggest that would-be crotch criminals wait until they are the privacy of their own home before letting their hands wander.

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