Italians
Italiani

1st row: Alessandro Volta, Rita Levi-Montalcini, Vittorio Gassman, Caravaggio 2nd row: Carlo Goldoni, Martino Martini, Dario Fo, Elena Cornaro Piscopia 3rd row: Leonardo da Vinci, Alessandro Del Piero, Maria Montessori, Galileo 4th row: Giordano Bruno, Fiorella Mannoia, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Umberto Boccioni 5th row: Grazia Deledda, Luigi Pirandello, Valentino, Antonio Gramsci
Total population
c. 124 million
Regions with significant populations
Italy        56,113,514 [1]
Brazil 28,000,000 (Italian ancestry) [2]  United States 18,086,617 (Italian ancestry) [2][3]  Argentina 15,000,000 (Italian ancestry)[4]  Uruguay 1,500,000 (Italian ancestry) [5]  Canada 1,445,335 [6]  Venezuela 900,000 [7]  Australia 852,418 [8]  Switzerland 800,000b [9]  Germany 611,000 [10]  Peru 500,000 [11]  France 340,000 [12]  Belgium 290,000 [13]  Spain 153,700 [14]  Chile 150,000  United Kingdom 100,000[15]  Paraguay 90,000 [16]  Romania 40,000 [17]  South Africa 35,000  Croatia 19,636 [18]  Luxembourg 18,996 [19]  Mexico 15,000 [2]  Monaco 8,200 [20]  San Marino 3,000 [21]  Armenia 1,500b [22]
Languages
historically Latin, nowdays Italian and other languages (Sicilian · Southern Italian languages · Corsican · Catalan · Sardinian · Northern Italian languages · Friulan) languages of resident countries
Religion
predominantly Roman Catholic, others
Related ethnic groups
Greeks • French • Portuguese • Sardinian • Sicilian • Spanish • Romanians • Croats
Footnotes
a Italians by birth, not including an indeterminable number of Frenchmen of Italian ancestry numbering as much as five million.[23] b includes 291,200 permanent residents;[24] not including about 500,000 Italian-speaking Swiss people,

Italians (Italian: italiani) are an ethnic group native of Southern Europe that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence (though the principle of jus sanguinis is used extensively and arguably more favorably in the Italian nationality law), and are distinguished from people of Italian descent and, historically, from ethnic Italians living in the unredeemed territories adjacent to the Italian Peninsula.^[25]

In 2012, in addition to the 60 million Italians in Italy and 3,000 in San Marino,^[26] Italian-speaking, autonomous groups are found in neighboring countries: about 500,000 in Switzerland, a large, but undefined population in France (Nice, Corsica),^[23] and smaller groups in Slovenia and Croatia, primarily in Istria. If regarded as an ethnic group, they constitute one of the world's largest.

Because of wide-ranging and long-lasting diaspora, about 4 and half million Italian citizens and over 70 million people of full or part Italian ancestry live outside of Italy, most notably in South America, North America, Australia and parts of Europe.

Italians have greatly influenced and contributed to science, the arts, technology, culture, cuisine, sport and banking^[27] abroad^[28] and worldwide. Italian people are generally known for their localism, both regionalist that municipalist,^[29] attention to clothing, family values^[30] and devoutness to the Christian faith and association with the Catholic Church.^[31]

History[link]

End of the Western Roman Empire[link]

For nearly 1,500 years, starting about 1000 BC., the history of Italy was partially the history of the Etruscans and mostly the one of ancient Rome.

The Etruscan civilization, a great maritime, commercial, and artistic culture, reached its peak about the 7th century, but by 509 BC, when the Romans overthrew their Etruscan monarchs, its control in Italy was on the wane.

By 350 BC, after a series of wars with both Greeks and Etruscans, the Latins, with Rome as their capital, gained the ascendancy by 272 BC, and they managed to unite the entire Italian peninsula.

Bust of Julius Caesar.

