Redheads are not exceedingly common in Southern Italy but they do exist. My paternal grandmother was a very superstitious woman. A lot of Italians are.
Anyway, in her town in Calabria they thought redheads were a jinx because local folklore held that Judas had red hair, if you can believe that. She'd cross herself whenever me or my brother brought an Irish kid home for dinner .
"I got news for you. If it wasn't for the toilet, there would be no books." --- George Costanza.