Nickel-free charm with stainless steel ear hooks.
The symbols include a rooster, flaming heart, moon, and key.
The cimaruta ("chee-mah-roo-tah"; plural cimarute) is an Italian folk amulet or talisman, traditionally worn around the neck or hung above an infant's bed to ward off the evil eye (Italian: mal'occhio). The amulet consists of several small apotropaic charms (some of which draw upon Christian symbolism), with each individual piece attached to what is supposed to represent a branch of rue—the flowering medicinal herb for which the whole talisman is named, "cimaruta" being a Neapolitan form of cima di ruta: Italian for "sprig of rue".
The component parts of the cimarute, which are particularly associated with Southern Italy, may differ by region of origin. From out of a central stalk of rue serving as its base, there radiate multiple branches which appear to blossom into various designs; the divergent branches "sprout" at their extremities such magical symbols as: a rose; a hand holding either a wand or a sword; a flaming heart; a fish; a crescent moon; a snake; an owl; a plumed medieval helmet; a vervain blossom; a dolphin; a cock; and an eagle. One cimaruta, for example, might bear the collective imagery of a key, dagger, blossom and moon.