Unification of Italy in Roman times

This period of unification was followed by one of conquest in the Mediterranean, beginning with the First Punic War against Carthage. In the course of the century-long struggle against Carthage, the Romans conquered Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. Finally, in 146 BC, at the conclusion of the Third Punic War, with Carthage completely destroyed and its inhabitants enslaved, Rome became the dominant power in the Mediterranean. From its inception, Rome was a republican city-state, but four famous civil conflicts destroyed the republic: Lucius Cornelius Sulla against Gaius Marius and his son (88–82 BC), Julius Caesar against Pompey (49–45 BC), Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus against Mark Antony and Octavian (43 BC), and Mark Antony against Octavian.

Octavian, the final victor (31 BC), was accorded the title of Augustus by the Senate and thereby became the first Roman emperor. Augustus created for the first time an administrative region called Italia with inhabitants called "Italicus populus", stretching from the Alps to Sicily: for this reason historians like Gentile called him Father of Italians.

Under imperial rule, Rome undertook a series of conquests that brought Roman law, Roman administration, and Pax Romana to an area extending from the Atlantic to the Rhine, to the British Isles, to the Iberian Peninsula and large parts of North Africa, and to the Middle East as far as the Euphrates.

After two centuries of successful rule, in the 3rd century AD, Rome was threatened by internal discord and menaced by Germanic and Asian invaders, commonly called barbarians (from the Latin word barbari, "foreigners"). Emperor Diocletian's administrative division of the empire into two parts in 285 provided only temporary relief; it became permanent in 395. In 313, Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity, and churches thereafter rose throughout the empire.^[32] However, he also moved his capital from Rome to Constantinople, greatly reducing the importance of the former. The last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed in AD 476 by a Germanic foederati general in Italy, Odoacer. His defeat marked the end of the western part of the Roman Empire. During most of the period from the fall of Rome until the Kingdom of Italy was established in 1861, the peninsula was divided into several smaller states. These states were frequently conquered by other countries.

The Middle Ages[link]

Odoacer ruled well for 13 years after gaining control of Italy in 476. Then he was attacked and defeated by Theodoric, the king of another Germanic tribe, the Ostrogoths. Theodoric and Odoacer ruled jointly until 493, when Theodoric murdered Odoacer. Theodoric continued to rule Italy with an army of Ostrogoths and a government that was mostly Italian. He brought peace to the country, but after his death in 526, the kingdom began to grow weak. By 553, Justinian I, the Byzantine emperor who ruled the eastern part of the Roman Empire, expelled the Ostrogoths. The old Roman Empire was mostly united again, even if at the price of the total destruction of the Italian peninsula (Rome -under Augustus the first "one million inhabitants" city in the world- was reduced to a small village of just one thousand inhabitants). But Byzantine rule in Italy collapsed by 572 as a result of invasions by another Germanic tribe, the Lombards.

During the 5th and 6th centuries, the popes increased their influence in both religious and political matters in Italy. It was usually the popes who led attempts to protect Italy from invasion or to soften foreign rule. For about 200 years the popes opposed attempts by the Lombards, who had captured most of Italy, to take over Rome as well. The popes finally defeated the Lombards with the aid of two Frankish kings, Pepin the Short and Charlemagne. Using land won for them by Pepin in 756, the popes established political rule in what were called the Papal States in central Italy.

The Lombards remained a threat to papal power, however, until they were crushed by Charlemagne in 774. Charlemagne added the Lombard kingdom to his vast realm. In recognition of Charlemagne's power, and to cement the church's alliance with him, Charlemagne was crowned emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III in 800.^[33]

After Charlemagne's death in 814, his son Louis the Pious succeeded him. Louis divided the empire among his sons, who fought each other for territory. Such battles continued until Otto the Great, the king of Germany, was crowned emperor in 962. This marked the beginning of what later was called the Holy Roman Empire.

Rise of the city-states[link]

Italy in early 1494.

