Why Modern Italians look like the Roman Empire

How often do YOU think about the Roman Empire? Do modern Italians resemble their ancient ancestors from the Roman Empire? Utilizing a captivating montage of historic art and current faces, the video challenges not only stereotypes but our very understanding of cultural identity. The resemblances we find are not only startling but lead us to question the fluidity of identity across centuries. While modern Italians aren't exact replicas of their ancestors, certain timeless features make the past echo in the present. This video invites you to reconsider not just what it means to be Italian, but how each of us fits into the ever-evolving tapestry of human history.This is much more than a journey through our genes; it's a quest to understand our shared history and identity!

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The documentary- series "Finding Lola" is done, but is the journey over?

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Come join me on a new docu-series that explores identity, racial tensions in the South during the 20th century, and the unique experiences of those who historically called Louisiana home.
My name is Danielle Romero, and all my life, I have romanticized Louisiana.
Growing up in New York, it represented a place where I could step back the sepia-toned life of my great grandmother, Lola Perot, who died before I was born.
Now, it was time to go back to Louisiana--although I had no idea what the truth would be or what questions to ask---who was Lola really? Who were we?

*Amazon links are affiliate links. If buy something through these links, we may earn affiliate commission. Thank you for supporting this project!

[vidtuby]

Romans are alive and well! And their descendants are scattered worldwide😊

[ThaKingzsouljahPR]

The only way that a modern Italian would know that was Julius Caesar would be when Caesar would be speaking straight up Latin! 😆

[claudiaoddi]

The genetic pool of italian people has not changed from pre-roman times. Italians are still basically the same: greeks, latins, italics, etruscans and celts. The peoples that originally lived in Italy before Rome and during the Roman era grew in number reaching millions of inhabitants. Italy has always been one of the most populated lands in europe. The few hundreds of thousands people of different origins who later arrived and settled in the italian peninsula had to mingle with millions of people already living there, and had just a minor and very fleble impact on the existing genetic pool, which is still dominant in the Italian People.

[ryan]

Thanks for busting this stereotype. Because the vast majority of Italian immigrants came from the south, Americans have developed an unrealistic perception of what Italians look like. In truth, "Italian" is a civic identity as well. Having lived in Italy for 13 years, I can attest that people identify with their region before Italian.

[dleonardo]

3:44 "northern italy", shows a neapolitan southitalian lmao. also the greeks where in the south before the romans came

[nytn]

What do you think? What two faces were most surprising from the collage?

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[JustFluffyQuiltingYarnCrafts]

Very cool to put those faces together in a collage, Danielle. 👍👍♥️

[gloriathomas]

As in the case of Spaniards and Portuguese, today's Italians are an admixture of peoples of peoples that settled on the peninsula. And most southern Italians are going to have a strong Greek ancestry.

[John-gzzh]

Being half Irish and half Italian I can tell you stereotypes are funny I have irish cousins with dark hair olive skin and a
Have Italian cousins with light hair light skin

[MsMaureen]

That was so interesting. And the thing you said about where our looks come from brought back a memory . My mother always said I looked like my great grandmother, but we had no pictures of her. We all look like our ancestors near and far in some way. Nice video.

[anthonygreco]

I appreciate you covering this! My family hails from Calabria (on both sides but from opposite coastlines) and not only are the majority of them swarthy but we range from very dark to very fair skinned with a variety of variations in between depending on who dramatically tans better and faster than others. Also it’s worth noting that genetically speaking, Southern Italians primary ancestral group come more from the Greek world, especially the Greek islands in the Eastern Aegean. I believe a study revealed our Greek ancestry is closest related to Cretans, Cypriots and Greeks from an archipelago stretch along southwestern Turkey called the Dodacanese islands.

Plus, even within the same region there is diversity. My moms family seems to largely be Greek with a hefty smattering of Levantine related ancestry and a smidge of Roman/Central Italian. My dad’s has Greek, Sardinian, Levantine, North African, Ashkenazi Jewish and West Asian related ancestries. Same region, different coastlines, unique admixtures. All are Calabrese. All are Italian (those of us who still have citizenship or live there).

The dialects even reflect it. One side is heavily Greek and Spanish influenced with a Latin base. The other has little Spanish to speak of but heavy Arabic influence. A melting pot for sure!

[starventure]

Which Italian are we discussing though? Sicilianos, Calabrians, Tuscanians? The Swiss have a large amount of Italian because of the close shared history, are they not just Italian but of Roman descent? I have argued with others that the Swiss descendants of the ancient Helvetii tribe are the last remotely true Romans, in that they never were conquered by foreign armies other than the Romans. Who is Italian and who is of Roman descent?

[Trebor-]

In reality the photo of the blond Italian Footballer at 3:46 depicts Ciro Immobile, a southern Italian

[cjc]

I always thought that Italian and other Mediterranean peoples have these common traits like large, deep set eyes. High nose bridge, thick eye brows, ability to grow full beards. Dark colored hair. Skin tones from white to tan. But with thousands of years of migration there are always exceptions. I know Greeks, Sicilians and Turks with blonde hair and blue eyes.

[WickedFelina]

The statue you show of "Julius" Caesar is actually Caesar Agustus.

[LOVE-JC]

Actually Northern Italians immigrated to the state Veracruz Mx. Many mixed with the folks in the state of Michoacán Mx. some are brown skinned people.

[nemomarcus]

Where I grew up most people were from the Mediterranean from Southern Europe to. North Africa and the Middle East. To me, the Mediterranean look is what looks normal and I don't really think of the Italian look.

[johnmanole]

There were other groups other then the romans in Italy. Like other ancient italic tribes with whom rome fought in it's infancy.

[angelmoreno]

Italy is very diverse ethnically.
I know much Italian sportsman with look absolutely germánic

[et]

I am 100% pre Revolutionary American, but when FamilyTree determined that I had a tiny fraction of a percent that was Balkans, the most likely explanation was an early English colonial family in Virginia named Taliaferro, which was pronounced Tolliver and often spelled that way. That colonial family traced back to a Venetian businessman named Bartolomeo Tagliaferro who settled in London in the 16th century. Autosomal DNA tests of people in northern Italy often show up as partly Balkans.