Sicilian is a Romance language. Its dialects comprise the Italiano Meridionale-estremo language group, which are spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands; in southern and central Calabria ; in the southern parts of Apulia, the Salento Sicilian ' onMouseout='HidePop("50246")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Venetian_language">Venetian
Venetian or Venetan is a Romance language spoken by over two million people, mostly in the Veneto region of Italy. The language is called vèneto or vènet in Venetian, veneto in Italian; the variant spoken in Venice is called venexiàn/venesiàn or veneziano, respectively...
. In the 19th century, Standard Italian became more common and helped unify the country.
Some non-Italian speaking minorities live in Italy and are Italian citizens. Thousands of
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
Bavarian speakers remain in the extreme northern province of Bolzano-Bozen. Portions of the
Friuli-Venezia GiuliaFriuli-Venezia Giulia is one of the twenty regions of Italy, and one of five autonomous regions with special statute. The capital is Trieste. It has an area of 7,856 km² and about 1.2 million inhabitants. A natural opening to the sea for many Central European countries, the region is...
region have a small Slovene-speaking minority of
SlavicThe Slavic Peoples are an ethnic and linguistic branch of Indo-European peoples, living mainly in eastern and central Europe. From the early 6th century they spread from their original homeland to inhabit most of eastern Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the Balkans...
origin. A small cluster of
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
-speaking people live in the region of
Aosta ValleyThe Aosta Valley is a mountainous autonomous region in north-western Italy...
and a small
CatalanCatalan is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencian Community, where it is known as Valencià , as well as in the city of Alghero on the Italian island of...
-speaking enclave in Sardinia goes back five centuries after first settled by Catalans from
CataloniaCatalonia is an Autonomous Community in northeast Spain. The capital city is Barcelona.Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an official population of 7,364,078. It borders France and Andorra to the north, Aragon to the west, the Valencian Community to the south, and the...
in Spain. In addition, two minor
Italic languagesThe Italic subfamily is a member of the Indo-European language family. It includes the Romance languages derived from Latin , and a number of extinct languages of the Italian Peninsula, including Umbrian, Oscan, Faliscan, and Latin itself.In the past various definitions of "Italic" have prevailed...
are spoken outside of modern Italy —
CorsicanCorsican is a continuum of Romance languages spoken and written on the islands of Corsica and northern Sardinia , alongside French and Italian, which are the official languages. Corsu is the traditional native language of the Corsican people, and was long the sole language of the island, which...
in
CorsicaCorsica is the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
, France and Romansh in eastern Switzerland. In
IstriaCroatian Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
and
DalmatiaDalmatia , is a region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and is situated in modern Croatia. It spreads between the island of Rab in the northwest and the Bay of Kotor, in Montenegro, in the southeast...
there are significant Italian communities. There are several small clusters of Albanian-speaking (
ArbëreshëArbëresh, Arbërisht, or Arbërishte is the dialect of the Albanian language spoken by the Arbëreshë, the group of Albanian-speaking minorities in Italy.-Classification:...
) communities in southern Italy, small pockets of language which belong to the 15th century
SkanderbegGjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg , or Iskander Beg, was a prominent historical figure in the history of Albania and of the Albanian people...
ians who fled Albania.
Religion
The most popular religion amongst Italians is Roman Catholicism. This reflects the enormous historical influence the
Roman Catholic ChurchThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
has had over the Italian peninsula, home to the popes and the contemporary
Vatican CityVatican City , officially the State of the Vatican City , is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, the capital city of Italy...
- headquarters of the Catholic Church. The majority of popes have been Italian and, for a long period of Italian history, they exercised temporal control over much of the peninsula (most notably the
Papal statesThe Papal States, State of the Church or Pontifical States were one of the major historical states of Italy from roughly the 6th century until the Italian peninsula was unified in 1861 by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia .The Papal States comprised territories under...
).
A minority of Italians practice other religions, such as
ProtestantismProtestantism is a branch within Christianity, containing many denominations with some differing practices and doctrines, that principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the major divisions within Christianity, together with the Roman...
,
JudaismJudaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts...
, and Eastern Orthodoxy.