From the 11th century on, Italian cities began to grow rapidly in independence and importance. They became centers of political life, banking, and foreign trade. Some became wealthy, and many, including Florence, Genoa, Milan, Pisa, and Venice, grew into nearly independent city-states. Each had its own foreign policy and political life. They all resisted the efforts of noblemen and emperors to control them.

During the 14th and 15th centuries, some Italian city-states ranked among the most important powers of Europe. However, the city-states were often troubled by violent disagreements among their citizens. The most famous division was between the Guelphs and Ghibellines. The Guelphs supported supreme rule by the pope, and the Ghibellines favored the emperor. City-states often took sides and waged war against each other. This weakened the city-states and resulted in their capture by foreign invaders.

Venice, in particular, had become a major maritime power, and the city-states as a group acted as a conduit for goods and learning from the Byzantine and Islamic empires. In this capacity, they provided great impetus to the developing Renaissance, which between the 13th and 16th centuries led to an unparalleled flourishing of the arts, literature, music, and science.

During the Renaissance, Italy became an even more attractive prize to foreign conquerors. After some city-states asked for outside help in settling disputes with their neighbors, King Charles VIII of France marched into Italy in 1494. The city-states could not hold back the French army. Charles soon withdrew, but he had shown that the cities of Italy could be conquered because they were not united. After the Italian Wars, Spain emerged as the dominant force in the region. Venice, Milan, and other city-states retained at least some of their former greatness during this period, as did Savoy-Piedmont, protected by the Alps and well defended by its vigorous rulers.

The French Revolution and Napoleon[link]

Italian women dance the tarantella, 1846

Economic hardship, waves of the plague, and religious unrest tormented the region throughout the 17th century and into the 18th.

The French Revolution and Napoleon influenced Italy more deeply than they affected any other country of Europe, except France. The French Revolution began in 1789 and immediately found supporters among the Italian people. The local Italian rulers, sensing danger in their own country, drew closer to the European kings who opposed France. After the French king was overthrown and France became a republic, secret clubs favoring an Italian republic were formed throughout Italy. The armies of the French Republic began to move across Europe. In 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte led a French army into northern Italy and drove out the Austrian rulers. Once again, Italy was the scene of battle between the Habsburgs and the French. Wherever France conquered, Italian republics were set up, with constitutions and legal reforms. Napoleon made himself emperor in 1804, and part of northern Italy became the Kingdom of Italy under his rule. The rest of northern Italy was added to France. Only Sicily and Sardinia remained free of French control.

French rule lasted less than 20 years, and it differed from previous foreign control of the Italian peninsula. In spite of heavy taxation and frequent harshness, the French introduced representative assemblies and new laws that were the same for all parts of the country. For the first time since the days of ancient Rome, Italians of different regions used the same money and served in the same army. Many Italians began to see the possibility of a united Italy free of foreign control.

The Kingdom of Italy[link]

The Expedition of the Thousand.

The French Revolution was brought to the Italian peninsula by Napoleon, and the concepts of nationalism and liberalism infiltrated everywhere. Short-lived republics and even a Kingdom of Italy were formed. But reaction set in with the Congress of Vienna, and many of the old rulers and systems were restored under Austrian domination. The concept of nationalism continued strong, however, and sporadic outbreaks led by such inveterate reformers as Giuseppe Mazzini occurred in several parts of the peninsula down to 1848–49. This Risorgimento movement was brought to a successful conclusion under the able guidance of Camillo Benso, conte di Cavour, prime minister of Piedmont.

Cavour managed to unite most of Italy under the headship of Victor Emmanuel II of the house of Savoy, and on 17 March 1861, the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed with Victor Emmanuel II as king. Giuseppe Garibaldi, the popular republican hero of Italy, contributed much to this achievement and to the subsequent incorporation of the Papal States under the Italian monarch. Italian troops occupied Rome in 1870, and in July 1871, it formally became the capital of the kingdom. Pope Pius IX, a longtime rival of Italian kings, considered himself a "prisoner" of the Vatican and refused to cooperate with the royal administration. Only in 1929 the Roman Pope accepted the unified Italy with capital in Rome.

