🟢Sign up for the e-mail list here! nytonashville.com/connect 🟢Watch AD FREE on Patreon: www.patreon.com/NYTN ▶ on X, twitter.com/ImFindingLola 🟢Send me a coffee!: ko-fi.com/nytn13#linkModal 🟢Grab your own Ancestry DNA test now*! : amzn.to/3UxGKJx
Northern Italy has said, “everything south of Rome is Africa” for a long time. Some people really don’t get it, they didn’t view us (i.e., southern Italians) as “whíte”.
Northern Italy has said, “everything south of Rome is Africa” for a long time. Some people really don’t get it, they didn’t view us (i.e., southern Italians) as “whíte”.
Peace! Hey I’m from NY and we all know about Sicilian’s…Tarantino leaked the info in “True Romance” with Christopher Walken..young James Gandolfini…Sicilian’s are definitely not WASP 🐝! OUT
@@leahflower9924 Peace! Well I used to live in Bergen County; NJ.. Lodi is where they filmed some scenes..The Pink Dolls strip club is The Bada bing…trust I know what’s up..seen things I won’t write about lol..😂
@@99alfailiwaqain51 For you this is new information exposed by the movie, but to me I grew up with the slúrs and being constantly reminded that I’m not “whíte”.
@@99alfailiwaqain51 What’s really messed up is back then some empløyers openly disçriminated against me because I wasn’t “whíte”…. AND today the discriminatiøn is because those on the łeft now say I am. Makes no sense, I don’t think anyone should ever hire (or exclude) based on race.
I identify as Black American but remember the elders of my family telling stories about my Great grandmother Liza who was from Sicily that later migrated from North America to Savannah, Georgia. I always wanted to know how an Italian woman ended up with an African-Indigenous man. I love discovering these topics and I look forward to watching more of your podcast!
Couscous is a Berber dish, and there are Berbers in the countries you cite but also the Arab populations in North Africa love couscous as well. I'm Sicilian American who studied Middle Eastern studies and lived in Morocco myself as part of that experience.
From what I heard that was an old slur said by Central and Northern Europeans-and Northern Italians-against Southern Italians, especially Sicilians. The same thing was said about the Southern Spanish in Spain IIRC
Africans are ingenious to the Earth.We made a mistake by travelling North and encountered Neanderthals, cave like humanoids and due to that encounter we created human beings. Africans are the only race that are Human. All others are Human-beings.
Great conversation! I did ancestry DNA test and my ancestry is mostly south Italy, some Greek, Lavent, and North African. I've been to Africa and loved the people and culture there. My family came to US in early 1900's. Also trying to apply for Italian citizenship through decent but been difficult trying to get an appointment at the consulate.. Thank you!
DNA test doesn't mean you have ancestors from those regions . It simply means that as all humans we have a common origin hence we carry diverse genetic traits with us .
I lived in Naples for 4 years and as a black American I didnt really experience a lot of racism they were actually nice and looked out for you. When you go north towards Rome, that all changes, especially when you hit Rome. Loved Naples, and it was the best. That was around 2003 not sure if it changed.
South Italy’s more precisely Mediterranean not broadly European or African, that’s why all of us South Europeans physically and somewhat culturally defy racial categories.
Greece is also Mediterranean but they dont look as “African “ as southern Italians. All border areas in the world have populations that reflect mixing or a a gradual gradient of phenotypes between homogeneous ethnic groups. Obviously considerable mixing takes place. Regarding Italy in particular the southern Italian women tend to have the most curviest bodies in all of Europe, which seems to be a clear indication of high rates of mixing with Africans.
Southern Italians are just Sicilians. Hell, you'd be hard pressed to find a Sicilian in Italy who doesn't identify as Southern Italian, never pointing to the fact that he is Sicilian. Most Sicilians I know once they're in the States, they simply identify as Italian, leaving off the word Southern. That's an easy game for them to play with most Americans because many Americans are ignorant concerning the histories of Italy, Southern Italy, and Sicily. In the end, it's all about distancing one ethnicity from Blackness and, or Black people. Kind of like the Melungeons and the so-called Lumbee. You ever get a chance, look up the former United States representative, Adam Clayton Powell. He could have passed for anything he wanted to, particularly back in his day. He's one of the Blackest men you'll ever learn of even until this day. He looks Italian, but he was one proud Black man.
Plenty of Greeks have the same diverse traits like Jason Mantzoukas(Greek actor) and Luka Lesson(Greek poet), all Mediterraneans have unclassifiable appearances probably because that climate is equally varied.
I once lived in Italy 🇮🇹 back between 2003 to November 2010, and i have an Italian co-worker who happens to come from Sicily, he had told me everything this professor had said here on this podcast, he told me that the southern Italy is highly mixed with people of North African descendants, he said it highly mixed and the people had all their cultures highly influential too.
I lived in Napoli for 6 years and was married to a Napolitano for 22 years. I found many natives there looking very Swedish, since the occupation by Sweden Blonder then the ogygen peroxide Melloni
Fascinating and enlightening discussion! I loved your guest. The professor is eloquent and great at explaining the geographical-historical context. I learned so much! Keep up the great work!
The entire Mediterranean region from Southern Europe to the Nile, North Africa to the Middle East was in trade or conquest, which is why we can see at least some direct or indirect cultural influence (Many trade routes went from Southern Europe to East Asia). The Silk Road being the most influential trade route that spread technology and ideals through out lower Eurasia and North Africa. The Romans made it down as far as West Africa and Sudan for trading and potential conquests. The Romans couldn't handle the environment of West Africa, and were expelled by Nubian-Egyptian military in what is now Sudan. I love History!!!
I screen shot this so I could remember to touch on these in later videos! History is amazing. When people say they dont like history...Im like, yah we cant be friends. Jk. Kind of.
@@johnnonamegibbon3580 The Romans are genetically Southern European, or what ever appropriate name prefer. However, every racial group was part of the Roman Empire because of conquests. A lot of Middle Easterners, Asians, North Africans and Black Africans were slaves or citizens or client state citizen to Roman era Italy. So, yes, there was at least some admixing.
As someone with Italian ancestry who's from Brazil, yes the majority of the immigrants were from the North, especially from Veneto, but isn't 90% and to get a citizenship here is really expensive and it usually takes two to five years to get. In São Paulo, every year, there is a big festival in honor of Our Lady of Achiropita. This festival was brought by immigrants from Calabria, and the food there is delicioussssss!
@@nytnDanielle, your channel is great! You can open a second channel just in case and start posting videos that were not flagged. It would be sad if you lose all your work because of the haters. I was inspired by your channel and did DNA test for my mom. It revealed so many secrets and mysteries that we were not aware of ❤❤❤
Stop using the moors. Black Europeans were the norm. This is the main reason why the moors cam up. They were invited to stop the migration of whites pouring intbEurope
@@AdamJatlayes it does.. Moors: North Africans ; who are only black Europeans: Black people above the sea. India: means dark people in far away land. Ethiopian - Greek word for dark skin. The newer word is "indian". this is why black Europeans can live in America and call themselves Indian" but not native American. White people are not and never ever refer as "native European" ask why?? 📚 Example of name is location and default is BLACK ( duh) Queen Catherine she is BLACK GERMAN and BLACK MOOR in her time they just say German + Moor. no need to say "black" Africa" no need to say "black" Australia no need to say "black" *** the migration of the pale skin people has corrupted the native ID of each land now when you hear the word 🇦🇺 "Aussie " you think Anglo Saxon tribe looking person. but Australia is a black continent just like EUROPE
Always fascinating. Both of my maternal grandparents are from the northernmost part of Southern Italy (Abruzzo). I haven’t found sub-saharan DNA yet; however, a significant portion (18% on MyHeritage; 0.3% on 23andMe) is West Asian (Turkey, Iran, etc). I have in-laws that are Central/Northern Italian and it’s readily apparent they share a different phenotype (facial, height, etc) than Southern Italians. You’re definitely right about 23andMe changing the North African/Middle East/West Asian component from their “ancestry composition” for Southern Italians and lumping it under the Southern Italian umbrella…doing us terroni no favor.
byzantine admixture from when they had Colonies/territories there during the middle ages that they controlled for some time could have contributed? I imagine the campaigns they partook in to retake the was encompassed by vast mixture of different peoples as it seems the byzantine administration went nuts with foreign fighters/peoples being brought on side and used in military campaigns. The southern part of Italy and Sicily definitely has eastern roots but not just from the Arabs and Moors, the Greek Roman administration and arab then Norman ones too.
@@simonecostantini892 well, my West Asian culture was well represented on the MyHeritage site…and, before the new “chips” were used at 23andMe, West Asian DNA was present there too (much smaller though). I’m not sure I trust the conclusions that are made on these ancestry composition sites…they change quite a bite from year. You can’t tell me there’s not some politics involved in the results, too. I didn’t even care what my Abruzesse DNA showed when extrapolated out. I signed up to look at my father’s DNA, whose family has been here since at least the Revolutionary War. 23andMe failed to show the indigenous (American) results that were never a question in the family. The only site that helped in that regard was GED Match, which showed traces of Beringian and Siberian and Amer-Indian. As the kids say, Thanks for coming to my TedTalk.
I don't think it's Lombards. People forget that after a few generations foreign ancestry is completely diluted or disappears. Look what happened to the Aegean Philistines in the Levant, 200 years they were completely Canaanite. Puglia is where the Illyrians settled, maybe it's due to them. By the way, why are blue eyes so important to you? I know lots of pale, blond and blue eyed people who are ugly and stupid.
This "professor" 🙄🙄🙄🙄lives in his own made up bubble or voluntarily misinterpret facts to suits his own view. Do he seriously think there is a debate if southern Italy is Africa????? 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️ So let's be clear even if someone might get offended: 1 southern Italy is way underdeveloped. 2 the north pay for the south and that means some people in the north are angry about THIS. And let's be clear is exactly about money and economic development. 3 Southern Italy is close to Africa..... 4 northern Italians say as a joke that southern Italy is Africa because is POOR, AND UNDERDEVELOPED, and MOST IMPORTANTLY BECAUSE THE NORTH PAY FOR THE SOUTH. I live in the most hard right separatist region of Italy (we even had a kind of referendum and I know people who supported indipendence) and I heard this joke tons of times, and I never not one single time heard anyone saying that southerners are less white/not really white/black or evoking in any way phisical appearance as a bad trait for them and most of them could easily pass for northern Italians. I heard they are lazy, and don't want to change, want to be maintained by the north Ecc...
@@MarketsDriveTheWorldNorth Africa has nothing to do with subsaharans black people hear Africa and run to these videos 😂 the WORD Africa IFRIKYA is amazigh not black or white they're brown
I’m Berber and have 2% southern Italian DNA. I grew up in Brooklyn New York alongside a ton of Italians and when I’d go over to my buddies house his dad would joke “Moors here for the house!” Didn’t understand him when I was younger haha but my mom would always make food for me to give to them since I always hung out with their son
Grew up with Italian kids from Brooklyn in NJ. Their mom was Irish. Father was tan year round & had short curly hair. Kids took after him. When our friend went to Northern Italy he couldn’t believe all the pretty blonde girls.
1. There's one theory anthropologists have that Berbers and the Basques are related -- I'm not sure you've heard about that 2. Were there any similarities with cooking or customs that you saw in your friend's family that were similar to Berber customs or food? I'm American like yourself, with part Sicilian heritage and lived in Morocco, hahah. I did see similarities. I loved my experience in Morocco but of course, I know Amazigh come from other countries across North Africa.
@@etruscancivilization Original Berbers aren’t black. We’re well aware of the simplistic views on race and lack of timeline awareness within the Afrocentrist community. When you say the original Berbers are black and came from East Africa you omit the fact that this migration occured over a million years ago. Now would those people be considered modern humans or Berber? No. The ancient Berbers were made up of Iberomaurusian (ancient North Africans) early European farmers and western Eurasian. This is based on remains found in the region and oddly enough a scientific component widely ignored for obvious reasons. The vandals only settled on a small part of the region and didn’t mix with the population in its entirety. Statues, busts and coins predating the arrival the vandals depict caucasoid features. The Berber were always mixed race never black but you can argue they have a black ancestor. Pale Berbers and black Berbers aren’t accurate to the Berber phenotype as they would be tannish.
@@etruscancivilization Nope. Genetic studies already proved they weren’t black. They’re closest to modern Lebanese. Surely if they were black they would ping other groups in Africa that didn’t experience as much mixing
Im glad you talked about this! I was friends with an Italian from Perugia. One time i saw him post on Facebook- a person on a dating app stated that he had such a southern Italian face. He took it as an insult and unloaded many expletives about how he does not. Also, one time we were hanging out in Florence and we passed by a group of people. He became so upset and said, those are southern italians, they are so loud everywhere they go. He went on to say, " I hate them and i hate their accent". He then went on to say, "But I am not racist". I was in utter shock. I said nothing at first, but he was seething with anger. So I told him i could not understand why what someone else is doing upsets you so much. As a matter of fact they were no more louder than the other people walking the street. After witnessing that situation and a few other encounters he had with southern italians and migrants I had to re-evaluate my friendship with him and cut my losses.
My Grandson went on holiday to Italy, a few years ago. He was shocked at how racist they were after seeing them try to stop a white man and his black girlfriend, getting the table they had booked. He was disgusted.
In southern Italy, the word "anti-meridionalismo" (which I don't know how to translate. "anti-southernism", perhaps?) is becoming increasingly widespread among southern activists to distinguish it from "racism" which describes a different phenomenon, usually aversion towards black people.
But southern Italians are way louder! I am not Italian but I go there occasionally. Mostly to Liguria and Milano since I am Swiss and it is the closest. I can always spot the Southerners since they look different speak different and are louder indeed. Honestly they are also often overweight!
I was heavy on the Couscous when I was in Morocco and continue eating it in London. As far as I know Couscous is North African (Arabia aren't heavy on it like that). Also, Couscous can be found in Sub Saharan Africa (particularly West Africa) but goes by a different name, that being "Farina"!
Interesting correlation. From my understanding and background, what you are referring to- a starch accompaniment similar to the texture of dough or thick mashed potatoes that is dipped in stews/soups- it doesn't have the same consistency as couscous, unless there is a dough-like version of couscous I'm not familiar with. In West Africa, there are various types of these dishes called by different names and made with different (or differently processed) bases including cassava, yam, plantain, etc. I'm mostly familiar with part of Nigeria, within which some of the names include fufu, eba, iyan (aka pounded yam), amala. Folks have used Farina and Semolina (wheats) to add more types of these starches as option, and the names come from the bases. I don't know how indigenous these last two ingredients are versus the others I mentioned. But it would be cool to learn if there is actually more of a couscous dish that's completely different than what I'm talking about!