Arts
The people of Italy have contributed significantly to world culture and scientific, and technological, progress continuously since ancient times. In the
ArtsaRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is most famous for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....
, Italy gave birth to some of the most widely known sculptors, painters, architects, and the historically remarkable movement of
RenaissanceThe Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Florence in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe...
. Notable examples of Italian artists include
LeonardoLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer....
,
MichelangeloMichelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer...
, and
RaphaelRaffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance, celebrated for the perfection and grace of his paintings and drawings...
. In
literatureLiterature is the art of written works. Literally translated, the word means "acquaintance with letters" , and therefore the academic study of literature is known as Letters...
, poet
DanteDANTE is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various National Research and Education Networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
and playwright and novelist Pirandello made cornerstone contributions to their fields. Italian composers, such as Vivaldi, Rossini, Verdi, and Puccini, contributed to the evolution of western music, in whose context Italians are credited for the creation of the
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
. Some of the most famous luthiers are Italians, like Andrea Amati, Antonio Stradivari, and the
GuarneriGuarneri is the family name of a group of distinguished luthiers from Cremona in Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries, whose standing is considered comparable to those of the Amati and Stradivari families....
family.
Science
Famous Italian scientists include
Leonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer....
, a genius in several scientific disciplines, Galileo, the first to describe the laws of movement and use explicitly the experimental method,
Alessandro VoltaCount Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta was an Italian physicist known especially for the development of the first electric cell in 1800.-Early life and works:...
, the inventor of the electric battery,
Antonio MeucciAntonio Meucci was an Italian inventor, who developed a form of voice communication apparatus in 1857...
, inventor of the telephone (though his role in the invention was long disputed in the United States),
Antonio PacinottiAntonio Pacinotti was an Italian physicist, who was Professor of Physics at the University of Pisa.Pacinotti was born in Pisa, where he also died. He is best known for inventing an improved form of direct-current electrical generator, or dynamo, which he described in a paper published in Il Nuovo...
, inventor of the direct-current electrical generator, or dynamo, and of the electric engine,
Galileo FerrarisGalileo Ferraris was an Italian physicist and electrical engineer, noted mostly for his studies of alternating current.- Biography :...
, inventor of the alternating-current motor, Eugenio Barsanti and Felice Matteucci, who patented the first working efficient internal combustion engine,
Guglielmo MarconiMarchese Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor, best known for his development of a radiotelegraph system, which served as the foundation for the establishment of numerous affiliated companies worldwide...
, the first to develop the wireless broadcasting, known as radio,
Enrico FermiEnrico Fermi was an Italian physicist most noted for his work on the development of the first nuclear reactor, and for his contributions to the development of quantum theory, nuclear and particle physics, and statistical mechanics...
the discoverer of neutron chain reaction and builder of the first atomic pile.
Italian contributions to
architectureFor a topical guide to this subject, see Outline of architecture. Architecture is the art and science of designing and constructing buildings and other physical structures for human shelter or use....
and
engineeringEngineering is the discipline, art and profession of acquiring and applying technical, scientific and mathematical knowledge to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and processes that safely realize a desired objective or inventions.The American Engineers' Council...
are numerous since ancient times. Renowned architects include Brunelleschi, Bernini and Palladio.
The rise of
humanismHumanism is a perspective common to a wide range of ethical stances that attaches importance to human dignity, concerns, and capabilities, particularly rationality. Although the word has many senses, its meaning comes into focus when contrasted to the supernatural or to appeals to authority...
and modern
commerceCommerce is a division of trade or production which deals with the exchange of goods and services from producer to final consumer. It comprises the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information, or money between two or more entities...
can be attributed to conditions found in Italy during the Renaissance. This ambience also lead to the rise of the "
universal manUniversal Man is a sculpture by Gerald Gladstone located today outside the Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto, Canada. the 6.5-metre bronze figure was originally located in a prominent location at the foot of the CN Tower, there located to "give a balance of human scale" to the tower. It was...
", of which
Leonardo da VinciLeonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer....
often is considered as the prime example.