In the following decades Italy started to create colonies in Africa (and even a small one in Asia) and with Benito Mussolini's fascism founded in 1936 an Italian Empire. World War I completed the process of Italian unification, with Istria, Trentino-Alto Adige and Zara added to Italy. The Italians grew to 45 millions in 1940 and started developing a huge industrial power, mainly in northern Italy. But WWII soon destroyed Italy and its colonial power.

The Italian republic[link]

Between 1945 an 1948, the outlines of a new Italy began to appear. Victor Emmanuel III gave up the throne on May 9, 1946, and his son, Umberto II, became king. On June 2, Italy held its first free election in 20 years (Il ventennio). Italians chose a republic to replace the monarchy, which had been closely associated with Fascism. They elected a Constituent Assembly to prepare a new democratic constitution. The Assembly approved the constitution in 1947, which came into force since January 1, 1948.

Ethnicity[link]

The original indoeuropean tribes of the Italic people settled in neolitical times in the Italian peninsula. Usually these tribes were historically divided between Liguri, Veneti, Latins, Siculi, etc. Successively they were united and amalgamated by Rome, together with the Etruscans in central Italy, Celtic Gauls in the Po river plains, and Greeks in the so called Magna Grecia.

Most Italians have common Roman Latin ancestry as well as a variety of other ancestries. Many Italians have Lombard heritage as a result of the Germanic tribe of the Lombards occupying and settling most of Italy.^[34] Claims that the Lombards wiped out Roman heritage in Italy have been proven false with evidence of a mixing of Roman and Germanic names in northern Italy as well as cultural artifacts that reveal a mixing of Roman and Lombard culture, such as Lombard pottery using Roman crafting techniques.^[35]

The western part of Northern Italy has held linguistic and cultural connections with people from Occitania, particularly the Piedmontese hold such connections with Occitania.^[36]

Southern Italy has an ancestral Greek heritage alongside the Italic one.^[37] Southern Italy was influenced both by the ancient Greeks of Magna Graecia who brought Hellenic culture to Italy, and by the arrival of modern Greeks to Southern Italy in the 17th century during the rule of the Byzantine Empire.^[38]

Sicilians have a diverse ancestry. After Byzantine rule, Sicily was conquered by Arab and Berber peoples, resulting in the introduction of Islam into Sicily.^[39] However there were other ethnic influences in Sicily during its Islamic era as well from arriving immigration.^[40] The intermixing of indigenous Latin Sicilians with Arabs and Berbers did not always transmit Islamic culture to the people as many held on to Christianity as a symbol of defiance, though remained relatively positive social relations remained between Sicily's Christian and Muslim communities.^[41] After the short period of Arab rule, the island was conquered by Norman warlords. The Normans brought a new addition to Sicilian ancestry.^[42] During the subsequent Swabian rule under the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, who spent most of his life as king of Sicily in his court in Palermo, the Islamic element was progressively eradicated till the massive deportation of the last Muslims of Sicily.^[43]

Furthermore, there it is a 7% of linguistic minorities (albanian, german, greek, slav, etc..) in the Italian population.^{[citation needed]}

Culture[link]

From antiquity until the late 16th century, the Italians were at the centre of the Western culture, being the fulcrum or origin of Ancient Rome, the Roman Catholic Church, the Humanism and the Renaissance.^[44] The first merchants and bankers were florentine and genoese and they created capitalism during the Renaissance.

Italy became also a seat of great formal learning in 1088 with the establishment of the University of Bologna, the first university in Europe.^[45] Other Italian universities soon followed. For example, the Schola Medica Salernitana, in southern Italy, was the first medical school of medieval Europe.^[46] These great centers of learning presaged the Rinascimento: the European Renaissance began in Italy and was fueled throughout Europe by Italian painters, sculptors, architects, scientists, literature masters and music composers. Italy continued its leading cultural role through the Baroque period and into the Romantic period, when its dominance in painting and sculpture diminished but the Italians reestablished a strong presence in music.

