What city in Italy have people having very close to pure Ancient Roman genes.Where did the real Roman go?

Question

When I look at Italian of today, I can only find a few names that recall of ancient Romans. Sometime I don't see the difference between an Italian with a yougoslavian from montenegro.Many serbs also look very Italian.Spanish people from the south look very much like sicilians since spain invaded sicily and probably many spanish conquistadores had local wifes.Rome became so cosmopolitan with people coming from every controlled regions of Europe,Africa and minor-Asia.

Barbarians from the north plundered the entire Italian peninsula.Viking decendent Norseman established kingdoms in Italy during many century.French armies of Francois I, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Italy and rape the womens during decencies.What is left of a pure Roman descent if Italy became a crossroad of every nations?Does skull headss of ancient Roman match modern Romans of today Italy?I would like to see ancient skull samples with modern skull of today to make a comparaison. Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

well, seems to be difficult to find out an answer.

I'm italian, from the northern part. I'm tall and blond, with green eyes. I made research about my family and I knew I'm of german barbaric origin (it happens in the middle age, around 1200). This is stated also by the surname of my family. I'm italian, and when I travel always people ask me if I'm french or german, or english. Doesn't matter.

About the "real roman heritage", you can easily recognize roman people looking at their noses. The typical roman nose is the only detail that can assure you to be a pure Roman. You can have a look on ancient coins (of the Roman's Empire, Cesare...) there are always profile faces (with noses).

There are so many differences between the north and the south people, also in every region there are differences. Like in Sicily: Sicilian are blond with blue eyes (out of the French), or dark haired and dark skinned (of Moresque origin).

(When we have to recognize each-other in Italy, talking about the other Europeans, we usually look at shoes !)

Answer 2

ITALIANS

It is often claimed that Italians, especially those from the South of the country, have substantial Middle Eastern and African admixture acquired during Roman times and the Moorish occupation. However, data from anthropology shows a prehistoric origin for the Mediterranean elements in Italy, and detects no ******* influence there whatsoever. Genetic research confirms this, showing that both sub-Saharan and Arab-Berber admixture are negligible. The differences between Northern and Southern Italians have also been greatly exaggerated for political reasons.



Anthropology

"Italy, one of the most clearly demarcated geographical units in Europe, is a country of considerable [sub]racial variability. Although the Mediterranean race is strongly represented in it, Italy belongs only partially to the Mediterranean world, for much of it is more typically Alpine racial territory. ... The primary racial impulse of the early Neolithic, however, is known. This was the immigration of small Mediterraneans in great numbers, coming largely if not entirely by sea; these first food-producers were followed by more competent navigators, Atlanto-Mediterraneans, who settled chiefly in the north and in the islands, and Dinarics from the eastern Mediterranean in search of metal. Some of the Dinarics penetrated the Alpine Valleys while others settled in the Po Valley and in central Italy. The movement of highly cultured peoples from the east into Italy continued into historic times, and included the settlement of the Etruscans in Tuscany, and of the Greeks in Sicily and in the southern end of the peninsula.

"...through her role as mistress of the world, Rome accumulated and assimilated a heterogeneous population. That this population was by no means purely or even predominantly Mediterranean is shown by the study of the skulls of Pompeians, victims of the eruption which turned their city from a metropolis into a museum. These crania, with a mean cranial index of 80, represent a population which had acquired a [sub]racial character of its own despite its mixed origin, and in which the Alpine element was the most important. ... A series of 100 modern crania from Bologna, with a mean cranial index of 83.5, is almost purely Alpo-Dinaric, with the latter element in a position of prominence. The Dinaric race is common in northern, but not southern Italy, and this distinction has been true since the Bronze Age.

"In other words, the southern Italians are a blend for the most part of Alpines and small Mediterraneans, while among the northern Italians the most important dolichocephalic strain is the Atlanto-Mediterranean. The association of relatively great blondism with brachycephaly merely indicates that both Alpines and Dinarics are characteristically mixed or intermediate in pigmentation. The few unaltered Nordics still found in northern Italy and in aristocratic families elsewhere are far outnumbered by Atlanto-Mediterraneans. ... The binding element which is common to all sections is the Alpine, which has reemerged from obscure beginnings through a superstructure composed of Dinaric, Nordic, and various kinds of Mediterranean accretions."

(Carleton S. Coon, The Races of Europe)



Genetics

Combined data from two large mtDNA studies provides an estimate of non-Caucasoid maternal ancestry in Italians. The first study sampled 411 Italians from all over the country and found five South Asian M and East Asian D sequences (1.2%) and eight sub-Saharan African L sequences (1.9%). The second study sampled 465 Sicilians and detected ten M sequences (2.2%) and three L sequences (0.65%). This makes a total of 3% non-white maternal admixture (1.3% Asian and 1.7% African), which is very low and typical for European populations, since Pliss et al. 2005, e.g., observed 1.8% Asian admixture in Poles and 1.2% African admixture in Germans.

(Plaza et al., Ann Hum Genet, 2003;

Romano et al., Ann Hum Genet, 2003)

* * *

Similar data from the Y-chromosome reveals Italians' even lower non-Caucasoid paternal admixture. Both studies obtained samples from all over the mainland and islands. No Asian DNA was detected anywhere, but a single sub-Saharan African E(xE3b) sequence was found in the first study's sample of 416 (0.2%), and six were observed in the second study's sample of 746 (0.8%). The total is therefore a minuscule 0.6%, which decreases to 0.4% if only Southern Italians are considered and 0% if only Sicilians are considered. Again, these are normal levels of admixture for European populations (e.g. Austrians were found to have 0.8% E(xE3b) by Brion et al. 2004).

(Semino et al., Am J Hum Genet, 2004;

Cruciani et al., Am J Hum Genet, 2004)