You are very humble but the work you are doing is very important. I am looking forward to the growth of your knowledge and self-discovery as you learn more. I am sure you will soon move into publishing an important book about the American experience.
I like how you are exploring connections between groups. So much effort has been put into exploring the differences and the separation where you are exploring the connections.
If you believe in blessings you believe in curses. It's just the other side of the coin. Italians are not that mixed, and it's not anything good or bad. The past is the past and should be forgotten. Live in the present.
I am Nigerian . I met a white couple at an exhibition in the UK. The wife said her DNA results indicated that she was about 12% Nigerian. She was British but of Italian descent. She happily asked me if she looked Nigerian.😂 . She looked 100% white to me.
Moors are Moroccans, and they are not blackskinned. Italians also have had slaves and this British friend of urs might have a grand grand mother that was a slave.
My Dna results indicates that i'm 10 % Nigerian and 10% Italian. PUt in the mix 50% of Iberian, 10% North African, !4 % Irish ,3% Askhenzi and 3% Native American.
@@hari-7333I live in Rome and my husband is 100% Sicilian/ Roman. His DNA was extracted and he was 11% Berber 14% and West Africa from the MOORS. The Moors were a Pan Muslim army which included masses of Moroccans North African and masses of West African men from gold rich Muslim West African kingdoms like Kano Nigeria, Ghana Senegal and Mali. My husband's DNA reveals this. His cousins have sickle cell anemia like many Sicilians. Sickle cell anemia is a Black African blood disorder..
@@hari-7333I live in Rome and my husband is 100% Sicilian/ Roman. His DNA was extracted and he was 11% Berber 14% and West Africa from the MOORS. The Moors were a Pan Muslim army which included masses of Moroccans North African and masses of West African men from gold rich Muslim West African kingdoms like Kano Nigeria, Ghana Senegal and Mali. My husband's DNA bears this out. His cousins have sickle cell anemia like many Sicilians. Sickle cell anemia is a Black African blood disorder..
There are so many misnomers, misinformation regarding the history and cultures of Italy, all of its regions - as discussed online. Sicily for example, is described in a way that is completely foreign to the Italians of this region. Yes, Sicily was occupied, as were all the regions of Italy from the fall of the Roman empire to the Risorgimento - all the regions saw European powers such as the Hapsburgs of the Austrian Empire (also in Sicily), the Spanish, Aragons, Borbone, Norman, Celts, Germans, the ancient Greeks of various tribes, the Romans (who themselves were multi-cultural. In the north, the Celts, Austrians, Longboards, Goths, Visigoths, Estruscan, Ghibelline and others occupied the lands. The south in Italy including Sicily - for those who know the regions - know, and can see that south Italy is very, very European, and shares relatively very little with Arabic culture, not outwardly. Yes, for the very short time the Carthaginians (Phoenicians) ruled Sicily, there are thousands of years where the Romans, Greeks, Normans ruled and created the DNA of the region. Sicily is firstly European, it is the beginning, with Greece, of Europe itself - its larger culture, ethics, philosophy, literature, sciences. The Sicilian dialect is largely Latin-based, with words that stem also from the French spoken by the Normans, the Provencal poets, and of course the ancient Greeks, Elymians and other pre+Indo-European languages. Sicily inherited almonds, oranges and other agricultural products, including couscous from Carthage. These Phoenician people also occupied other nearby Arabic-speaking lands. Arabic architecture found in Palermo, for example was welcomed by the builders and architects, allowing the Arabic-speaking workers to bring this Arabic flavour to Italian architecture - even for Catholic churches. It was more of style than intrinsic ‘Arabic architectural manner. The Arabic styles were used because of the workers of these structures. We must remember that the Muslim dominance was very short-lived and where there was little intermarriage except where Muslims had converted upon the arrival of the Normans. The history is rich but the orientation of the culture and roots of the culture are European through and through. As for superficialities of skin color, one finds the great majority of Italians in Sicily to be of light complexion except for those who work in the sun. There are also blonde Italians in Sicily, also in Napoli. As for cuisine, most Sicilian dishes share most in common with the types of cuisine of other parts of Italy - especially similarities to Campana, Lazio. There are only a few dishes that can be traced to an Arabic influence. - and they are fantastically delicious. Every region in Italy has a cuisine that is based on its climate, its proximity to the sea, and other natural factors. It would be interesting for TH-camrs interested in history, and for trained historians especially to speak of other Italian regions with regard to these same questions. North African culture is rich and detailed and has left its mark on the lands it has invaded, but the point is that it is not the dominant mark of southern italy, Sicily. It is not only Sicily, or the rest of southern Italy that has seen a multitude of influence. It is all of Italy. People are people - layers of DNA, customs, habits, languages. Human civilizations are complex. Sicily is European.
I don't put to much stock in blonde blue eyes.my mother's brother had blue eyes and he was very dark. I found recently we're north African, Irish, and Portuguese; I consider myself African and proud to be.
@@jleeharris4743 You do well, but this does not mean that Sicilians are African. I am not Sicilian, but I have never considered them as such, because I see North Africans every day just I see Sicilians and I know how to make a difference.
@@giorgiodifrancesco4590 Supposedly, all the blue eyes originated in Turkey, Iran, black sea, Iraq region. Another cool thing about blue eyes is they see better in low light, better night vision. Bright light is harder for them though.
Very interesting insights on the non-ethnicity of Italians! There's a lot to talk about when it comes to this topic, I'm sure Ms. Romero and prof. Coniglio will pull off a great job if they keep on collaborating in the future. They covered the Arab colonisation of Sicily in this podcast but he also hinted at the Norman conquest of the island. For instance, you can add how Northern Italians (so-called Lombards) settled in some villages in Sicily back in the 12th and 13th century, they were mostly southern Piedmonteses and Ligurians: there are many last names pointing at these origins, one of them is Lombardo which is widespread all over Sicily. If you ask me, you can cover the whole history of Italy through such podcasts!
I don't understand why Europeans are so quick to dismiss their own affects on the world. Because the Mediterranean was considered "a Roman pond" wouldn't it follow that Italy influenced North Africa more than vice versa.
@@nytn I also thought northern Italy was more Germanic because the Roman empire hired German tribes as mercenaries to defend the northern border. Then they turned on Rome and sacked the city which created the hostility of North V South.
@@Bander471 Stop trying insert modern interpretations onto history. The oldest civilizations are in the middle east. Africa was where they found the oldest Homosapian. Europe also had Neanderthals that existed before Homosapians. The expansion of the Greeks first then Roman's altered the genetic and cultural aspects of Northern Africa forever. That's just a fact.
As a black American married to an Italian, this was an absolutely fascinating discussion. I'm so glad I stumbled across your channel. (Thank you TH-cam algorithm! ). Btw... because of the italian laws mentioned, my wife and our young children have applied for and received Italian citizenship. Although they have never been there yet, they may wish to explore and connect deeper with their Italian heritage one day. My in-laws however visit often. Subbed! 👍🏾
The professor said that there was nothing similar to your channel in TH-cam and he must be right because I have not encountered any other channel similar to yours. Good luck, I think that you are touching on something that we definitely needed.
She has a lot of hang ups due to her non European ancestry. She calls it Creole. Those Creoles have the brown paper bag test, if you are lighter your are okay, but darker then you are a negro.
The Greeks colonized the crap out of southern Italy and Sicily and had the biggest impact on southern Italy and sicily. They brought the basis of southern italian culture (along with the grape and the olive). The groups that came later merely added a bit, but the foundation was set by the Greeks.
Phoenicians introduced the grape and the olive, or at least the cultivation of them, to Sicily, prior to the Greeks. Evidence is inconclusive as to whether these species were present on the island prior to colonization, but it seems unlikely, as both olives and grapes are not endemic to Sicily.
@@sergpie Total nonsense. The olive tree (Olea europaea L., 1753) is a fruit tree native to Asia Minor and Syria (and not Africa), where wild olive trees have been spreading since ancient times, forming forests on the southern coast of Asia Minor. In Italy, the olive tree was first spread by the Etruscans, who cultivated it as early as the 5th century BC. Later, the olive tree was also introduced by the Greeks and Romans, who expanded its cultivation and commercialization.
@@franz9573the greeks were in South Italy and sicily from the 8th century BC and introduced olive and grapes The Etruscans took it from them and spread it
also the wheat for couscous came from Numidia Algeria and they exported it to Italy long before the arabs n the spices too came from India long before the arabs not sure why he made it about the arabs
As a Sicilian-American man, I have to say, I love your content and share it whenever I can. I think this is the fourth video of yours I've shared on my social media for family and friends to enjoy, and many of them indeed do. We discuss things based on these videos when we get together. Thanks a lot, paisana.
My grandpa was from Pavia and looked German (blond hair blue eyes) and my grandmother was from Alcamo, Sicily and she had a very strong North African look. I grew up half in Los Angeles and the other in the Canary Islands in Spain and the Moroccan grandmothers would always remind me of mine lol
Having blond hair and blue eyes doesn't make anyone look German, it just makes them look like blond blue eyed Italians. Your grandmother could have looked North African, I doubt it, she just looked foreign in your country.
This girl and the professor are ignorant. It is heavily exaggerated how "mixed" Sicilians are. All the admixture comes from black women anyway and it is very low. Sicilians are still primarily Caucasoid. Sicilians are 98.59% Caucasoid, an Italian from Bergamo is 99.81% Caucasoid. If people actually did research on ancestral genetics facts would become more clear but many are too emotional and politically correct/woke.
You should honestly check out the Met Museum painting of Saint Maurice and the Theban Legion (viewable online). The African figures in the painting are carrying the Coat of Arms of the Italian Negri family. Africans we’re far more integrated into Italian society than we give it credit for.
The name Negri means ‘black’ in Italian. The painting has almost certainly been mislabeled as Saint Maurice and the Theban Legion, when in fact it is a painting of the Negri family themselves
The French variation of the Coat of Arms has Moorish heads, the Italian variant is five wheat crop set against a blue background, which is exactly the coat of arms adorned in the painting. Colloquially referring to all Black's in European portraiture as St Maurice is lazy scholarship@@ItsMe-sg5ow
Southern italians do NOT have tons of north african dna. The moors contributed very little genetically to sicily etc. What southern italians do have is ancient middle eastern and levantine heritage from the ancient greeks and east med people in the Roman empire. This had nothing to do with the moorish occupation or muslims in general. People today do not realize that ancient greece extended all the way into the levant essentially and these greeks were a lot more levantine or middle eastern genetically than modern greeks. This is the true ancestry (of course mixed with native roman european heritage and germanic influences as well) of southern italians and to some extent all italians.
Great video, well done! He said almost everything about Sicily (except that the centuries of the Arab period on the island were 300, not just 200... and that one of the greatest generals of the Arab world was actually a Sicilian, Jawhar al-Siqilli [Jawhar the Sicilian], that he did was founding the city of Cairo in Egypt), although it should also be said that our folk music and singing are typically Maghrebi. As well as many other things, like the artistic expression, which we make the so-called "Moor's heads" or "Majolica", which are a typical Maghreb tiling. Some holidays are, such as Taratatà, and that here in Palermo many streets in the city center are denominated in three languages: Italian, Arabic and Jewish. Having said that, I simply consider myself Mediterranean, because that's what I am; a genetic and cultural combination deriving from all the continental coasts that overlook the Mediterranean Sea: South Europe, North Africa and Middle East. Assabbinirìca: Sicilian greeting of Arabic origin and deriving from "as-salamu alaykum" 👍🏼
You are just an american Ian, no italian consider you italian. Definitely we aren't maghrebi, and we aren't proud of any influence arabs/arabized berbers/turks brought by butchering, enslaving, raiding on our shores for 1200 years. And definitely we have 0, ZERO in common with sub saharan africans, like these afrocentric "african"-americans like to say.
The Arab conquest of Sicily began in 827 and ended in 902, with the occupation of the entire island. The Arabs were finally defeated by the Normans in 1091, when they conquered Noto, the last Arab city remaining in Sicily. So, yes, the Arab occupation in Sicily lasted about 200 years, even less if you consider the entire island.
BRAVA❤, never miss your brilliant channel. Can’t wait until you visit the most heavily Sicilian populated city New Orleans. Keep on your so inspiring research dear, Danielle. You lucky, lucky girl to be married to a Boricua❤
🇮🇹 🇹🇳 😮 This could be a very hot topic in certain circles. I have never thought of the proximity of Italy to the Continent of Africa. 🤔 There is so much to be explored on this topic and I sense a continuation video coming in the near future. I enjoy this professor and his frank discussions. ❤
Tunisia is gonna decline too. Birth rate 1.62 To be honest any country that's developed or even developing at this point is going through the demographic transition and it's going hard
I think Mr Rabbit is quite low brow. It is said that the IQ of Italians have decreased quite a lot since the Imperial Rome age, and Mr. Rabbit seems to prove that.
Egypt is, and will always be, part of the African continent. Just because it had Greek and Roman occupation doesn't make it part of Europe, just as Spain and the Iberian Peninsula were not part of Arabia or Africa just because they were occupied by the Moors of North Africa for nearly 800 years, from 711 AD to 1492 AD.
The only connections between Italy and Africa are colonial and imperial as in Imperial Rome or Fascist Italy under il Duce. Genetically not much at all. Dna analysis of Punic settlements in Sardinia, Spain and North Africa showed that those Punics had a cosmopolitan population containing black Africans, Levantines, Europeans from all over Europe and even some Indians.