Populations with Italian ancestry
Over 70 million people of Italian ancestry live outside of Italy, with about 48 million living in South America (primarily
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
and
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
), about 19 million living in North America (
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
), 850,000 in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
and millions of others living in other parts of
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
(primarily
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
and
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
). Most Italian citizens living abroad live in other nations of the
European UnionThe European Union is an economic and political union of 27 Member States, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community...
.
There is a history of Italians working and living outside of the Italian peninsula since ancient times. Italian bankers and traders expanded to all parts of Europe and the Mediterranean, sometimes creating outposts. In medieval times, there was a significant permanent presence in
FlandersFlanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France, and the Netherlands...
,
Lyon||-||}Lyon , often Anglicized as Lyons, is a city in east-central France in the region Rhône-Alpes, situated between Paris and Marseille. Its name is pronounced in French and Arpitan, and or in English...
,
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and outposts were created throughout the Mediterranean and the
Middle EastThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, southeastern Europe, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. Since the Renaissance, the services of Italian architects and artists were sought by many of Europe's
royal courtRoyal court, as distinguished from a court of law, may refer to:*Court , the household and entourage of a monarch or other ruler, the princely court*Royal Court Theatre, in London, England...
s, as far as
RussiaRussia , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia . It is a semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. This migration, though generally small in numbers, and sometimes ephemeral, pre-dates the unification of Italian states.
Italy became an important source for emigrants after about 1870. More than 10 million Italians emigrated between 1870 and 1920. In the beginning (1870-1880), the main destination of the migrants were other European countries (France, Switzerland, Germany,
BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
, the United Kingdom and
LuxembourgLuxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a small, landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany...
), where most Italians worked for some time and then returned to Italy. During this time many Italians also went to the Americas, especially to
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
,
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
and the United States. From about 1880 until the end of the early 1900s, the main destinations for Italian immigrants were Brazil, Argentina as well as Uruguay. Smaller migration patterns of Italians went to
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and Corsicans constituted a large proportion of immigrants to
Puerto RicoPuerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is a self-governing unincorporated territory of the United States located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of the Virgin Islands...
(see
Corsican immigration to Puerto RicoVarious economic and political changes in the mid-19th century Europe contributed to the Corsican immigration to Puerto Rico; among those factors were the social-economic changes which came about in Europe as a result of the Second Industrial Revolution, political discontent and widespread crop...
).
Africa
Italian communities once thrived in the former African colonies of
EritreaEritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast. The east and northeast of the country have an extensive coastline on the Red Sea, directly across from Saudi Arabia and Yemen...
(50,000 Italian settlers in 1935),
SomaliaSomalia , officially the Republic of Somalia and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic, is a country located in the Horn of Africa...
and
LibyaLibya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa...
(150,000 Italians settled in Libya, constituting about 18% of the total population).. A significant portion of the
pied-noirPied-Noir , plural Pieds-Noirs, pronounced , is a term used to refer to colonists of Algeria until the end of the Algerian War in 1962....
community of French
AlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
was also of Italian descent, though much of this population naturalized as French citizens, and most migrated to France after Algerian independence.
Today, there are still some Italian descendents remnant in African nations since colonial days, although most returned to Italy or moved elsewhere after the second world war. There is a significant post-colonial immigrant community, however, in
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
.
Argentina
Italian immigration to
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
began in the nineteenth century, just after Argentina won its independence from Spain. There are many reasons explaining the Italian immigration to Argentina:
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
was enduring economic problems caused mainly by the
unification of the Italian statesItalian unification was the political and social movement that agglomerated different states of the Italian peninsula into the single state of Italy in the 19th century...
into one nation. The country was impoverished, unemployment was rampant, certain areas witnessed overpopulation, and Italy was subject to significant political turmoil. Italians saw in Argentina a chance to build for themselves a brand new life.
The
ArgentineArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
government wanted to populate the new lands they acquired from the wars, such as the
Conquest of the DesertThe Conquest of the Desert was a military campaign directed mainly by General Julio Argentino Roca in the 1870s, which established Argentine dominance over Patagonia, which was inhabited by indigenous peoples....
and
War of the Triple AllianceThe War of the Triple Alliance, also known as the Paraguayan War, and the Great War in Paraguay itself, was fought from 1864 to 1870, and caused more deaths than any other South American war...
