There is a mysterious italian or sephardi shiva minhag ---I remember reading in a book on google books called Jewish Magical Practices it was a light colored cover and it might have had the word kabbalah instead -- about an italian jewish post-burial minhag. This is what I remember:It was customary for Jews in Italy in the fourteenth century to place a cup filled with water and salt, and a candle for a week following the burial in the room of the deceased. Rabbi (do not remember name) was asked or wrote regarding if this practice was proper to keep or whether they should be advised to stop it. Rabbi (do not remember name) responded that he did not know where this practice originated but to keep the custom.Does anyone know of this book or a source for it? Does anyone here know of this practice among Italian Jews or Sephardim in general? Shemuel Lampronti? Jonathan Cohen? Malachi David? Does anyone know of this practice still being done today?I have found something similar in page 180 of Jewish Magic and Superstition: A Study in Folk Religion By Joshua Trachtenberg - but it gives an Ashkenazi source not an italian one, and doesn't mention anything about any century. Luciano de Lopes?