Presumably this is a diatribe against current Italian political issues. Africa is a huge continent, presumably you are referencing North Africa which within your context you might call Goth. Thor Heyerdahl found North Africa a total mix. Romans did not differentiate color but culture. .The Roman’s talk about settling from Troy. Etruscans have a unique language and possible unique ethnicity as well. I experienced this whole presentation with care and do not understand what it is about
They are actually descendants of indigenious Berber tribes in majority. The Arabs came as a result of the Islamic expansion from present day Saudi and have influenced the Berbers language wise and religion wise. Admixtures are also visible in certain relevant positions in society example M.Gaddafi, King of Morroco etc. are/were people with mixed race backgrounds.🔔
Some of them are. There's a site called Italicroots which is runned by self hating Italians who look down Middle Eastern and Spanish people and deny that Italy, at least the South has significant Anatolian and Levantine admixture. They keep posting blonde Italians, because they can't stand the fact that they look the same as Spanish and Greek people a d have little thing to do with Northern Europeans. Mentally ill complexed folks lol
I am not Italian, and I am slightly annoyed. Mr. Rabbit is some work. The woman is a mixed American and has indications in her phenotype that show this mixed ancestry, one thing it isn't Italian, and its due to American slavery and the history of free people of color in the USA.
Due to the proximity to Africa...I am sure that many people and areas were assimilated...But maybe not in larger groups and those that spread inland. Islands in the world as not as "isolated", or as "pure" as one thinks in the world, and the Professor brought a perspective not thought about, even in that wide-ranging, historic region. Influence from other places are rife within the countries and so are foods and adaptions to some cultures and technology. I do know that Europe owes way more than they claim to Africa and Africans that traveled to seas. Not to mention, intermarriages, plus migrations and those that wanted to carve out a new life in a new country and region. More study to migration patterns ...Voluntary, or forced, or just exploratory, is needed. Maps made are unusually inaccurate and deceiving in range and size and even distance. Good video i will watch again to see and to think about this even more. Peace
As a historian, I tell you that your idea of proximity to Africa is totally wrong. In the past, in order to get to Africa, European ships had to make long round trips and coastings. Direct channel crossings meant almost certain sinking (Africans who now try to get to Europe by dinghy, albeit by motor, know this well). Roman military fleets bound for Africa that were lost in the canals cannot be counted, just like African fleets bound for Europe. Moreover, before Muslims inaugurated a black slave trade from the South Sahara to Egypt, to Baghdad and then to istambul, there were only white Berbers in North Africa. Much whiter than those of today. Even the temporary partial conquest of Sicily by Muslims did not have the ethnic consequences that many think. In the first place because the Christian reconquest entailed very harsh consequences for the Muslims (deaths, expulsions, fleeing). Second because marriage between Christians and Muslims was regulated only for the benefit of Muslims, so Christians shunned it. A Christian man was forbidden to marry a Muslim woman. A Muslim man could marry a Christian woman (but her father normally would not give her to him). Moreover, only Christians were subject to the capitation tax, so Muslim State had no benefit from their conversion. Without mass conversions, mixed children were born only from rape (but since that was not the modern world, the woman's family often kept the fact a secret and killed the infants to save the honor of the girl, who would otherwise never marry again). Disregarding religious differences is wrong, because in the past they were a barrier. On the other hand, even, today, a Muslim woman who is truly faithful to her religion would never marry a Christian, if only not to turn against her own family. True, many Christian males today would be willing to pretend to become Muslim just for the love of a woman, but back then it was not the 21st century. I also recall that many Sicilians went to Tunisia as settlers when that land was conquered by the French in the 19th century, but they continued to marry among Europeans and did so for religious reasons. The Sicilians who currently have an exizial portion of non-European DNA are descendants of people who arrived on the island thousands of years ago, and, in any case, they are almost always of Levantine rather than North African blood. All others are a mixture of Greeks and European people who arrived from the Italian peninsula or other European lands. Sicilians are no blacker than the Greeks or Bulgarians or Caucasian peoples: Having dark hair does not mean that they are mixed whith black people. I understand that dreaming is good and dreams help to live, but then there is reality and that is what needs to be studied. Not ideology. We are all mixed, in Europe, but not with who the Americans would like. If you had a differently structured census you would not need to dream about black Italians.
@odifrancesco4590 Reading this diatribe, laden message, that has no logical basis, and coherency... I think this an ethnocentrist racist part of a view, and not for information, but to push forth your racist Italian type of agenda, with bits of the "Bible" you talk about, due to this "Levant", the "Muslims", France, and other parts you speak of here. This you wrote...Smacks with some kind of ethnoreligious rhetorical views not based on sciences...But you own wishes and beliefs. Proximity means not as much as you think, as small groups that travel, and even trade...can make a difference and have. But There needs to be more study, and skin color can be no full indicator as well...Africans have the most varied and wide-ranging skin color of all people on Earth. You must be an "Italian" [most likely American-based] from your name here...And just reinforces that many cannot, and do not want to handle the truth...Or really search for it, using science, genetic phenotyping, as many have done here, even in America and your own country. I hope you find the real truth because this history is totally wrong, but pushing a personal point of view. I have the other hand...I do have extensive historical knowledge that is far more true than this error/agenda-laden rhetorical scribblings you wrote. "Historical" and "conjecture" sought, can be and are sometimes far from the truth. Peace
@@giorgiodifrancesco4590blacks never lived in North Africa. As an Algerian, I first saw that black person only when I went to the south in the Sahara. Most North Africans live in the north. Those black Algerians are usually descendants of migrants or slaves.
@@giorgiodifrancesco4590agree. Not verybdifferent in Spain. People have the wrong impression. We should say that they north of Africa is more a result of europe not the other way around
@@giorgiodifrancesco4590sweetie Morocco is 8 miles away from Spain and they had no issues colonising the ENTIRETY of North Africa from the greeks, to the romans to the vandals and vikings... they didn't mix either they just ruled and reigned absolute terror over and over and over again before taking off to the whole world and coming back to colonise us AGAIN 🤦♀️
Great episode. 👌 Australian born and raised here, from proud Calabrian immigrant parents (Vibo Valentia). Our DNA test revealed a minestrone soup. 😂 From Italian, Scandinavian. Middle Eastern, African, Sephardic Jews expelled out of Spain. To Dutch and Caucus Mountains. Just wowee.... 🥃
Australia is even “worse” than America? Everybody is really way more mixed. Now I know why everyone so friendly and relaxed when I visited. I should have stayed.😄
I am african ugandan to be precise ive worked with many brazilians who have italian passports but they don't take to be come really italians for them its the advantage of being able to move more freely in europe these people get easy yet we have people born in italy and feel italian and it take forever to have citizenship like mentioned don't you this has to revised
Southern Italians are just Sicilians. Hell, you'd be hard pressed to find a Sicilian in Italy who doesn't identify as Southern Italian, never pointing to the fact that he is Sicilian. Most Sicilians I know once they're in the States, they simply identify as Italian, leaving off the word Southern. That's an easy game for them to play with most Americans because many Americans are ignorant concerning the histories of Italy, Southern Italy, and Sicily. In the end, it's all about distancing one ethnicity from Blackness and, or Black people. Kind of like the Melungeons and the so-called Lumbee. You ever get a chance, look up the former United States representative, Adam Clayton Powell. He could have passed for anything he wanted to, particularly back in his day. He's one of the Blackest men you'll ever learn of even until this day. He looks Italian, but he was one proud Black man..
Sorry to disillusion you: never would any Italian from Italy say that Adam Clayton Powell was an Italian. You could clearly see that he had the skin of mulattos, despite having European features. You should take a trip to Italy. Besides, it might be funny and you might get a laugh afterwards for what you said. To be like him, you would have to have a black-skinned, West African ancestor within a few hundred years.
I think Mr Powell looked quite like what he was, a light skinned Negro with a big nose. He looked as Italian as a Mule looks like a Horse. I don't understand why you foreigners think various mixed bloods look Italian because they are not dark skinned, don't have nappy hair or flat noses but are obviously mixed race.
Danielle, please do more interviews like this! You shine! What a great team you make. I would love more about what you and Prof. Coniglio started discussing, how ethnicity isn't culture and vice versa. He started discussing the genetic tests with respect to this. (Remember the Ancestry commercial "Goodbye Lederhosen, Hello Kilt: How a DNA Test Changed One Man’s Identity Forever"?) Just because I determined I had an Italian grandparent (my father was adopted) using a DNA test doesn't mean I'm Italian-American. I was raised in the cultures of my mother's parents and (adoptive) parents of my father. I am intrigued, however, about obtaining Italian citizenship. I expect it would be a mess to prove the descent on the basis of DNA alone, lacking other confirmatory records of parentage due to the adoption. ** If anyone knows if this has been done or any guidance about it, please let me know! **
I definitely remember that commercial! Im glad you brought it up. And I think your story is really uniquely important. if you have not checked out the free DNAngel groups on Facebook, I HIGHLY recommend. We had close family member not know who their bio father was, and the DNAngel was able to find their name after just a week or two of working on the DNA matches.
@nytn Great suggestion. The birth-father was born in NJ. The last name changed over 4 decades of Census records. Haven't found the immigration records for his parents yet because it's easier to do my maternal side. It's on my "genealogy fun" task list.
When I did mine in 2007, I needed my grandfather’s birth certificate, marriage certificate for some reason. Then you go with these documents to the nearest Italian consulate in your area and they will ask you to take them to the state house in the capital city where you live and get the apostille certification stamp. Next return them to the local Italian consulate and they will be sure to translate the application and relevant documents into Italian before sending them to the birth village of your ancestor where his records are kept. All the to-ing and fro-ing takes some time, but when you finally receive that email telling you that your name has been registered in the local town hall recognising you as a citizen through “juris sanguis” and that you can now apply for a passport - it is an indescribably amazing feeling! If you father is still alive he will have to apply as well in order to pass it on to you. It happens automatically and simultaneously. I imagine very difficult though for him to get a hold of his biological parent’s documents if he was adopted. Maybe there is a solution in this case. I recommend you contact your local Italian consulate about it and ask them. Good luck.
@Youve_GotABeard Thank you for your input. My father is not alive. IF I would ever follow up on this, everything would hinge upon establishing paternity on the basis of DNA. Will the Italian bureaucracy have procedures in place for this unusual request? The unofficial copy of the 1931 birth certificate lists the bio dad's last name as "Smith" while the first name appears to agree with the family pedigree chart from a DNA relative that I saw. It's entirely possible the pregnancy resulted from a casual encounter with no real relationship between them. The Italian family so far have few DNA matches in the major databases I uploaded to. I haven't done 23&Me, however. BTW, what is an apostille certification stamp?
Look I’m a northern Italian and I’m clearly white ( blonde green eyes )but also many southern Italians I know look like me. I’ve always thought of my self and my compatriots as whites, it’s only lately that I’ve heard that some Americans didn’t consider us white, but still WTF I’m white European just like every other ethnic Italian.
Lascia stare, gli americani soprattutto sono molto ignoranti nei confronti della nostra lingua, cultura, storia etc... Non di rado, quando parlano dell'Italia, separano la Sicilia come se fosse un entità totalmente estranea e non parte dell'Italia e del resto del sud. Lasciali perdere.
As an american, most Americans would consider you white. Some ethnic italians have deep enough pigment to be seen as "black", but italians being black is more of an ironic joke, my friends say I'm mixed race because my grandpa was italian lol
Being light skinned and having light hair, I doubt you are blond, and green eyes does not make you European or White. It's a phenotype found all around West Eurasia and resulted from the mixing of Neolithic farmers with hunter gatherers, and Steppe herders from the backside of European Russia. You are European, that' it, nothing more.
Thank you, Danielle ed grazie Professore Coniglio! This was such a great conversation/presentation. 👍🏼 Prof. Coniglio is a very knowledgeable resource!!! After spending most of my last 11 visits to Italy in small villages, I wholeheartedly agree that these are the true gems of Italian beauty, cuisine and culture. ❤️🇮🇹 I hope to receive my Italian citizenship through the San Francisco Consulate this Spring after a very long wait for the appointment. 🤞🏼Maybe there's a faster way, but my experience has not been a blink of the eye which is okay as it has given me more time to learn the language. 😉 Auguri! ❤
Poor Italy. All these foreigners wanting citizenship. Stay in your own countries and try to make your country better than go to another country and pollute it.
Sickle cell anemia almost exclusively affects people of African or African-American descent. Worldwide 300 Millions. In Italy only 1800 times. Not an italian or hispanic thing. In the US the state with the most Sickle Cell anemia is Florida with 14000 Cases. Florida hat 1/3 of the population of Italy but 8 timer larger of cases. Only 6 % of the Florida Population is of italian descent. If you convert the numbers from Italy to Florida, only 36 italian-americans in Florida are affected. By the way, Italians are among the people with the highest life expectancy in the world.😁 This is typical for the Mediterranean region, France, Spain, Italy and Greece have a very high life expectancy. And here the real numbers: About 100,000 Americans have SCD, about 1 in every 13 Blacks have sickle cell trait, About 1 in every 365 Blacks have SCD ,About 1 in every 16,300 Hispanics from caribbean have SCD. 95% of sickle cell anemia in the US are of african-american descent. Deal with it. You're no different than trump's maga idiots, you can't handle numbers and you're not very good with the truth either. You really have to worry about the USA, lots of clueless people on both sides. Americans of Italian descent live on average 83 years in the USA, those of American-African descent only 71 years, a difference of 12 years. Only Asians live even longer, 84 years. Incidentally, Italians are among the longest-lived among whites in the USA. Italian-American also have a higher average income in the USA than people of Scottish, English, Irish and German descent, not to mention African-Americans. Italian-American had difficult times in the USA, but they are now represented everywhere and are very successful.
Bullshit, sickle cell anemia is in your Brain. Italy has one of the lowest levels in the world and Europe. The highest number in Europe are: UK, France & Netherlands. You should eat healthier because Italians live healthier and are among the people who live the longest, next to the Japanese, Swedes and Swiss, 4-5 years longer than Americans, I mean white Americans. 😂😂😂
Hi, I found your channel by accident and have been hooked since then. I’m Puerto Rican but there is some Italian in my background through my maternal grandmother by the name of Sianca. Needless to say, I am also interested in all things Italian. I have been able to visit Italy since the 60s and I thoroughly have enjoyed every trip and witnessed the historical sights which attest to the grandeur of Italy in so many different ways, architecture, food, art, etc. You are doing something that I have not seen yet, and that is to dwell into your roots from the Italian-American perspective. Immigrants were forced to assimilate thus losing the richness of their original roots such as language and traditions. What you are doing is absolutely wonderful because you are making people aware of a rich culture such as the diversified Italians. It is that diversity of every Italian region that makes Italy so interesting. Why would anyone be willing to lose that wonderful culture, unless by force. The American philosophy and political forces did a very good job at eliminating what ever was considered as dangerous for the unification of this country. So, we understand but it’s never too late. Please continue to do your videos because people do want to know about their background and what they have lost. Many Italian-Americans of more recent immigration, still hold on to their culture, but those of earlier movements are highly assimilated not just culturally but ethnically as well. The same has happened to others like us, the Puerto Ricans. If you check any of my son’s friends, you will find out that they are half or even less in that mix. By the way, I’m not opposing assimilation or integration of this society, I just want the freedom to learn and appreciate our backgrounds without interference of those who insist in erasing it. I will continue to watch and have subscribed.
migration out of africa into Europe is constant. when the earth enters another ice age, people from Europe will go back to africa. white skin is only 6000 years old.
