Wonderful and portentous were the properties attributed by the ancients to coral: it preserved it from the devil and negative influences. Due to the fact that the Sicilian corals were red and pointed, it was thought that they pierced the negative influence better, diverting it. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries coral processing reached very high levels, especially in Naples and Torre del Greco, with the creation of necklaces, bracelets, earrings, brooches and statuettes, to which was added the production of the well-known lucky horns.
Coral has been used since ancient times for ornaments, but its nature and formation have been a mystery for many centuries. Ancient poets and naturalists thought that coral was a marine plant that hardened in the sunlight, taking on the appearance of stone. In reality, coral is a limestone formation, with almost 90% of calcium carbonate, produced by marine organisms, which develops until it takes on the appearance of arborescello, with a prevalent red color, but also pink or white.