, to legitimize Argentine claims on those lands from the neighbouring nations. Argentina required a labour force for its growing industrial and agricultural economy. The Argentine government welcomed the immigrants for racial reasons, because many Argentine politicians considered the
IndigenousThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples...
and the
MestizoMestizo is a Spanish and Portuguese term that was used in the Spanish Empire and Portuguese Empire to refer to Latin people of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry in the Americas....
to be inferior and could not be trusted. These politicians also believed that Argentina should be a
WhiteWhite people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
nation, so following 19th century
positivistPositivism is a philosophy that holds that the only authentic knowledge is that which is based on actual sense experience. Metaphysical speculation is avoided...
ideas, the Argentine government encouraged and promoted
EuropeanThe European peoples are the various nations and ethnic groups of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
immigration.
Australia and New Zealand
Italians arrived in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
most prominently in the decades immediately following the Second World War, and they and their descendents have had a significant impact on the culture, society and economy of Australia. The 2006 Census counted 199,124 persons who were born in Italy, and Italian is the fifth most identified ancestry in Australia with 852,418 responses. Italian Australians experienced a relatively low rate of return migration to Italy.
The first Italian to reach
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
was Antonio Ponto, who sailed on the
EndeavourHMS Endeavour, also known as HM Bark Endeavour, was a Royal Navy research vessel commanded by Lieutenant James Cook on his first voyage of discovery, to Australia and New Zealand from 1769 to 1771....
with Captain
James CookCaptain James Cook, FRS RN , was a British explorer, navigator and cartographer, ultimately rising to the rank of Captain in the Royal Navy...
in 1769. In 1860, nine Italian friars were charged with reviving a Catholic mission to Māori in
HokiangaHokianga Harbour, also known as The Hokianga River or The Hokianga, is a long estuarine drowned valley and its surrounding area on the west coast in the north of the North Island of New Zealand....
and the
Bay of IslandsThe Bay of Islands is an area in the Northland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located 60 km north-west of Whangarei, it is close to the northern tip of the country....
. A small migratory influx of Italian immigrants to New Zealand first began in the late 19th century, as a result of the poor living conditions in the newly united
Kingdom of ItalyThe Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia which is its legal predecessor State, and with the decisive help of France and Great Britain...
. Italians were primarily employed in fishing, tomato growing, dairy farming, market gardening and mining. There are now 3,636 people of Italian ancestry living in New Zealand.
Brazil
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
is home to over 25 million
Italian BrazilianAn Italian Brazilian is a Brazilian citizen of full or partial Italian ancestry. There are between 18 and 25 million Brazilians of Italian descent, the largest population of Italian background outside of Italy itself.-Italians in Brazil:...
s, the largest number of people with full or partial Italian ancestry outside of Italy. The country was in need of workers to embrace the vast
coffeeCoffee is a brewed beverage prepared from roasted seeds, commonly called coffee beans, of the coffee plant. They are seeds of "coffee cherries" that grow on trees in over 70 countries. It has been said that green coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world behind crude oil. Due to its...
plantations, and Italian immigrants became a main source of manpower for its agriculture and industry.
Canada
A substantial influx of Italian immigrants to Canada began in the early twentieth century when over a hundred thousand Italians moved to Canada. These were largely peasants from the poorer southern portion of Italy. They mainly immigrated to
TorontoToronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. With over 2.5 million residents, it is the fifth most populous municipality in North America...
and
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
, both of which soon had large Italian communities. Smaller communities also arose in
HamiltonHamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
,
VancouverVancouver is a coastal city and major seaport located in the Lower Mainland of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. The city is bounded by English Bay, Burrard Inlet, the Fraser River, the city of Burnaby, and the University Endowment Lands. Vancouver is named after Captain George Vancouver, a...
,
WindsorWindsor is the southernmost major city in Canada and lies in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City-Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, although administratively separated from the county government. Windsor is located south of Detroit, is separated...
,
Niagara FallsNiagara Falls is a Canadian city of 83,184 residents on the Niagara River in the Golden Horseshoe region of Southern Ontario. Across the river is Niagara Falls, New York...