It's not all plain sailing. There are issues starting to happen across Europe with immigration and the rise of more right leaning parties. Even the former more inclusive Scandinavian countries are turning against immigration from people that they can't integrate. There will be problems unless Europe can get a grip with immigration. Not sure what is going to happen in the US.
It's a silly argument. He's basically saying that they're Africans because Europeans share culture with people near them? So..? Southern Europeans are genetically the same as the other Indo-European people. They all share three groups. Africans have different DNA from Southern and all Europeans.. So they aren't even genetically the same groupings. They just share some vague cultural ties. AS all people who border one another do. 🥴
Well, he is doing that stupid thing of thinking Africa is all sub Saharan, he ignores North Africa, Egypt, NE Africa and the old people of Africa like the KhoiSan. He only thinks of Black Africa like Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Togo, the Congo... He also thinks all Muslims are Arabians, and that people who speak Central Semitic languages are all Arabians. North Africa has had contact with sub Saharan Africa at various times in its history, but they are not Black Africans, and they share similar ancestry to Europeans like Neolithic farmers, European HGs and Steppe ancestry and thanks to Islam sub Saharan slave ancestry.
@@Ponto-zv9vfNorth Africans had contact through constant invasions from subsahara, they were tribal and after the ifrikya tribe was in contact with Rome that's when they called the entire continent Africa but its amazigh and it never really had much contact with the subsaharans hence why they're STILL afroasiatics and not afrocentrics... google the capsian culture and e1b1b to see these people are entirely different yet always get lumped in with them because ignorant Americans think they the only dark skin people from that continent 🤦♀️
Specifically referencing many Southern Italians & Sicilians; the "sun" does not contribute to many of these individuals having coarser (in some cases - what is considered so-called "nappy hair") hair; big/thick lips; (many women having) much larger & rounder buttocks than typical Northern European descendent women - body types more in common with Black African women. No, the "sun" did not contribute to these aspects of many Southern Italians & Sicilians physical features.
My mother-in-law's family migrated from Southern Italy to Kentucky before she was born. I always joke and say my kids are Blatalian. I did my ancestory and I'm 47% Nigerian. I have 3 boys and I really want to do their ancestry. My twin boys look like old pictures from Italy, its eeire. My oldest looks more like my family. I adore this page. Now that my mother-in-law has passed, this makes me feel close to her in some way and her grandsons can explore this with me.
I remember running into a professor from a university in Southern Italy, or Sicily. She was a BEAUTIFUL woman, and she CLEARLY seemed to have some African blood in her. She had darker skin and curlier hair than Beyonce. She looked straight-up biracial.
No such thing as "African" blood. Thats like calling a Saudi "Asian" since saudi arabia is located in Western Asia and trying to put them in the same category as the Chinese.
Well she probably was mixed race, and not Italian just an Italian professor, they have lots of foreign professors in Italy. Same in the UK, even America. Just because she is located in Italy doesn't mean she's Italian.
He's actually tan especially when he gets sun and absolutely does not look like a classical European, in fact, what does a "classical European" look like, because the north distinctly looks different from the south. Also why would every Italian be compared to Al Pacino??
@@indigozen4794 Yes, he does. He looks like the paintings and statues in the Vatican. He also looks like the man in my avatar who by DNA was 100% European and of celtic and Germanic roots.
@@indigozen4794 He looks like a European with a tan.. Are you one of those people who look at coloring instead of features. There are Swedes who can get beef jerkey color and still look like European people. Go look at the movie panic in Needle Park and how Snow White he is.
Pretty bizarre as a Southern Italian (Sicily and Naples) our DNA group shows predominantly grouping with Greek and a touch of Northern African, Northern Europe and Anatolia.
@@jorndoff2002 speaking of genetics I am sorry about your trisomy but try not to advertise being a retard online its only going to get you bullied. Berbers occupied sicily for 2 centuries ending 1000 years ago. All were actually removed. Like rounded up and expelled. Then normans, germans, french, and finally 500 years of Spanish domination. There is no difference between the average person from Parma and Palermo
@@tobiasphilippwittlinger8753 theyre not different though. If they were in the room with you right now except for a tan from working in the field you wouldn't be able to reliably tell them apart. 2 popular young italians in 2024 are Elisa Maino and Maria Esposito. One is pale the other swarthy. Which one do you think is from Naples and which do you think is from Trent?
@@JohnnyLodge2 One can be pale and blonde and be from Southern Italy. Italians are a divers people but surely a people. Only a few states such as Scandinavian and Poland are genetically homogenous.
My friend from Rome, was annoyed I wanted to go to Naples/Southern Italy. He basically said, It might as well be Africa, because its so different than northern Italy. I did go to Sicily and felt very comfortable as a black person. The food was better and more flavorful and the people felt familiar. My mother's family is very light, so they look similar to them.
I am Northern Italian and, in most cases, it is impossible to understand whether a person is from Northern or Southern Italy based on their physical appearance. In the north people are slightly lighter on average, but the differences are actually small.
Naples is a rather dirty city, and they speak a language which is different from Standard Italian. Honesty, I hate the place, but not because it's Africa, more because it's a horrible place full of horrible people. As to you claim about you mother's family, well I think you're lying.
you are wrong, in Italy we easily distinguish whether a person is Italian or an immigrant from North Africa based on their physical appearance. the Arabs only occupied Sicily for about 200 years, never the rest of Italy.
Does not matter who ,what . They are Italians and they belong to Europe. When I think about Italy I think about Italian opera,Italian great Anna Oxa, beautiful elegant Italian style. Italians are white, olive skin but definitely not black. Who was there or not 10 000 years ago nobody gives a dime. Black people trying to stick everywhere this days
@@LukedalegendzGoes to show our ingenuity. It took Europeans 30 years to conquer Africa in its entirety. And don’t talk about evil because Africans tried to conquer Europe in the past (Moroccans) but were stopped by Europeans in Southern France before they could go further, but if they could’ve went further they would have.
I actually think he is the opposite of ideological which is what I really like about him. We all have view points, no one is totally neutral, and he is upfront about is, but this video is all history.
But we are. His family has “always” been in Italy just like my dad’s family. DNA test shows high Arab/North African/Greece, etc. it shouldn’t be politics, and it’s terrible that our shared history is getting weaponized as such. ETA, I’m not a leftist but just to clarify, who are the pure Italians? The northern Italians with heavy Austrian/German influence? Southern with heavy Arab influence?
@@nytnGreek, Italian, modern day Egyptians , Tunisians and other modern day Northern Africans are all related; moreover, the Greek genetically closer to Subsaharan Africans than any other European group.
@@nytnthey are all Italians. According to genetic tests, the areas scoring the highest Italian DNA are in the centre-north but it doesn't matter much.
Great conversation First time here I already love this show, love form Tunisia ❤we share so much history I see it in my Sicilian friends ,all you need is to study is migrations back and fourth between the 2 sides. through tough and good times, hope one day we could realize our similarities and capitalize on it.
I'm so grateful that the algorithm gods pointed to your channel Danielle; You're doing some amazing work on topics that have been lost to history. I'm currently in the process of obtaining Italian citizenship via "Jure Sanguinis" and it's been quite an odd adventure. By no means would I say it's as easy as Professor Coniglio says it is; because both the US and Italy have their unique administrative quirks. I've been in the process for nearly 5 years (to be fair, delayed heavily by the pandemic), working with an intermediary Italian law firm and without them, the legal process/requirements would be a nightmare. For any that may be interested in starting the process, make sure every speck of legal documentation is accurate and matches on both ends and be prepared for delays by local Italian communes that need to sift through disintegrating church records.
🟢Sign up for the e-mail list here! nytonashville.com/connect
🟢Watch AD FREE on Patreon: www.patreon.com/NYTN
▶ on X, twitter.com/ImFindingLola
🟢Send me a coffee!: ko-fi.com/nytn13#linkModal
🟢Grab your own Ancestry DNA test now*! : amzn.to/3UxGKJx
Northern Italy has said, “everything south of Rome is Africa” for a long time. Some people really don’t get it, they didn’t view us (i.e., southern Italians) as “whíte”.
Africa, Asia and Europe is the same land mass, you can walk from Africa to Europe to Asia.
@@GhostSal Gli italiani del Nord sono europei.
@@Hadrianus_Olympius Tutti gli italiani sono europei, abbiamo solo lignaggi genetici diversi.
@@GhostSal Noi greci non ci sentiamo certo europei, ma siamo culturalmente legati agli italiani del sud.
Northern Italy has said, “everything south of Rome is Africa” for a long time. Some people really don’t get it, they didn’t view us (i.e., southern Italians) as “whíte”.
Peace! Hey I’m from NY and we all know about Sicilian’s…Tarantino leaked the info in “True Romance” with Christopher Walken..young James Gandolfini…Sicilian’s are definitely not WASP 🐝! OUT
@@99alfailiwaqain51 I'm in new jersey i think everyone here is southern italian lol I dog walk in North Caldwell so literally Soprano land
@@leahflower9924 Peace! Well I used to live in Bergen County; NJ.. Lodi is where they filmed some scenes..The Pink Dolls strip club is The Bada bing…trust I know what’s up..seen things I won’t write about lol..😂
@@99alfailiwaqain51 For you this is new information exposed by the movie, but to me I grew up with the slúrs and being constantly reminded that I’m not “whíte”.
@@99alfailiwaqain51 What’s really messed up is back then some empløyers openly disçriminated against me because I wasn’t “whíte”…. AND today the discriminatiøn is because those on the łeft now say I am. Makes no sense, I don’t think anyone should ever hire (or exclude) based on race.
I never thought I would hear this conversation out loud. Fascinating discussion. I love your content
Wow, thank you. These are things I have always wondered about and no one seemed to have an answer for me!
@nytn Spain is actually closer to Africa. Maybe someone will take your lead and look into that relationship. I'm a history buff as well.
🎯
Well, genetically they are pretty typical of Europeans. What people mean by "African" is arbitrary.
@@johnnonamegibbon3580probably more admixture with west Asia.
I identify as Black American but remember the elders of my family telling stories about my Great grandmother Liza who was from Sicily that later migrated from North America to Savannah, Georgia. I always wanted to know how an Italian woman ended up with an African-Indigenous man. I love discovering these topics and I look forward to watching more of your podcast!
Oh how typical, grandfather telling the story???? You are from ghetto and that's how it is, ok?
they not letting you get a passport bro
You re the place you grow in. Education and heritage not birthright.
İdentify😂😂 u idiot
what do you mean when you say "African-Indigineous"??
Cous cous isn't Arab, it's North African specifically. Mostly Tunisian & Mauritanian.
Couscous is from Numidia which is Algeria.
Cous cous is from the South side of Chicago 🎉
Couscous is a Berber dish, and there are Berbers in the countries you cite but also the Arab populations in North Africa love couscous as well. I'm Sicilian American who studied Middle Eastern studies and lived in Morocco myself as part of that experience.
Thanks Berbers. I love couscous.😊
@@sirbey9608 he he he....!
From what I heard that was an old slur said by Central and Northern Europeans-and Northern Italians-against Southern Italians, especially Sicilians. The same thing was said about the Southern Spanish in Spain IIRC
All of Spain is Europe. Southern Italy is African as are Sicilians
@@jorndoff2002lol no
What is it?
@@jorndoff2002 incorrect
@@jorndoff2002that doesn't make any sense.
I am from south italy and I tink Africa is beautiful ❤ thanks
Africans are ingenious to the Earth.We made a mistake by travelling North and encountered Neanderthals, cave like humanoids and due to that encounter we created human beings. Africans are the only race that are Human. All others are Human-beings.
@@SneakyKestrel stop it
Personally,, I love black women they just gorgeous beautiful wow
What is this very very crazy and stupid question ?! 🤦🏻♂️Italy is european in her geography and in her culture. B basta !
Certo
Great conversation! I did ancestry DNA test and my ancestry is mostly south Italy, some Greek, Lavent, and North African. I've been to Africa and loved the people and culture there. My family came to US in early 1900's. Also trying to apply for Italian citizenship through decent but been difficult trying to get an appointment at the consulate.. Thank you!
You mentioned all the BYZANTINE EMPIRE that outlived the fall of Rome and the west by 1000 years
DNA test doesn't mean you have ancestors from those regions . It simply means that as all humans we have a common origin hence we carry diverse genetic traits with us .
let me know how it goes!
I heard they are overloaded with requests, and you know Italian burocracy.... Maybe try again or wait some time.
@@massculiniI thought it meant u had some one from those places in your blood line🤷🏿♂️??
Very interesting podcast. Keep it up guys. Watching from Nigeria 🇳🇬
Don’t believe everything this European are telling you it’s just another tactic to get into African resources
Thanks!
Thank you!☺️
I lived in Naples for 4 years and as a black American I didnt really experience a lot of racism they were actually nice and looked out for you. When you go north towards Rome, that all changes, especially when you hit Rome. Loved Naples, and it was the best. That was around 2003 not sure if it changed.
Actually nice lol they are probably nicer there than the Italian Americans here
@@leahflower9924You need to travel more Americans are clueless into how much more racist & bigoted other countries are lol
Sadly, it has according to the news. The country is embracing Facism again sadly.
@@gabrielleangelica1977
Which is ironic, considering they basically walked naked and on all fours when the Roman’s got to them.
@@sergpie Oh their Nazi mentality!
South Italy’s more precisely Mediterranean not broadly European or African, that’s why all of us South Europeans physically and somewhat culturally defy racial categories.
Greece is also Mediterranean but they dont look as “African “ as southern Italians. All border areas in the world have populations that reflect mixing or a a gradual gradient of phenotypes between homogeneous ethnic groups. Obviously considerable mixing takes place. Regarding Italy in particular the southern Italian women tend to have the most curviest bodies in all of Europe, which seems to be a clear indication of high rates of mixing with Africans.
