Prior to World War II Southern Italians did not celebrate New Year's Eve with champagne, nor did they throw dishes out their windows as was then the custom in Northern Italy. However, in the 1950s as soon as Italians came to North America they did bring in the new year with bubbly wine. Also, in the late 1950s the Northern Italian custom of throwing dishes out the window as a way of getting rid of the old and bringing in the new started to take hold in South as well. I suspect "modern-day" Italians living in a "United Europe" open champagne bottles like their North American counterparts and keep their dishes from harm's way.

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