“Il Malocchio”  is the gesture of “throwing the horns” in the air to ward off bad luck. My informant is half Italian, and the Italian side of her family would always do while she was growing up. It’s a second nature, reflexive gesture.
My informant says that occasionally family members will text her messages telling her to “throw the horns” out of the blue. She does it without thinking, because she’ll know that that person must have just crossed someone who told her bad news or she was speaking to a “Negative Nelly.”
But if the gesture is used for evil it could come back to you, like bad karma. My informant tells me her sister will use it if someone would cut her off when she is driving. That’s misuse of the evil eye.
She and her family would also make the gesture to ugly looking animals, insects, or halloween decorations. It bascially means “Stay away from me, evil.”