Southern Italians are just Sicilians. Hell, you'd be hard pressed to find a Sicilian in Italy who doesn't identify as Southern Italian, never pointing to the fact that he is Sicilian. Most Sicilians I know once they're in the States, they simply identify as Italian, leaving off the word Southern. That's an easy game for them to play with most Americans because many Americans are ignorant concerning the histories of Italy, Southern Italy, and Sicily. In the end, it's all about distancing one ethnicity from Blackness and, or Black people. Kind of like the Melungeons and the so-called Lumbee. You ever get a chance, look up the former United States representative, Adam Clayton Powell. He could have passed for anything he wanted to, particularly back in his day. He's one of the Blackest men you'll ever learn of even until this day. He looks Italian, but he was one proud Black man.
There are over three million Black Americans passing for White in America today, to say nothing about the rest of the world...
The so called Mediterranean region is part of Africa as well.
Plenty of Greeks have the same diverse traits like Jason Mantzoukas(Greek actor) and Luka Lesson(Greek poet), all Mediterraneans have unclassifiable appearances probably because that climate is equally varied.
I once lived in Italy 🇮🇹 back between 2003 to November 2010, and i have an Italian co-worker who happens to come from Sicily, he had told me everything this professor had said here on this podcast, he told me that the southern Italy is highly mixed with people of North African descendants, he said it highly mixed and the people had all their cultures highly influential too.
I lived in Napoli for 6 years and was married to a Napolitano for 22 years. I found many natives there looking very Swedish, since the occupation by Sweden Blonder then the ogygen peroxide Melloni
North African are still not black, and most sicilian don't have much of it neither.
North Africans are a Mediterranean population, not sub-Saharan.
Rome was totally black people before the colonizers colonized it, Rome was totally Black.
@@Antonio_DG no one mentioned black people
Wow this is a great conversation 😊
he is such a good teacher, I was taking notes hahah
Happy to see Professore Coniglio back. Grazie Professore! Very complete view of the various facets of our beautiful small Country. Thanks Danielle.
Comoon a country with a coastline like Italy can not be called small😊
Great episode! I never knew this about Italy! Keep on digging!
Fascinating and enlightening discussion! I loved your guest. The professor is eloquent and great at explaining the geographical-historical context. I learned so much! Keep up the great work!
The entire Mediterranean region from Southern Europe to the Nile, North Africa to the Middle East was in trade or conquest, which is why we can see at least some direct or indirect cultural influence (Many trade routes went from Southern Europe to East Asia). The Silk Road being the most influential trade route that spread technology and ideals through out lower Eurasia and North Africa. The Romans made it down as far as West Africa and Sudan for trading and potential conquests. The Romans couldn't handle the environment of West Africa, and were expelled by Nubian-Egyptian military in what is now Sudan. I love History!!!
I screen shot this so I could remember to touch on these in later videos! History is amazing. When people say they dont like history...Im like, yah we cant be friends. Jk. Kind of.
@@nytn 🤘🏼🤘🏼
But that doesn't mean they're all genetically or culturally the same, though.
@@johnnonamegibbon3580 The Romans are genetically Southern European, or what ever appropriate name prefer. However, every racial group was part of the Roman Empire because of conquests. A lot of Middle Easterners, Asians, North Africans and Black Africans were slaves or citizens or client state citizen to Roman era Italy. So, yes, there was at least some admixing.
Sudan is in East Africa, but you are correct.
As someone with Italian ancestry who's from Brazil, yes the majority of the immigrants were from the North, especially from Veneto, but isn't 90% and to get a citizenship here is really expensive and it usually takes two to five years to get. In São Paulo, every year, there is a big festival in honor of Our Lady of Achiropita. This festival was brought by immigrants from Calabria, and the food there is delicioussssss!
Wonderful content!! Glad to see it. Keeping on!!!
The Professor is right. There is no channel like yours on social media.
well thank you, maybe that's why I keep running into trouble on TH-cam ahah
@@nytnDanielle, your channel is great! You can open a second channel just in case and start posting videos that were not flagged. It would be sad if you lose all your work because of the haters. I was inspired by your channel and did DNA test for my mom. It revealed so many secrets and mysteries that we were not aware of ❤❤❤
Thanks God for that!
This was a great video and the history is on point especially the reference to MOORS which is rarely mentioned ❤
Stop using the moors. Black Europeans were the norm. This is the main reason why the moors cam up. They were invited to stop the migration of whites pouring intbEurope
Amazigh people
@@Hir655 The moors were black africans who mainly came from the countries of Mali, Senegal, Nigeria ect.
Watch out 'Moors' is a european term for north africans and doesn't refer to black people, despite what some afrocentric views suggest
@@AdamJatlayes it does..
Moors: North Africans ; who are only black
Europeans: Black people above the sea.
India: means dark people in far away land.
Ethiopian - Greek word for dark skin. The newer word is "indian".
this is why black Europeans can live in America and call themselves Indian" but not native American.
White people are not and never ever refer as "native European" ask why??
📚 Example of name is location and default is BLACK ( duh)
Queen Catherine
she is BLACK GERMAN and BLACK MOOR
in her time they just say German + Moor.
no need to say "black"
Africa" no need to say "black"
Australia no need to say "black"
*** the migration of the pale skin people has corrupted the native ID of each land
now when you hear the word 🇦🇺 "Aussie " you think Anglo Saxon tribe looking person.
but Australia is a black continent just like EUROPE
Always fascinating.
Both of my maternal grandparents are from the northernmost part of Southern Italy (Abruzzo). I haven’t found sub-saharan DNA yet; however, a significant portion (18% on MyHeritage; 0.3% on 23andMe) is West Asian (Turkey, Iran, etc). I have in-laws that are Central/Northern Italian and it’s readily apparent they share a different phenotype (facial, height, etc) than Southern Italians.
You’re definitely right about 23andMe changing the North African/Middle East/West Asian component from their “ancestry composition” for Southern Italians and lumping it under the Southern Italian umbrella…doing us terroni no favor.
Yeah North Africans are mostly descended from West Asian populations.
byzantine admixture from when they had Colonies/territories there during the middle ages that they controlled for some time could have contributed? I imagine the campaigns they partook in to retake the was encompassed by vast mixture of different peoples as it seems the byzantine administration went nuts with foreign fighters/peoples being brought on side and used in military campaigns. The southern part of Italy and Sicily definitely has eastern roots but not just from the Arabs and Moors, the Greek Roman administration and arab then Norman ones too.
The average Abruzzese has no SSA dna and very little to none North African DNA.
@@simonecostantini892 well, my West Asian culture was well represented on the MyHeritage site…and, before the new “chips” were used at 23andMe, West Asian DNA was present there too (much smaller though).
I’m not sure I trust the conclusions that are made on these ancestry composition sites…they change quite a bite from year. You can’t tell me there’s not some politics involved in the results, too. I didn’t even care what my Abruzesse DNA showed when extrapolated out. I signed up to look at my father’s DNA, whose family has been here since at least the Revolutionary War. 23andMe failed to show the indigenous (American) results that were never a question in the family. The only site that helped in that regard was GED Match, which showed traces of Beringian and Siberian and Amer-Indian.
As the kids say, Thanks for coming to my TedTalk.
West Asian is not SSA nor North African.
An incredibly interesting and important topic! So much pertinent information in this video. Thanks to you both!
I am from Puglia and people in Puglia are sometimes more white and Blu eyed then people from north italia
Lombard blood
I don't think it's Lombards. People forget that after a few generations foreign ancestry is completely diluted or disappears. Look what happened to the Aegean Philistines in the Levant, 200 years they were completely Canaanite. Puglia is where the Illyrians settled, maybe it's due to them. By the way, why are blue eyes so important to you? I know lots of pale, blond and blue eyed people who are ugly and stupid.
@@Ponto-zv9vf why are you so racist against Europeans? Every people should appreciate their own unique features.
This is a most relevant and respectable channel. You are a worthy teacher beautiful lady. Thank you. 👏🏾to your honored guest.
This "professor" 🙄🙄🙄🙄lives in his own made up bubble or voluntarily misinterpret facts to suits his own view.
Do he seriously think there is a debate if southern Italy is Africa????? 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
So let's be clear even if someone might get offended:
1 southern Italy is way underdeveloped.
2 the north pay for the south and that means some people in the north are angry about THIS. And let's be clear is exactly about money and economic development.
3 Southern Italy is close to Africa.....
4 northern Italians say as a joke that southern Italy is Africa because is POOR, AND UNDERDEVELOPED, and MOST IMPORTANTLY BECAUSE THE NORTH PAY FOR THE SOUTH.
I live in the most hard right separatist region of Italy (we even had a kind of referendum and I know people who supported indipendence) and I heard this joke tons of times, and I never not one single time heard anyone saying that southerners are less white/not really white/black or evoking in any way phisical appearance as a bad trait for them and most of them could easily pass for northern Italians.
I heard they are lazy, and don't want to change, want to be maintained by the north Ecc...
Sorry I think you are of basic intelligence. So American.
@@MarketsDriveTheWorldNorth Africa has nothing to do with subsaharans black people hear Africa and run to these videos 😂 the WORD Africa IFRIKYA is amazigh not black or white they're brown
I’m Berber and have 2% southern Italian DNA. I grew up in Brooklyn New York alongside a ton of Italians and when I’d go over to my buddies house his dad would joke “Moors here for the house!” Didn’t understand him when I was younger haha but my mom would always make food for me to give to them since I always hung out with their son
Grew up with Italian kids from Brooklyn in NJ. Their mom was Irish. Father was tan year round & had short curly hair. Kids took after him. When our friend went to Northern Italy he couldn’t believe all the pretty blonde girls.
1. There's one theory anthropologists have that Berbers and the Basques are related -- I'm not sure you've heard about that
2. Were there any similarities with cooking or customs that you saw in your friend's family that were similar to Berber customs or food? I'm American like yourself, with part Sicilian heritage and lived in Morocco, hahah. I did see similarities. I loved my experience in Morocco but of course, I know Amazigh come from other countries across North Africa.
Interesting. @@etruscancivilization
@@etruscancivilization Original Berbers aren’t black. We’re well aware of the simplistic views on race and lack of timeline awareness within the Afrocentrist community. When you say the original Berbers are black and came from East Africa you omit the fact that this migration occured over a million years ago. Now would those people be considered modern humans or Berber? No.
The ancient Berbers were made up of Iberomaurusian (ancient North Africans) early European farmers and western Eurasian. This is based on remains found in the region and oddly enough a scientific component widely ignored for obvious reasons. The vandals only settled on a small part of the region and didn’t mix with the population in its entirety. Statues, busts and coins predating the arrival the vandals depict caucasoid features. The Berber were always mixed race never black but you can argue they have a black ancestor. Pale Berbers and black Berbers aren’t accurate to the Berber phenotype as they would be tannish.
@@etruscancivilization Nope. Genetic studies already proved they weren’t black. They’re closest to modern Lebanese. Surely if they were black they would ping other groups in Africa that didn’t experience as much mixing
Im glad you talked about this! I was friends with an Italian from Perugia. One time i saw him post on Facebook- a person on a dating app stated that he had such a southern Italian face. He took it as an insult and unloaded many expletives about how he does not. Also, one time we were hanging out in Florence and we passed by a group of people. He became so upset and said, those are southern italians, they are so loud everywhere they go. He went on to say, " I hate them and i hate their accent". He then went on to say, "But I am not racist". I was in utter shock. I said nothing at first, but he was seething with anger. So I told him i could not understand why what someone else is doing upsets you so much. As a matter of fact they were no more louder than the other people walking the street. After witnessing that situation and a few other encounters he had with southern italians and migrants I had to re-evaluate my friendship with him and cut my losses.
My Grandson went on holiday to Italy, a few years ago. He was shocked at how racist they were after seeing them try to stop a white man and his black girlfriend, getting the table they had booked.
He was disgusted.
In southern Italy, the word "anti-meridionalismo" (which I don't know how to translate. "anti-southernism", perhaps?) is becoming increasingly widespread among southern activists to distinguish it from "racism" which describes a different phenomenon, usually aversion towards black people.
But southern Italians are way louder!
I am not Italian but I go there occasionally.
Mostly to Liguria and Milano since I am Swiss and it is the closest.
I can always spot the Southerners since they look different speak different and are louder indeed.
Honestly they are also often overweight!
Good for you!
@@tobiasphilippwittlinger8753 Africans are loud (expressive) as well
I was heavy on the Couscous when I was in Morocco and continue eating it in London. As far as I know Couscous is North African (Arabia aren't heavy on it like that). Also, Couscous can be found in Sub Saharan Africa (particularly West Africa) but goes by a different name, that being "Farina"!
Farina is a breakfast cereal here in the United States.
Is similar to attieke, a cassava cousins found mostly in Ivory Coast and Ghana
Farina is a Latin word; it probably arrived beyond the Sahara through the explorations of the Romans.
Interesting correlation. From my understanding and background, what you are referring to- a starch accompaniment similar to the texture of dough or thick mashed potatoes that is dipped in stews/soups- it doesn't have the same consistency as couscous, unless there is a dough-like version of couscous I'm not familiar with. In West Africa, there are various types of these dishes called by different names and made with different (or differently processed) bases including cassava, yam, plantain, etc. I'm mostly familiar with part of Nigeria, within which some of the names include fufu, eba, iyan (aka pounded yam), amala. Folks have used Farina and Semolina (wheats) to add more types of these starches as option, and the names come from the bases. I don't know how indigenous these last two ingredients are versus the others I mentioned. But it would be cool to learn if there is actually more of a couscous dish that's completely different than what I'm talking about!
Farina is the Portuguese name of the wheat flour. Spanish harina. French farine. Italian farina (but Italians never went to West Africa to colonize).
You are very humble but the work you are doing is very important.
I am looking forward to the growth of your knowledge and self-discovery as you learn more. I am sure you will soon move into publishing an important book about the American experience.
I like how you are exploring connections between groups. So much effort has been put into exploring the differences and the separation where you are exploring the connections.
The more you try to run away from your past... the more it stares at you in the mirror. Italians are blessed to have such mixed heritage.
The real Americans are the brown people of Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Bolivia, etc.
If you believe in blessings you believe in curses. It's just the other side of the coin. Italians are not that mixed, and it's not anything good or bad. The past is the past and should be forgotten. Live in the present.
He's fantastic - love listening to this scholar. Please invite him back!