,
OttawaOttawa is the capital of Canada and a municipality within the Province of Ontario. Located in the Ottawa Valley in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario, the city lies on the southern banks of the Ottawa River, a major waterway forming the local boundary between the Provinces of Ontario and...
, Sherbrooke,
Quebec CityQuébec , is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec and is located within the Capitale-Nationale region. It is the second most populous city in the province – after Montreal, about to the southwest...
, Sudbury and the
Saguenay-Lac-Saint-JeanSaguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean is a region in Quebec, Canada. It contains the Saguenay Fjord, the estuary of the Saguenay River, stretching through much of the region...
area. Many also settled in mining communities in
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada...
,
AlbertaAlberta is one of Canada's prairie provinces. It became a province on September 1, 1905.Alberta is located in western Canada, bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the U.S. state of Montana to the south....
,
Cape Breton IslandCape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the French word "Breton", referring to Brittany.Cape Breton Island is part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada...
and
Northern OntarioNorthern Ontario is the part of the province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron , the French River and Lake Nipissing....
. The Northern Ontario cities of
Sault Ste. MarieSault Ste. Marie is a city on the St. Marys River in Ontario, Canada. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay, with a population of 74,948. Residents of the city are called Saultites...
and
Fort WilliamFort William was a city in Northern Ontario, located on the Kaministiquia River, at its entrance to Lake Superior. It amalgamated with Port Arthur and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970...
were quite heavily populated by Italian immigrants. In the post-war years (1945-early 1970s) another influx of Italians emigrated to Canada, again from the south but also from
VenetoVeneto , is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 4.8 million, and its capital is Venice....
and
FriuliFriuli is an area of northeastern Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, i.e. the province of Udine, Pordenone, Gorizia, leaving Trieste out...
and displaced Italians from
IstriaThe expression Istrian exodus or Istrian-Dalmatian exodus is used to indicate the departure of ethnic Italians from Istria, Rijeka, and Dalmatia , after World War II. At the time of the exodus, these territories were part of the SR Croatia and SR Slovenia , today they are parts of the Republics of...
. There was a
Royal Commission appointed to Inquire into the Immigration of Italian Labourers to Montreal and alleged Fraudulent Practices of Employment Agencies in 1905, which exposed the abuses of immigration agents known as
padroni.
France
Italian migration into what is today
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
has been going on, in different migrating cycles, for centuries, beginning in prehistoric times right to the modern age. In addition,
CorsicaCorsica is the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is located west of Italy, southeast of the French mainland, and north of the island of Sardinia....
passed from the Republic of Genova to France in in 1770, and the area around
NiceNice is a city in southern France located on the Mediterranean coast, between Marseille, France, and Genoa, Italy, with 347 060 inhabitants in the 2006 estimate...
and
SavoySavoy is a region of Europe on the western flank of the Alps that emerged following the collapse of the Frankish Kingdom of Burgundy. The historical land of Savoy is shared between the modern republics of France and Italy.-Background:...
from the
Kingdom of SardiniaKingdom of Sardinia, also known as Piedmont-Sardinia or Sardinia-Piedmont, was the name given to the possessions of the House of Savoy in 1720, when the crown of Sardinia was awarded by the Treaty of London to Duke Victor Amadeus II of Savoy to compensate him for the loss of the crown of Sicily to...
to France in 1860.
Initially, Italian immigration to modern France (late 18th to the early 20th C.) came predominantly from northern Italy (
PiedmontPiedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,399 km
2 and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the so-called Occitan Valleys...
,
VenetoVeneto , is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 4.8 million, and its capital is Venice....
), then from central Italy (
MarcheThe Marche is one of the 20 Regions of Italy...
,
UmbriaUmbria is a region of central Italy. Its capital is Perugia. It has an area of 8,456 km² and about 900,000 inhabitants.- Geography :...
), mostly to the bordering southeastern region of
ProvenceProvence is a region of southeastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
. It wasn't until after World War II that large numbers of immigrants from southern Italy immigrated to France, usually settling in industrialised areas of France, such as
LorraineLorraine is one of the 26 régions of France. It is the only administrative region with two cities of equal importance, Metz and Nancy. Metz is considered to be the official capital since that is where the regional parliament is situated...
