Italians 101
Up-to-date evidence showing that Italians have remained the same since ancient times, and not mixed with Africans, Arabs or other non-Europeans, and that they're genetically and phenotypically Caucasoid and Southern European from North to South.
- Italians Have Less Than 1% Black Admixture
- Italians Only Have ~1% Moorish Admixture
- Italians Are Distinct From Ashkenazi Jews
- The Mediterranean Sea Is a Genetic Barrier
- Italians Cluster Near Their Ancient Ancestors
- North and South Italians Are Genetically Close
- Italians Have Caucasoid Cranial Traits
- Similar Racial Types in North and South Italy
- Italians Look the Same From North to South
Italians Have Less Than 1% Black Admixture
Badly done studies have overestimated African admixture in Italy, but based on a large set of DNA markers, Italians have less African admixture (orange) than Northern Europeans have Asian admixture (pink).
Italians Only Have ~1% Moorish Admixture
The Moors were Arab-Berber Caucasoids, not black as is often claimed, and Italians only have a small amount of recent Middle East/North African admixture, because the Moors were expelled from Italy.
Italians Are Distinct From Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews are very close to Europeans, mostly because they have a lot of Italian ancestry (not the other way around), but they're still genetically distinct from Italians.
The Mediterranean Sea Is a Genetic Barrier
Italians cluster with other Europeans, not with Arabs or Africans, because the Mediterranean Sea has been a strong genetic barrier (thick red lines) since ancient times.
Italians Cluster Near Their Ancient Ancestors
Modern Italians (orange "Europe S" dots) show genetic affinities to their Stone Age ancestors, plotting in the southern part of a European cluster in the same general area as Ötzi the Iceman.
North and South Italians Are Genetically Close
North-South genetic distance in Italy is about the same as in Germany, and is a product of geographic distance and the clinal distribution of Mesolithic hunter and Neolithic farmer ancestry in Europe.
Italians Have Caucasoid Cranial Traits
Based on the distribution of nonmetric cranial traits, Italians (highlighted) plot in the center of a European cluster (red) that also includes Caucasoid North Africans but is far from Sub-Saharan Africans (green).
Similar Racial Types in North and South Italy
Despite some bizarre claims of big differences between North and South, very similar racial types predominate throughout Italy, and none are Nordic or particularly light or dark.
Italians Look the Same From North to South
These facial composites of hundreds of randomly selected Italian soccer players, models and politicians look almost identical in both craniofacial anatomy and pigmentation (note: many were tanned).