I am Nigerian . I met a white couple at an exhibition in the UK. The wife said her DNA results indicated that she was about 12% Nigerian. She was British but of Italian descent. She happily asked me if she looked Nigerian.😂 . She looked 100% white to me.
Moors are Moroccans, and they are not blackskinned. Italians also have had slaves and this British friend of urs might have a grand grand mother that was a slave.
My Dna results indicates that i'm 10 % Nigerian and 10% Italian. PUt in the mix 50% of Iberian, 10% North African, !4 % Irish ,3% Askhenzi and 3% Native American.
I am Nigerian and my DNA shows some Italian and Iberian percentages. I look 100%Nigerian 😂😂
@@hari-7333I live in Rome and my husband is 100% Sicilian/ Roman. His DNA was extracted and he was 11% Berber 14% and West Africa from the MOORS. The Moors were a Pan Muslim army which included masses of Moroccans North African and masses of West African men from gold rich Muslim West African kingdoms like Kano Nigeria, Ghana Senegal and Mali. My husband's DNA reveals this. His cousins have sickle cell anemia like many Sicilians. Sickle cell anemia is a Black African blood disorder..
@@hari-7333I live in Rome and my husband is 100% Sicilian/ Roman. His DNA was extracted and he was 11% Berber 14% and West Africa from the MOORS. The Moors were a Pan Muslim army which included masses of Moroccans North African and masses of West African men from gold rich Muslim West African kingdoms like Kano Nigeria, Ghana Senegal and Mali. My husband's DNA bears this out. His cousins have sickle cell anemia like many Sicilians. Sickle cell anemia is a Black African blood disorder..
Very interesting video. Thanks for sharing.
There are so many misnomers, misinformation regarding the history and cultures of Italy, all of its regions - as discussed online. Sicily for example, is described in a way that is completely foreign to the Italians of this region. Yes, Sicily was occupied, as were all the regions of Italy from the fall of the Roman empire to the Risorgimento - all the regions saw European powers such as the Hapsburgs of the Austrian Empire (also in Sicily), the Spanish, Aragons, Borbone, Norman, Celts, Germans, the ancient Greeks of various tribes, the Romans (who themselves were multi-cultural. In the north, the Celts, Austrians, Longboards, Goths, Visigoths, Estruscan, Ghibelline and others occupied the lands. The south in Italy including Sicily - for those who know the regions - know, and can see that south Italy is very, very European, and shares relatively very little with Arabic culture, not outwardly. Yes, for the very short time the Carthaginians (Phoenicians) ruled Sicily, there are thousands of years where the Romans, Greeks, Normans ruled and created the DNA of the region. Sicily is firstly European, it is the beginning, with Greece, of Europe itself - its larger culture, ethics, philosophy, literature, sciences. The Sicilian dialect is largely Latin-based, with words that stem also from the French spoken by the Normans, the Provencal poets, and of course the ancient Greeks, Elymians and other pre+Indo-European languages. Sicily inherited almonds, oranges and other agricultural products, including couscous from Carthage. These Phoenician people also occupied other nearby Arabic-speaking lands. Arabic architecture found in Palermo, for example was welcomed by the builders and architects, allowing the Arabic-speaking workers to bring this Arabic flavour to Italian architecture - even for Catholic churches. It was more of style than intrinsic ‘Arabic architectural manner. The Arabic styles were used because of the workers of these structures.
We must remember that the Muslim dominance was very short-lived and where there was little intermarriage except where Muslims had converted upon the arrival of the Normans. The history is rich but the orientation of the culture and roots of the culture are European through and through. As for superficialities of skin color, one finds the great majority of Italians in Sicily to be of light complexion except for those who work in the sun. There are also blonde Italians in Sicily, also in Napoli. As for cuisine, most Sicilian dishes share most in common with the types of cuisine of other parts of Italy - especially similarities to Campana, Lazio. There are only a few dishes that can be traced to an Arabic influence. - and they are fantastically delicious. Every region in Italy has a cuisine that is based on its climate, its proximity to the sea, and other natural factors.
It would be interesting for TH-camrs interested in history, and for trained historians especially to speak of other Italian regions with regard to these same questions. North African culture is rich and detailed and has left its mark on the lands it has invaded, but the point is that it is not the dominant mark of southern italy, Sicily.
It is not only Sicily, or the rest of southern Italy that has seen a multitude of influence. It is all of Italy. People are people - layers of DNA, customs, habits, languages. Human civilizations are complex. Sicily is European.
I don't put to much stock in blonde blue eyes.my mother's brother had blue eyes and he was very dark. I found recently we're north African, Irish, and Portuguese; I consider myself African and proud to be.
@@jleeharris4743 You do well, but this does not mean that Sicilians are African. I am not Sicilian, but I have never considered them as such, because I see North Africans every day just I see Sicilians and I know how to make a difference.
My Sicilian Great Grand mother had blond hair and blue eyes. Blue eyes are from the middle east.
@@digitalartist371 Poche idee, ma confuse.
@@giorgiodifrancesco4590 Supposedly, all the blue eyes originated in Turkey, Iran, black sea, Iraq region. Another cool thing about blue eyes is they see better in low light, better night vision. Bright light is harder for them though.
Very interesting insights on the non-ethnicity of Italians! There's a lot to talk about when it comes to this topic, I'm sure Ms. Romero and prof. Coniglio will pull off a great job if they keep on collaborating in the future. They covered the Arab colonisation of Sicily in this podcast but he also hinted at the Norman conquest of the island. For instance, you can add how Northern Italians (so-called Lombards) settled in some villages in Sicily back in the 12th and 13th century, they were mostly southern Piedmonteses and Ligurians: there are many last names pointing at these origins, one of them is Lombardo which is widespread all over Sicily. If you ask me, you can cover the whole history of Italy through such podcasts!
I don't understand why Europeans are so quick to dismiss their own affects on the world. Because the Mediterranean was considered "a Roman pond" wouldn't it follow that Italy influenced North Africa more than vice versa.
that's a good point, too!
@@nytn I also thought northern Italy was more Germanic because the Roman empire hired German tribes as mercenaries to defend the northern border. Then they turned on Rome and sacked the city which created the hostility of North V South.
North Africa, which is simply Africa part of Africa, had civilization before Europe was a thing. So, no.
@@Bander471 Stop trying insert modern interpretations onto history. The oldest civilizations are in the middle east. Africa was where they found the oldest Homosapian. Europe also had Neanderthals that existed before Homosapians. The expansion of the Greeks first then Roman's altered the genetic and cultural aspects of Northern Africa forever. That's just a fact.
Africa is a much older civilization so how would that even be possible?
As a black American married to an Italian, this was an absolutely fascinating discussion. I'm so glad I stumbled across your channel. (Thank you TH-cam algorithm! ). Btw... because of the italian laws mentioned, my wife and our young children have applied for and received Italian citizenship. Although they have never been there yet, they may wish to explore and connect deeper with their Italian heritage one day. My in-laws however visit often. Subbed! 👍🏾
Your African American dude
Just like white people they should label themselves as European American .
You getting too caught up in the sauce bro, listen to what they really sayin
@@_VISION. When you say "caught up in the sauce" what are you saying?
the word Africa or ifrikya is amazigh under the ifri deity there was an amazigh tribe who they shared history with long before the arabs.
The professor said that there was nothing similar to your channel in TH-cam and he must be right because I have not encountered any other channel similar to yours. Good luck, I think that you are touching on something that we definitely needed.
She has a lot of hang ups due to her non European ancestry. She calls it Creole. Those Creoles have the brown paper bag test, if you are lighter your are okay, but darker then you are a negro.
This has been long overdue..much needed of great value much more profound.
The Greeks colonized the crap out of southern Italy and Sicily and had the biggest impact on southern Italy and sicily. They brought the basis of southern italian culture (along with the grape and the olive). The groups that came later merely added a bit, but the foundation was set by the Greeks.
Phoenicians introduced the grape and the olive, or at least the cultivation of them, to Sicily, prior to the Greeks. Evidence is inconclusive as to whether these species were present on the island prior to colonization, but it seems unlikely, as both olives and grapes are not endemic to Sicily.
@@sergpie Total nonsense. The olive tree (Olea europaea L., 1753) is a fruit tree native to Asia Minor and Syria (and not Africa), where wild olive trees have been spreading since ancient times, forming forests on the southern coast of Asia Minor. In Italy, the olive tree was first spread by the Etruscans, who cultivated it as early as the 5th century BC. Later, the olive tree was also introduced by the Greeks and Romans, who expanded its cultivation and commercialization.
@@franz9573the greeks were in South Italy and sicily from the 8th century BC and introduced olive and grapes The Etruscans took it from them and spread it
For 500 years south Italija was Bizantium. Fact
also the wheat for couscous came from Numidia Algeria and they exported it to Italy long before the arabs n the spices too came from India long before the arabs not sure why he made it about the arabs
As a Sicilian-American man, I have to say, I love your content and share it whenever I can. I think this is the fourth video of yours I've shared on my social media for family and friends to enjoy, and many of them indeed do. We discuss things based on these videos when we get together. Thanks a lot, paisana.
Wow, thank you! let me know if you come up with any topics when you’re with the family, I love getting suggestions
My grandpa was from Pavia and looked German (blond hair blue eyes) and my grandmother was from Alcamo, Sicily and she had a very strong North African look. I grew up half in Los Angeles and the other in the Canary Islands in Spain and the Moroccan grandmothers would always remind me of mine lol
Having blond hair and blue eyes doesn't make anyone look German, it just makes them look like blond blue eyed Italians. Your grandmother could have looked North African, I doubt it, she just looked foreign in your country.
Yet another fascinating video. Please keep it up!
This girl and the professor are ignorant. It is heavily exaggerated how "mixed" Sicilians are. All the admixture comes from black women anyway and it is very low. Sicilians are still primarily Caucasoid. Sicilians are 98.59% Caucasoid, an Italian from Bergamo is 99.81% Caucasoid. If people actually did research on ancestral genetics facts would become more clear but many are too emotional and politically correct/woke.
Thank you very informative information
Keep your content up ...this is really amazing ....and so so needed in todays world....Don't be tricked off this site from the haters
Damn. what a wonderful conversation. I am always fascinated about world history.
You should honestly check out the Met Museum painting of Saint Maurice and the Theban Legion (viewable online). The African figures in the painting are carrying the Coat of Arms of the Italian Negri family. Africans we’re far more integrated into Italian society than we give it credit for.
That’s more religious than actual societal.
The name Negri means ‘black’ in Italian. The painting has almost certainly been mislabeled as Saint Maurice and the Theban Legion, when in fact it is a painting of the Negri family themselves
The French variation of the Coat of Arms has Moorish heads, the Italian variant is five wheat crop set against a blue background, which is exactly the coat of arms adorned in the painting. Colloquially referring to all Black's in European portraiture as St Maurice is lazy scholarship@@ItsMe-sg5ow
@naamloos992 then u and ur professor are idiots
@naamloos992 you and your professor are idiots
Southern italians do NOT have tons of north african dna. The moors contributed very little genetically to sicily etc. What southern italians do have is ancient middle eastern and levantine heritage from the ancient greeks and east med people in the Roman empire. This had nothing to do with the moorish occupation or muslims in general. People today do not realize that ancient greece extended all the way into the levant essentially and these greeks were a lot more levantine or middle eastern genetically than modern greeks. This is the true ancestry (of course mixed with native roman european heritage and germanic influences as well) of southern italians and to some extent all italians.
you give too intelligent answers, the commenters here are quite ignorant 😂
Minchia un commento intelligente finalmente
This is was actually a great and interesting presentation I’ve wanted to hear this come up nicely done
I love love love learning this. Thank you both. Awesome ❤❤
That's mostly false.
Great video, well done! He said almost everything about Sicily (except that the centuries of the Arab period on the island were 300, not just 200... and that one of the greatest generals of the Arab world was actually a Sicilian, Jawhar al-Siqilli [Jawhar the Sicilian], that he did was founding the city of Cairo in Egypt), although it should also be said that our folk music and singing are typically Maghrebi. As well as many other things, like the artistic expression, which we make the so-called "Moor's heads" or "Majolica", which are a typical Maghreb tiling. Some holidays are, such as Taratatà, and that here in Palermo many streets in the city center are denominated in three languages: Italian, Arabic and Jewish. Having said that, I simply consider myself Mediterranean, because that's what I am; a genetic and cultural combination deriving from all the continental coasts that overlook the Mediterranean Sea: South Europe, North Africa and Middle East.
Assabbinirìca: Sicilian greeting of Arabic origin and deriving from "as-salamu alaykum" 👍🏼
Algerian here and I have 10% Italian. A lot of Algerians have a higher percentage of Italian in them .
You are just an american Ian, no italian consider you italian. Definitely we aren't maghrebi, and we aren't proud of any influence arabs/arabized berbers/turks brought by butchering, enslaving, raiding on our shores for 1200 years. And definitely we have 0, ZERO in common with sub saharan africans, like these afrocentric "african"-americans like to say.
The Arab conquest of Sicily began in 827 and ended in 902, with the occupation of the entire island. The Arabs were finally defeated by the Normans in 1091, when they conquered Noto, the last Arab city remaining in Sicily. So, yes, the Arab occupation in Sicily lasted about 200 years, even less if you consider the entire island.
Being born in a place does not make your of that place. Jawhar was some sort of North African born in Sicily.
The genetic contribution of Arabs in Sicily is laughable, around 2.5 to 4%.@@lorenzobianchini4095
BRAVA❤, never miss your brilliant channel. Can’t wait until you visit the most heavily Sicilian populated city New Orleans. Keep on your so inspiring research dear, Danielle. You lucky, lucky girl to be married to a Boricua❤
🇮🇹 🇹🇳 😮
This could be a very hot topic in certain circles.
I have never thought of the proximity of Italy to the Continent of Africa. 🤔
There is so much to be explored on this topic and I sense a continuation video coming in the near future.
I enjoy this professor and his frank discussions. ❤
no proximity, Hannibal conquered that part of Italy
Tunisia is gonna decline too.
Birth rate 1.62
To be honest any country that's developed or even developing at this point is going through the demographic transition and it's going hard
I think Mr Rabbit is quite low brow. It is said that the IQ of Italians have decreased quite a lot since the Imperial Rome age, and Mr. Rabbit seems to prove that.
By that logic...Egypt is part of Europe because of Greek and Roman occupation .