,
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and
Lyon||-||}Lyon , often Anglicized as Lyons, is a city in east-central France in the region Rhône-Alpes, situated between Paris and Marseille. Its name is pronounced in French and Arpitan, and or in English...
. Today, it is estimated that as many as 5 million
French nationalsFrench people can refer to:* The legal residents and citizens of France, regardless of ancestry. For a legal discussion, see French nationality law.* People whose ancestors lived in France or the area that later became France....
have Italian ancestry going back three generations.
Istria and Dalmatia
In both the
SloveniaSlovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central Europe bordering Italy to the west, the Adriatic Sea to the southwest, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north...
n and
CroatiaCroatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a country in southeast Europe, at the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean Sea. Its capital is Zagreb...
n portions of
IstriaCroatian Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
, as well as in the city of
RijekaRijeka is the city and the principal seaport of Croatia, located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea. It has 144,043 inhabitants . The majority of its citizens, 80.39% , are Croats...
(
Fiume), "Italian" can refer to autochthonous speakers of the
Venetian languageVenetian or Venetan is a Romance language spoken by over two million people, mostly in the Veneto region of Italy. The language is called vèneto or vènet in Venetian, veneto in Italian; the variant spoken in Venice is called venexiàn/venesiàn or veneziano, respectively...
, natives in the region since before the inception of the Venetian Republic, and also to descendants of Italians that migrated to the area in the early to mid 20th C. when it was a part of Italy. It can also refer to Istrian Slavs who adopted the Italian culture and language as they moved from rural to urban areas, or from the farms into the bourgeoisie, since the time of the
Austrian EmpireThe Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire founded on a remnant of the Holy Roman Empire centered on what is today's Austria that officially lasted from 1804 to 1867...
through to the period of annexation to Italy. In the aftermath of the
Istrian exodusThe expression Istrian exodus or Istrian-Dalmatian exodus is used to indicate the departure of ethnic Italians from Istria, Rijeka, and Dalmatia , after World War II. At the time of the exodus, these territories were part of the SR Croatia and SR Slovenia , today they are parts of the Republics of...
following the Second World War, most Italian speakers consider themselves ethnic Italian and are today located in the south and west of Istria, and number about 35,000. The number of inhabitants with Italian ancestry is likely much greater but undeterminable.
The
DalmatiaDalmatia , is a region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and is situated in modern Croatia. It spreads between the island of Rab in the northwest and the Bay of Kotor, in Montenegro, in the southeast...
n cities retained their Romanic culture and
languageDalmatian is an extinct Romance language formerly spoken in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and as far south as Kotor in Montenegro.The name refers to a pre-Roman tribe of the Illyrian linguistic group, Dalmatae....
in cities such as
ZadarZadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Zadar faces the islands of Ugljan and Pašman, from which it is separated by the narrow Zadar Strait. The promontory on which the old city stands used to be separated from the...
(
Zara),
Split (city)Split is the largest Dalmatian city, the second-largest urban centre in Croatia, and the seat of Split-Dalmatia County...
(
Spalato) and
Dubrovnik||-||-||-||-||-||-||}Dubrovnik , is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast in the extreme south of Dalmatia, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county...
(
Ragusa). The 1816 Austro-Hungarian census registered 66,000 Italian-speaking people amongst the 301,000 inhabitants of
DalmatiaDalmatia , is a region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and is situated in modern Croatia. It spreads between the island of Rab in the northwest and the Bay of Kotor, in Montenegro, in the southeast...
, or 22% of the total Dalmatian population. Today, they number under 1,000.
Switzerland
In
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
, Italian immigrants (not to be confused with a large autochthonous population of Italophones in
TicinoCanton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...
and Grigioni) reached the country starting in the late 19th century, most of whom eventually came back to Italy after the rise of
Italian FascismThe term Italian Fascism denotes the authoritarian nationalist Fascismo political movement that ruled Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943 under leader Benito Mussolini...
