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The Italian New Year period is called Capodanno, literally ‘head of the year’. It is celebrated in much the same way as the rest of the world, although there are a number of quaint traditions to follow.
The night of the 31st usually kicks off with the cenone (big feast) where you can load up on a wide variety of dishes. One of the courses is usually zampone (a very greasy yet surprisingly tasty pig’s trotter)and lenticchie (lentils), eaten for their resemblance to coins, and supposedly bringing you good fortune in the year to come. For the same reason you may also see melagrane (pomegranite) and uva (grapes).
At midnight there will be the usual baci (kisses) and auguri (good luck greetings), plus many displays of fuochi artificiali (fireworks) and the accompanying botti (firecrackers) in the streets, historically used to ward off evil spirits.
Another more recent tradition is to vestire biancheria intima di colore rosso (wear red underwear), presumably to bring fertility. A more antique custom was to gettare dalla finestra oggetti vecchi (throw old objects out the window) symbolizing the idea of out with the old and in with the new. Linked to this are the creation of buoni propositi (New Year’s resolutions).