👍👌
Egypt is, and will always be, part of the African continent. Just because it had Greek and Roman occupation doesn't make it part of Europe, just as Spain and the Iberian Peninsula were not part of Arabia or Africa just because they were occupied by the Moors of North Africa for nearly 800 years, from 711 AD to 1492 AD.
@@MarkB.-yn3vq For the Greeks Egypt was never Afrika never. End we Greeks are not Europeans. Hannibal and Ramses II were not Africans
Egypt is not a part of Europe it is Africa.
The topic about the discussion is about cultural influences not so much about political ones.
Thank you @Danielle Romero!! Truly beautiful topic on the connections of Italy and Africa! I adore Italy!
The only connections between Italy and Africa are colonial and imperial as in Imperial Rome or Fascist Italy under il Duce. Genetically not much at all. Dna analysis of Punic settlements in Sardinia, Spain and North Africa showed that those Punics had a cosmopolitan population containing black Africans, Levantines, Europeans from all over Europe and even some Indians.
Another great video. Valuable information!
Thank you
Our pleasure!
Presumably this is a diatribe against current Italian political issues. Africa is a huge continent, presumably you are referencing North Africa which within your context you might call Goth. Thor Heyerdahl found North Africa a total mix. Romans did not differentiate color but culture. .The Roman’s talk about settling from Troy. Etruscans have a unique language and possible unique ethnicity as well. I experienced this whole presentation with care and do not understand what it is about
I really appreciate your spirit , you are about the truth and info. Please don't ever stop. I believe you are a star seed ❤
THe other question is, is North Africa really African or just MIddle Easterners who migrated
👍
Are you slo or something. They are Africans who mixed with Europeans...
they migrated the ancient Egyptians was black NOT the current ethnic makeup its a common misconception
From the point of view of an Eskimo, we all black. But we Hellenes still decide who is African and who is European, who is Jewish and who is not.
They are actually descendants of indigenious Berber tribes in majority. The Arabs came as a result of the Islamic expansion from present day Saudi and have influenced the Berbers language wise and religion wise. Admixtures are also visible in certain relevant positions in society example M.Gaddafi, King of Morroco etc. are/were people with mixed race backgrounds.🔔
Italians are probably pissed at this segment.
No they arent. North africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Lybia, Egypt) has always been in connection with italy and all Meditteranean countries.
Some of them are. There's a site called Italicroots which is runned by self hating Italians who look down Middle Eastern and Spanish people and deny that Italy, at least the South has significant Anatolian and Levantine admixture. They keep posting blonde Italians, because they can't stand the fact that they look the same as Spanish and Greek people a d have little thing to do with Northern Europeans. Mentally ill complexed folks lol
Part of Every Italian's life is discovering they have African ancestry closer than they realized, I just did lol
I am not Italian, and I am slightly annoyed. Mr. Rabbit is some work. The woman is a mixed American and has indications in her phenotype that show this mixed ancestry, one thing it isn't Italian, and its due to American slavery and the history of free people of color in the USA.
Yes, we are. This stuff has been going on for ages and we literally have enough.
Due to the proximity to Africa...I am sure that many people and areas were assimilated...But maybe not in larger groups and those that spread inland. Islands in the world as not as "isolated", or as "pure" as one thinks in the world, and the Professor brought a perspective not thought about, even in that wide-ranging, historic region. Influence from other places are rife within the countries and so are foods and adaptions to some cultures and technology. I do know that Europe owes way more than they claim to Africa and Africans that traveled to seas. Not to mention, intermarriages, plus migrations and those that wanted to carve out a new life in a new country and region. More study to migration patterns ...Voluntary, or forced, or just exploratory, is needed.
Maps made are unusually inaccurate and deceiving in range and size and even distance. Good video i will watch again to see and to think about this even more. Peace
As a historian, I tell you that your idea of proximity to Africa is totally wrong. In the past, in order to get to Africa, European ships had to make long round trips and coastings. Direct channel crossings meant almost certain sinking (Africans who now try to get to Europe by dinghy, albeit by motor, know this well). Roman military fleets bound for Africa that were lost in the canals cannot be counted, just like African fleets bound for Europe. Moreover, before Muslims inaugurated a black slave trade from the South Sahara to Egypt, to Baghdad and then to istambul, there were only white Berbers in North Africa. Much whiter than those of today.
Even the temporary partial conquest of Sicily by Muslims did not have the ethnic consequences that many think. In the first place because the Christian reconquest entailed very harsh consequences for the Muslims (deaths, expulsions, fleeing). Second because marriage between Christians and Muslims was regulated only for the benefit of Muslims, so Christians shunned it. A Christian man was forbidden to marry a Muslim woman. A Muslim man could marry a Christian woman (but her father normally would not give her to him). Moreover, only Christians were subject to the capitation tax, so Muslim State had no benefit from their conversion. Without mass conversions, mixed children were born only from rape (but since that was not the modern world, the woman's family often kept the fact a secret and killed the infants to save the honor of the girl, who would otherwise never marry again). Disregarding religious differences is wrong, because in the past they were a barrier. On the other hand, even, today, a Muslim woman who is truly faithful to her religion would never marry a Christian, if only not to turn against her own family. True, many Christian males today would be willing to pretend to become Muslim just for the love of a woman, but back then it was not the 21st century.
I also recall that many Sicilians went to Tunisia as settlers when that land was conquered by the French in the 19th century, but they continued to marry among Europeans and did so for religious reasons.
The Sicilians who currently have an exizial portion of non-European DNA are descendants of people who arrived on the island thousands of years ago, and, in any case, they are almost always of Levantine rather than North African blood. All others are a mixture of Greeks and European people who arrived from the Italian peninsula or other European lands.
Sicilians are no blacker than the Greeks or Bulgarians or Caucasian peoples: Having dark hair does not mean that they are mixed whith black people.
I understand that dreaming is good and dreams help to live, but then there is reality and that is what needs to be studied. Not ideology. We are all mixed, in Europe, but not with who the Americans would like.
If you had a differently structured census you would not need to dream about black Italians.
@odifrancesco4590 Reading this diatribe, laden message, that has no logical basis, and coherency... I think this an ethnocentrist racist part of a view, and not for information, but to push forth your racist Italian type of agenda, with bits of the "Bible" you talk about, due to this "Levant", the "Muslims", France, and other parts you speak of here. This you wrote...Smacks with some kind of ethnoreligious rhetorical views not based on sciences...But you own wishes and beliefs.
Proximity means not as much as you think, as small groups that travel, and even trade...can make a difference and have.
But There needs to be more study, and skin color can be no full indicator as well...Africans have the most varied and wide-ranging skin color of all people on Earth.
You must be an "Italian" [most likely American-based] from your name here...And just reinforces that many cannot, and do not want to handle the truth...Or really search for it, using science, genetic phenotyping, as many have done here, even in America and your own country.
I hope you find the real truth because this history is totally wrong, but pushing a personal point of view. I have the other hand...I do have extensive historical knowledge that is far more true than this error/agenda-laden rhetorical scribblings you wrote. "Historical" and "conjecture" sought, can be and are sometimes far from the truth. Peace
@@giorgiodifrancesco4590blacks never lived in North Africa. As an Algerian, I first saw that black person only when I went to the south in the Sahara. Most North Africans live in the north. Those black Algerians are usually descendants of migrants or slaves.
@@giorgiodifrancesco4590agree. Not verybdifferent in Spain. People have the wrong impression. We should say that they north of Africa is more a result of europe not the other way around
@@giorgiodifrancesco4590sweetie Morocco is 8 miles away from Spain and they had no issues colonising the ENTIRETY of North Africa from the greeks, to the romans to the vandals and vikings... they didn't mix either they just ruled and reigned absolute terror over and over and over again before taking off to the whole world and coming back to colonise us AGAIN 🤦♀️
Great episode. 👌
Australian born and raised here, from proud Calabrian immigrant parents (Vibo Valentia).
Our DNA test revealed a minestrone soup. 😂 From Italian, Scandinavian.
Middle Eastern, African, Sephardic Jews expelled out of Spain. To Dutch and Caucus Mountains. Just wowee.... 🥃
ahhh minestrone soup is my favorite. You just brought back lot of memories!
@@nytn😬
Nice 😊.
Australia is even “worse” than America? Everybody is really way more mixed. Now I know why everyone so friendly and relaxed when I visited. I should have stayed.😄
@@brenkelly8163 Couldn't agree more. Our geography helps. 👍
Southern Italy was populated by Greeks! Magna Graecia
Greeks are pretty black too .
There wasn't just one ethical migration, moors also settled southern Italy, Some Greeks, and Arabs.
the spanish and the french were also there at times.
@@ArronHaggerty Greeks were there the longest and had the greatest influence in the region.
@@citizenstranger yes, they arrived later
Interesting conversation indeed!
I am african ugandan to be precise ive worked with many brazilians who have italian passports but they don't take to be come really italians for them its the advantage of being able to move more freely in europe these people get easy yet we have people born in italy and feel italian and it take forever to have citizenship like mentioned don't you this has to revised
Southern Italians are just Sicilians. Hell, you'd be hard pressed to find a Sicilian in Italy who doesn't identify as Southern Italian, never pointing to the fact that he is Sicilian. Most Sicilians I know once they're in the States, they simply identify as Italian, leaving off the word Southern. That's an easy game for them to play with most Americans because many Americans are ignorant concerning the histories of Italy, Southern Italy, and Sicily. In the end, it's all about distancing one ethnicity from Blackness and, or Black people. Kind of like the Melungeons and the so-called Lumbee. You ever get a chance, look up the former United States representative, Adam Clayton Powell. He could have passed for anything he wanted to, particularly back in his day. He's one of the Blackest men you'll ever learn of even until this day. He looks Italian, but he was one proud Black man..
Sorry to disillusion you: never would any Italian from Italy say that Adam Clayton Powell was an Italian. You could clearly see that he had the skin of mulattos, despite having European features. You should take a trip to Italy. Besides, it might be funny and you might get a laugh afterwards for what you said.
To be like him, you would have to have a black-skinned, West African ancestor within a few hundred years.
Italians are mullato. Mutts. Let an Anglo tell you. African, Asian and European mix.
I think Mr Powell looked quite like what he was, a light skinned Negro with a big nose. He looked as Italian as a Mule looks like a Horse. I don't understand why you foreigners think various mixed bloods look Italian because they are not dark skinned, don't have nappy hair or flat noses but are obviously mixed race.
WOW so interesting. Thank You Both!
Danielle, please do more interviews like this! You shine! What a great team you make. I would love more about what you and Prof. Coniglio started discussing, how ethnicity isn't culture and vice versa. He started discussing the genetic tests with respect to this. (Remember the Ancestry commercial "Goodbye Lederhosen, Hello Kilt: How a DNA Test Changed One Man’s Identity Forever"?)
Just because I determined I had an Italian grandparent (my father was adopted) using a DNA test doesn't mean I'm Italian-American. I was raised in the cultures of my mother's parents and (adoptive) parents of my father.
I am intrigued, however, about obtaining Italian citizenship. I expect it would be a mess to prove the descent on the basis of DNA alone, lacking other confirmatory records of parentage due to the adoption. ** If anyone knows if this has been done or any guidance about it, please let me know! **
I definitely remember that commercial! Im glad you brought it up. And I think your story is really uniquely important. if you have not checked out the free DNAngel groups on Facebook, I HIGHLY recommend. We had close family member not know who their bio father was, and the DNAngel was able to find their name after just a week or two of working on the DNA matches.
@nytn Great suggestion. The birth-father was born in NJ. The last name changed over 4 decades of Census records. Haven't found the immigration records for his parents yet because it's easier to do my maternal side. It's on my "genealogy fun" task list.
When I did mine in 2007, I needed my grandfather’s birth certificate, marriage certificate for some reason. Then you go with these documents to the nearest Italian consulate in your area and they will ask you to take them to the state house in the capital city where you live and get the apostille certification stamp. Next return them to the local Italian consulate and they will be sure to translate the application and relevant documents into Italian before sending them to the birth village of your ancestor where his records are kept. All the to-ing and fro-ing takes some time, but when you finally receive that email telling you that your name has been registered in the local town hall recognising you as a citizen through “juris sanguis” and that you can now apply for a passport - it is an indescribably amazing feeling! If you father is still alive he will have to apply as well in order to pass it on to you. It happens automatically and simultaneously. I imagine very difficult though for him to get a hold of his biological parent’s documents if he was adopted. Maybe there is a solution in this case. I recommend you contact your local Italian consulate about it and ask them. Good luck.
@Youve_GotABeard Thank you for your input. My father is not alive. IF I would ever follow up on this, everything would hinge upon establishing paternity on the basis of DNA. Will the Italian bureaucracy have procedures in place for this unusual request?
The unofficial copy of the 1931 birth certificate lists the bio dad's last name as "Smith" while the first name appears to agree with the family pedigree chart from a DNA relative that I saw. It's entirely possible the pregnancy resulted from a casual encounter with no real relationship between them. The Italian family so far have few DNA matches in the major databases I uploaded to. I haven't done 23&Me, however.
BTW, what is an apostille certification stamp?
Look I’m a northern Italian and I’m clearly white ( blonde green eyes )but also many southern Italians I know look like me. I’ve always thought of my self and my compatriots as whites, it’s only lately that I’ve heard that some Americans didn’t consider us white, but still WTF I’m white European just like every other ethnic Italian.
The woman who made this video is full of shit and is straight up gaslighting people with these videos. She keeps removing comments.
Vulgar (common) Americans are the absolute last people you ought to listen to when it comes to European identities.
Lascia stare, gli americani soprattutto sono molto ignoranti nei confronti della nostra lingua, cultura, storia etc...
Non di rado, quando parlano dell'Italia, separano la Sicilia come se fosse un entità totalmente estranea e non parte dell'Italia e del resto del sud. Lasciali perdere.
As an american, most Americans would consider you white. Some ethnic italians have deep enough pigment to be seen as "black", but italians being black is more of an ironic joke, my friends say I'm mixed race because my grandpa was italian lol
Being light skinned and having light hair, I doubt you are blond, and green eyes does not make you European or White. It's a phenotype found all around West Eurasia and resulted from the mixing of Neolithic farmers with hunter gatherers, and Steppe herders from the backside of European Russia. You are European, that' it, nothing more.
NYTN...this is pretty wonderful work, a lot of history here and brings some things into a clearer focus. A great conversation.