. Future Fascist leader
Benito MussoliniBenito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini,
KSMOM GCTE was an Italian politician who led the National Fascist Party and is credited with being one of the key figures in the creation of Fascism. He became the Prime Minister of Italy in 1922 and began using the title Il Duce by...
emigrated in Switzerland in 1902, only to be
deportedDeportation means the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The expulsion of natives is also called banishment, exile, or penal transportation. Deportation is an ancient practice: Khosrau I, Sassanid King of Persia, deported 292,000 citizens, slaves, and conquered people...
after becoming involved in the socialist movement. A new migratory wave began after 1945, favoured by the lax immigration laws then in force. At first the Swiss government encouraged the arrival of guest workers, assigning them different types of
work permitWork permit is a generic term for a legal authorization which allows a person to take employment.It is most often used in reference to instances where a person is given permission to work in a country where one does not hold citizenship, but is also used in reference to minors, who in some...
s, some forbidding job switching, ranging from the "
frontaliere" permit given to Italians living near the Swiss border to the
"C" permit granting the same status of a Swiss citizen minus the political rights. In 1970 there were a million immigrants in Switzerland, 54% of whom were Italians. Rising friction with the indigenous majority even led to the creation of an "anti-Italians party" in 1963. As every other immigrant group at the time, Italians were faced with a policy of forced
integrationSocial integration, in sociology and other social sciences, is the movement of minority groups such as ethnic minorities, refugees and underprivileged sections of a society into the mainstream of society...
, later satirised in the highly successful 1978 comedy film Die Schweizermacher (literally
The Swissmakers), that went to become the fifth most-watched film of all time in Switzerland Italians have long been the largest immigrant group in Switzerland, only surpassed by
Serbo-CroatianSerbo-Croatian, Croato-Serbian, or Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language or diasystem...
s in the 1990s. Italians remain a large minority, numbering in 2007 about 300,000 people, excluding holders of dual citizenship. There is currently (as of 2008) a small resurfacing of Italian immigration, when after decades the migratory balance of Italians returned positive (2,213 new immigrants to Switzerland).
United States
Starting in the late 19th century until the 1950s, the United States became a main destination for Italian immigrants, most settling originally in the
New York metropolitan areaThe New York metropolitan area, also known as Metropolitan New York, Greater New York, or the Tri-State Region, is the most populous metropolitan area in the United States and is also one of the most populous in the world. The metropolitan area is defined by the U.S...
,
BostonBoston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is considered the economic and cultural center of the region and is sometimes regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England"...
, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and
ChicagoChicago is the largest city in the U.S. state of Illinois, and with more than 2.8 million people, the 3rd largest city in the United States...
. Many Italian Americans still retain aspects of their
cultureCulture is a term that has different meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
. This includes
Italian food, drink,Italian American cuisine is the cuisine of Italian American immigrants and their descendents, who have modified Italian cuisine under the influence of American culture and immigration patterns of Italians to the United States...
art, annual Italian American feasts, and a strong commitment to extended family. Italian Americans influenced popular music in the 1940s and as recently as the 1970s, one of their major contributions to American culture. In movies that deal with cultural issues, Italian American words and lingo are sometimes spoken by the characters. Although most will not speak Italian fluently, a dialect of sorts has arisen among Italian Americans, particularly in the urban
NortheastThe Northeastern United States is a region of the United States. According to the definition used by the United States Census Bureau, the Northeast region consists of nine states: the New England states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut; and the...
, often popularized in film and television.
Rest of Europe
In a wave of temporary Italian migration, from 1920 to the early 1970s (peaking in the periods of WWI and WWII), Italian "
guest workersGastarbeiter is German for "guest worker" . It refers to migrant workers who had moved to Germany mainly in the 1960s and 70s, seeking work as part of a formal guest worker programme...
" went mostly to
AustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders both Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west...
, Belgium, France,
West GermanyWest Germany is a common English name for the period of the Federal Republic of Germany between its' formation in May 1949 to German reunification in October 1990, when the German Democratic Republic was dissolved and the five states on its territory joined the Federal Republic of Germany,...
,
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
and Luxembourg.
