What happens when Italian folk traditions cross the Atlantic? This video explores how Italian witchcraft, especially the healing practice of Segnature, has been reimagined, reinvented, and often misrepresented in the United States. From Leland’s Aradia to Wicca-inspired “Stregheria,” we’ll look at how Italian-American communities blended folklore, Catholic devotion, and Pagan spirituality to create new forms of practice. But are these the same as the vernacular traditions in Italy, or something entirely different?
This video is a recording of the paper I presented at the World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions, held at Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland.
Join me as we unpack the myths, the reinventions, and the cultural translations behind Italian witchcraft in America.
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REFERENCES 📚
Cox, J. L. (2007). From primitive to indigenous: The academic study of indigenous religions. Ashgate.
De Martino, E. (1961). Sud e magia. Feltrinelli.
Hall, S. (1990). Cultural identity and diaspora. In J. Rutherford (Ed.), Identity: Community, culture, difference (pp. 222–237). Lawrence & Wishart.
Hobsbawm, E., & Ranger, T. (Eds.). (1983). The invention of tradition. Cambridge University Press.
Leland, C. G. (1899). Aradia, or the gospel of the witches. David Nutt.
Magliocco, S. (2004). Witching culture: Folklore and neo-paganism in America. University of Pennsylvania Press.
Magliocco, S. (2009). Italian American stregheria and Wicca: Ethnic ambivalence in American neopaganism. In M. F. Strmiska (Ed.), Modern paganism in world cultures: Comparative perspectives (pp. 55–86). ABC-CLIO.
Magliocco, S. (2026, forthcoming). Wicca alla marinara: La stregoneria neopagana italiana nella diaspora nordamericana. In M. Castagnetto Alessio, S. Palmisano, & N. Pannofino (Eds.), Rinascite pagane: Una religione dall'età della ragione alla postmodernità (pp. 45–67). Mondadori.
Owen, S. (2011). The appropriation of Native American spirituality. Continuum.
Pike, S. M. (2001). Earthly bodies, magical selves: Contemporary pagans and the search for community. University of California Press.
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