Much appreciated! I owe it all to Luca, he is always willing to answer my questions like this!
@@nytn Your guests are awesome
Thank you, Danielle ed grazie Professore Coniglio! This was such a great conversation/presentation. 👍🏼 Prof. Coniglio is a very knowledgeable resource!!!
After spending most of my last 11 visits to Italy in small villages, I wholeheartedly agree that these are the true gems of Italian beauty, cuisine and culture. ❤️🇮🇹 I hope to receive my Italian citizenship through the San Francisco Consulate this Spring after a very long wait for the appointment. 🤞🏼Maybe there's a faster way, but my experience has not been a blink of the eye which is okay as it has given me more time to learn the language. 😉
Auguri! ❤
Please let me know how this goes...
Poor Italy. All these foreigners wanting citizenship. Stay in your own countries and try to make your country better than go to another country and pollute it.
In NYC the 3 genres most frequently affected by sickle cell anemia are 1) African Americans, 2) Hispanics, and 3) Italians.🤔.
And Europeans most often have the West African branch of Siclemia, either the Benin of Senegalese variants.
Sickle cell anemia almost exclusively affects people of African or African-American descent. Worldwide 300 Millions. In Italy only 1800 times. Not an italian or hispanic thing. In the US the state with the most Sickle Cell anemia is Florida with 14000 Cases. Florida hat 1/3 of the population of Italy but 8 timer larger of cases. Only 6 % of the Florida Population is of italian descent. If you convert the numbers from Italy to Florida, only 36 italian-americans in Florida are affected. By the way, Italians are among the people with the highest life expectancy in the world.😁 This is typical for the Mediterranean region, France, Spain, Italy and Greece have a very high life expectancy. And here the real numbers: About 100,000 Americans have SCD, about 1 in every 13 Blacks have sickle cell trait, About 1 in every 365 Blacks have SCD ,About 1 in every 16,300 Hispanics from caribbean have SCD. 95% of sickle cell anemia in the US are of african-american descent. Deal with it. You're no different than trump's maga idiots, you can't handle numbers and you're not very good with the truth either. You really have to worry about the USA, lots of clueless people on both sides. Americans of Italian descent live on average 83 years in the USA, those of American-African descent only 71 years, a difference of 12 years. Only Asians live even longer, 84 years. Incidentally, Italians are among the longest-lived among whites in the USA. Italian-American also have a higher average income in the USA than people of Scottish, English, Irish and German descent, not to mention African-Americans. Italian-American had difficult times in the USA, but they are now represented everywhere and are very successful.
@@franz9573 The only way Europeans have sickle cell disease is from African ancestry.
Interesting indeed
Bullshit, sickle cell anemia is in your Brain. Italy has one of the lowest levels in the world and Europe. The highest number in Europe are: UK, France & Netherlands. You should eat healthier because Italians live healthier and are among the people who live the longest, next to the Japanese, Swedes and Swiss, 4-5 years longer than Americans, I mean white Americans. 😂😂😂
Hi, I found your channel by accident and have been hooked since then. I’m Puerto Rican but there is some Italian in my background through my maternal grandmother by the name of Sianca. Needless to say, I am also interested in all things Italian. I have been able to visit Italy since the 60s and I thoroughly have enjoyed every trip and witnessed the historical sights which attest to the grandeur of Italy in so many different ways, architecture, food, art, etc. You are doing something that I have not seen yet, and that is to dwell into your roots from the Italian-American perspective. Immigrants were forced to assimilate thus losing the richness of their original roots such as language and traditions. What you are doing is absolutely wonderful because you are making people aware of a rich culture such as the diversified Italians. It is that diversity of every Italian region that makes Italy so interesting. Why would anyone be willing to lose that wonderful culture, unless by force. The American philosophy and political forces did a very good job at eliminating what ever was considered as dangerous for the unification of this country. So, we understand but it’s never too late. Please continue to do your videos because people do want to know about their background and what they have lost. Many Italian-Americans of more recent immigration, still hold on to their culture, but those of earlier movements are highly assimilated not just culturally but ethnically as well. The same has happened to others like us, the Puerto Ricans. If you check any of my son’s friends, you will find out that they are half or even less in that mix. By the way, I’m not opposing assimilation or integration of this society, I just want the freedom to learn and appreciate our backgrounds without interference of those who insist in erasing it. I will continue to watch and have subscribed.
Spoiler alert, in 2 decades the whole of Europe will be african.
migration out of africa into Europe is constant. when the earth enters another ice age, people from Europe will go back to africa. white skin is only 6000 years old.
It's not all plain sailing. There are issues starting to happen across Europe with immigration and the rise of more right leaning parties. Even the former more inclusive Scandinavian countries are turning against immigration from people that they can't integrate. There will be problems unless Europe can get a grip with immigration. Not sure what is going to happen in the US.
@@kibindankoi9824 you mean archaic hominids
just returning to the beginnning since its been genetically proven that everyone started in Africa. Full circle.
Great discussion here.
Thank you for this enriching topic which is totally overlooked.
This one will ruffle a few feathers.
I don't have feathers. The man's an idiot, and definitely lowering Italian IQ.
It's a silly argument. He's basically saying that they're Africans because Europeans share culture with people near them? So..?
Southern Europeans are genetically the same as the other Indo-European people. They all share three groups. Africans have different DNA from Southern and all Europeans.. So they aren't even genetically the same groupings. They just share some vague cultural ties. AS all people who border one another do. 🥴
Well said!
Well, he is doing that stupid thing of thinking Africa is all sub Saharan, he ignores North Africa, Egypt, NE Africa and the old people of Africa like the KhoiSan. He only thinks of Black Africa like Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Togo, the Congo... He also thinks all Muslims are Arabians, and that people who speak Central Semitic languages are all Arabians. North Africa has had contact with sub Saharan Africa at various times in its history, but they are not Black Africans, and they share similar ancestry to Europeans like Neolithic farmers, European HGs and Steppe ancestry and thanks to Islam sub Saharan slave ancestry.
@@Ponto-zv9vfNorth Africans had contact through constant invasions from subsahara, they were tribal and after the ifrikya tribe was in contact with Rome that's when they called the entire continent Africa but its amazigh and it never really had much contact with the subsaharans hence why they're STILL afroasiatics and not afrocentrics... google the capsian culture and e1b1b to see these people are entirely different yet always get lumped in with them because ignorant Americans think they the only dark skin people from that continent 🤦♀️
Great post! Thank you
Southern Europeans tend to have more olive skin because of the hot climate they are in.
Specifically referencing many Southern Italians & Sicilians; the "sun" does not contribute to many of these individuals having coarser (in some cases - what is considered so-called "nappy hair") hair; big/thick lips; (many women having) much larger & rounder buttocks than typical Northern European descendent women - body types more in common with Black African women.
No, the "sun" did not contribute to these aspects of many Southern Italians & Sicilians physical features.
@@REIGNofTEARSno reply 😂
@@REIGNofTEARS Al Pacino does not have any of those traits you described
@@asturiasceltic3183 who
@@brinktrucker7833 You got to be joking.
What you have in your head is far more important of what you have in your dna
My mother-in-law's family migrated from Southern Italy to Kentucky before she was born. I always joke and say my kids are Blatalian. I did my ancestory and I'm 47% Nigerian. I have 3 boys and I really want to do their ancestry. My twin boys look like old pictures from Italy, its eeire. My oldest looks more like my family. I adore this page. Now that my mother-in-law has passed, this makes me feel close to her in some way and her grandsons can explore this with me.
I love this :)
I remember running into a professor from a university in Southern Italy, or Sicily. She was a BEAUTIFUL woman, and she CLEARLY seemed to have some African blood in her. She had darker skin and curlier hair than Beyonce. She looked straight-up biracial.
No such thing as "African" blood. Thats like calling a Saudi "Asian" since saudi arabia is located in Western Asia and trying to put them in the same category as the Chinese.
Well she probably was mixed race, and not Italian just an Italian professor, they have lots of foreign professors in Italy. Same in the UK, even America. Just because she is located in Italy doesn't mean she's Italian.
Why does Al Pacino look so white and like a classical European?
He's actually tan especially when he gets sun and absolutely does not look like a classical European, in fact, what does a "classical European" look like, because the north distinctly looks different from the south. Also why would every Italian be compared to Al Pacino??
@@indigozen4794 Yes, he does. He looks like the paintings and statues in the Vatican. He also looks like the man in my avatar who by DNA was 100% European and of celtic and Germanic roots.
@@indigozen4794 He looks like a European with a tan.. Are you one of those people who look at coloring instead of features. There are Swedes who can get beef jerkey color and still look like European people. Go look at the movie panic in Needle Park and how Snow White he is.
LOL!!
Pretty bizarre as a Southern Italian (Sicily and Naples) our DNA group shows predominantly grouping with Greek and a touch of Northern African, Northern Europe and Anatolia.
All of Italy is Italian. There isn’t any significant difference between Palermo and Parma in genetics.
lol. Just look at the people physically and try and say that with a straight face. The southerners are of a different race period
It surely is Italian no doubt yet the genetics are quite different but this is not to say that Italians are not one people.
@@jorndoff2002 speaking of genetics I am sorry about your trisomy but try not to advertise being a retard online its only going to get you bullied. Berbers occupied sicily for 2 centuries ending 1000 years ago. All were actually removed. Like rounded up and expelled. Then normans, germans, french, and finally 500 years of Spanish domination.
There is no difference between the average person from Parma and Palermo
@@tobiasphilippwittlinger8753 theyre not different though. If they were in the room with you right now except for a tan from working in the field you wouldn't be able to reliably tell them apart.
2 popular young italians in 2024 are Elisa Maino and Maria Esposito. One is pale the other swarthy. Which one do you think is from Naples and which do you think is from Trent?
@@JohnnyLodge2 One can be pale and blonde and be from Southern Italy.
Italians are a divers people but surely a people.
Only a few states such as Scandinavian and Poland are genetically homogenous.
I always heard that Southern Italians often considered Northerners, as materialistic, clock-watching Germans?
Wow! I learn a lot from this video. Thank you.
You must have been very ignorant or you live under a rock.
My friend from Rome, was annoyed I wanted to go to Naples/Southern Italy. He basically said, It might as well be Africa, because its so different than northern Italy. I did go to Sicily and felt very comfortable as a black person. The food was better and more flavorful and the people felt familiar. My mother's family is very light, so they look similar to them.
My family is from Naples and below, I hope to go! Im glad it was a good experience for you :)
sicilians are just as racist as the northerners.
I am Northern Italian and, in most cases, it is impossible to understand whether a person is from Northern or Southern Italy based on their physical appearance. In the north people are slightly lighter on average, but the differences are actually small.
Naples is a rather dirty city, and they speak a language which is different from Standard Italian. Honesty, I hate the place, but not because it's Africa, more because it's a horrible place full of horrible people. As to you claim about you mother's family, well I think you're lying.
A lot of Italians look like Algerians and Tunisians
Or maybe algerians and tunisians look like italians, because that area was Roman Africa.
@@barondino4628 no bruh. You look like us. We colonized you for so long
you are wrong, in Italy we easily distinguish whether a person is Italian or an immigrant from North Africa based on their physical appearance. the Arabs only occupied Sicily for about 200 years, never the rest of Italy.
surely, you have never visited Italy much
@@AndreKamera i have been to Italy once for just 1 day and i worked with a lot of Italians in new york, so i know what i am talking about.
Are you still doing episodes? Haven't seen anything in a while. Hope all is well!
Does not matter who ,what . They are Italians and they belong to Europe.
When I think about Italy I think about Italian opera,Italian great Anna Oxa, beautiful elegant Italian style. Italians are white, olive skin but definitely not black. Who was there or not 10 000 years ago nobody gives a dime. Black people trying to stick everywhere this days
dawg you guys are all over the world, america, south america, south africa, hawaii, new zealand, Australia ECT, you guys are all over the world.
@@LukedalegendzGoes to show our ingenuity. It took Europeans 30 years to conquer Africa in its entirety. And don’t talk about evil because Africans tried to conquer Europe in the past (Moroccans) but were stopped by Europeans in Southern France before they could go further, but if they could’ve went further they would have.
Because their ancestors tried to stick Europe lol
lol Ana Oxa is Albanian but anyway
Wow I don't recall anyone trying to say Italians are black. SHEEEEEEZ take it easy.
A very crappy and ideologically driven professor.
I actually think he is the opposite of ideological which is what I really like about him. We all have view points, no one is totally neutral, and he is upfront about is, but this video is all history.
@@nytntypical leftist immigrationist which denies the existance of Italian ethnicity because 'we are mixed'.
But we are. His family has “always” been in Italy just like my dad’s family. DNA test shows high Arab/North African/Greece, etc. it shouldn’t be politics, and it’s terrible that our shared history is getting weaponized as such.
ETA, I’m not a leftist but just to clarify, who are the pure Italians? The northern Italians with heavy Austrian/German influence? Southern with heavy Arab influence?
@@nytnGreek, Italian, modern day Egyptians , Tunisians and other modern day Northern Africans are all related; moreover, the Greek genetically closer to Subsaharan Africans than any other European group.
@@nytnthey are all Italians. According to genetic tests, the areas scoring the highest Italian DNA are in the centre-north but it doesn't matter much.
Great conversation First time here I already love this show, love form Tunisia ❤we share so much history I see it in my Sicilian friends ,all you need is to study is migrations back and fourth between the 2 sides. through tough and good times, hope one day we could realize our similarities and capitalize on it.
He’s a great guest! He always brings something interesting about Italy I’d never learn from any other American channel. Well done Danielle.
If you want to learn about Italy, you won't find it on TH-cam or some idiot professor.
@@Ponto-zv9vf Books?
I'm so grateful that the algorithm gods pointed to your channel Danielle; You're doing some amazing work on topics that have been lost to history.
I'm currently in the process of obtaining Italian citizenship via "Jure Sanguinis" and it's been quite an odd adventure. By no means would I say it's as easy as Professor Coniglio says it is; because both the US and Italy have their unique administrative quirks. I've been in the process for nearly 5 years (to be fair, delayed heavily by the pandemic), working with an intermediary Italian law firm and without them, the legal process/requirements would be a nightmare.
For any that may be interested in starting the process, make sure every speck of legal documentation is accurate and matches on both ends and be prepared for delays by local Italian communes that need to sift through disintegrating church records.
love the equipment in the background
This was a VERY interesting video for history.