Italian citizens, any ethnicity
| Country |
Population |
References |
| GER Italians in Germany |
582,111 |
|
ARG Italians in ArgentinaAn Italian Argentine is an Argentine citizen of full or partial Italian ancestry. It is estimated up to 25 million Argentines have some degree of Italian descent...
|
527,570 |
| CHE Italians in Switzerland Italian immigration to Switzerland began on a large scale in the late 19th century, although most of the immigrants that reached the country in that period eventually returned to Italy after the rise of Fascism...
|
500,565 |
| FRA Italians in France |
348,722 |
| BEL Italians in Belgium |
235,673 |
BRA Italians in BrazilAn Italian Brazilian is a Brazilian citizen of full or partial Italian ancestry. There are between 18 and 25 million Brazilians of Italian descent, the largest population of Italian background outside of Italy itself.-Italians in Brazil:...
|
229,746 |
USA Italians in the USAn Italian American is an American of Italian ancestry, and/or may also refer to someone possessing Italian/American dual citizenship. Italian Americans are the fourth largest European ethnic group in the United States.-History:...
|
200,534 |
| GBR Italians in the UK |
170,927 |
| CAN Italians in Canada |
131,775 |
| AUS Italians in Australia |
120,239 |
VEN Italians in VenezuelaItalo-Venezuelans are the Venezuelan citizens of Italian descent. The word may refer to someone born in Venezuela of Italian descent or to someone who has emigrated to Venezuela from Italy...
|
94,704 |
| ESP Italians in Spain |
83,924 |
URU Italians in UruguayAn Italian Uruguayan is an Uruguayan citizen of full or partial Italian ancestry. Almost half of the population is of Italian origin or has some degree of Italian descent...
|
71,115 |
Italian-born, any citizenship
| Country |
Population |
References |
| CHE Italians in Switzerland Italian immigration to Switzerland began on a large scale in the late 19th century, although most of the immigrants that reached the country in that period eventually returned to Italy after the rise of Fascism...
|
530,000 |
|
| BEL Italians in Belgium |
290,000 |
|
Full or partial descent
| Country |
Population (% of country) |
References |
Criterion |
BRA Italian BrazilianAn Italian Brazilian is a Brazilian citizen of full or partial Italian ancestry. There are between 18 and 25 million Brazilians of Italian descent, the largest population of Italian background outside of Italy itself.-Italians in Brazil:...
|
25,000,000 (~13-14%) |
|
|
ARG Italian ArgentineAn Italian Argentine is an Argentine citizen of full or partial Italian ancestry. It is estimated up to 25 million Argentines have some degree of Italian descent...
|
20,000,000 (~50%) |
|
|
USA Italian AmericanAn Italian American is an American of Italian ancestry, and/or may also refer to someone possessing Italian/American dual citizenship. Italian Americans are the fourth largest European ethnic group in the United States.-History:...
|
17,800,000 (~6%) |
|
Self-description |
| FRA Italian French |
5,000,000 (~9%) |
|
|
| CAN Italian Canadian |
1,500,000 (~4.5%) |
|
Self-description |
URU Italian UruguayanAn Italian Uruguayan is an Uruguayan citizen of full or partial Italian ancestry. Almost half of the population is of Italian origin or has some degree of Italian descent...
|
1,000,000 (~29%) |
|
|
| AUS Italian Australian |
850,000 (4%) |
|
Self-description |
| CHI Italian Chilean |
800,000 (5%) |
|
|
PER Italian PeruvianAn Italian Peruvian is a Peruvian citizen of Italian descent. The phrase may refer to someone born in Peru of Italian descent or to someone who has immigrated to Peru from Italy...
|
150,000 (<3%) |
|
|
|
See also
- List of Sardinians
- List of Sicilians
- Demography of Italy
- Italian Citizenship
- Anti-Italianism
Anti-Italianism is a hostility toward Italian people and Italian culture. It uses stereotypes about Italian people, a popular one being that most Italians are naturally violent, or somehow associated with the Mafia...
- European ethnic groups
The European peoples are the various nations and ethnic groups of Europe. European ethnology is the field of anthropology focusing on Europe....
- Genetic history of Europe
The genetic history of Europe can be inferred from the patterns of genetic diversity across continents and time. The primary data to develop historical scenarios coming from sequences of mitochondrial, Y-chromosome and autosomal DNA from modern populations and if available from ancient DNA...