Fundamental contributions to science and technology were given by Italian scientists. Galileo Galilei has been called the "father of modern observational astronomy",^[47]because of his discovery of telescope and heliocentrism, and even "the Father of Modern Science".^[48]. Among the technological innovations on which today's information and communication technologies are grounded, we can mention the following: electric batteries (Alessandro Volta), radio (Guglielmo Marconi), telephone (Antonio Meucci), the microprocessor (Federico Faggin), compressed audio (MP3) and video (MPEG) (Leonardo Chiariglione).

Italian explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries left a perennial mark on human history with the modern "discovery of America", due to Christopher Columbus; furthermore, the name of the American continents derives from Amerigo Vespucci's first name.

Italy did not exist as a "political state" until its unification in 1861.^[49] Due to this comparatively late unification, and the historical autonomy of the regions that comprise the Italian peninsula, many traditions and customs of the Italians that are now recognized as distinctly Italian can be identified by their regions of origin. Despite the political and social isolation of these regions, Italy's contributions to the cultural and historical heritage of the Western world remain immense.Famous elements of Italian culture are its opera and music, its iconic gastronomy and food, which are commonly regarded as amongst the most popular in the world,^[50] its cinema (with classic films such as La Dolce Vita, Life is Beautiful, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly etc.), its collections of priceless works of art and its fashion (Milan and Florence are regarded as some of the few fashion capitals of the world).

Furthermore, Italy is home to the greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites (47) to date,^[51] and one estimate says that the country is home to half the world's great art treasures.^[52]

Italian diaspora[link]

Strictly defined, the Italian Diaspora took place between the unification of the country in 1861 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914. However, large-scale migrations phenomena did not recede until the late 1920s, well into the Fascist regime, and one last wave can be observed after the end of World War II.

Over 70 million people of full or partial Italian descent live outside of Europe, with nearly 50 million living in South America (primarily Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay), about 19 million living in North America (United States and Canada) and 850,000 in Australia. Millions of others live in other parts of Europe (primarily France, Germany and Switzerland). Most Italian citizens living abroad live in other nations of the European Union.

Full or partial descent[link]

Country	Population	References
Italian Brazilians	28/35,000,000	[53][54]
Italian Argentines	15/20,000,000	[2][3]
Italian Americans	17,800,000	[55]
Italians in France	1,5/5,000,000	[2][23][56]
Italian Uruguayans	1,500,000	[5]
Italian Canadians	1,445,335	[57]
Italo-Venezuelans	900,000	[58]
Italian Australians	852,418	[59]
Italian Germans	600,000/650,000	[10]
Italian Peruvians	500,000	[11]
Italian Chileans	150,000	[2]
Italian Ecuadorians	90,000	[60]
Italian Mexicans	15,000	[2]

Autochthonous Italian communities outside Italy[link]

Napoleone Buonaparte, a Corsican: he and the House of Bonaparte were of continental Italian ancestry

.

In both the Slovenian and Croatian portions of Istria, in Dalmatia as well as in the city of Rijeka, Italian refers to autochthonous speakers of Italian and various Italo-Dalmatian languages, 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 Century 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 Empire through to the period of annexation to Italy. In the aftermath of the Istrian exodus 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 32,000.^[61][62] The number of inhabitants with Italian ancestry is likely much greater but undeterminable.

The 1816 Austro-Hungarian census registered 66,000 Italian-speaking people amongst the 301,000 inhabitants of Dalmatia, or 22% of the total Dalmatian population.^[63]

In France (County of Nice, parts of Savoy), autochthonous speakers of regional languages of Italy (Ligurian and Piedmontese), are natives in the region since before annexation to France in 1860, in addition to descendants of Italians that migrated to the areas when they were part of Italian states. The number of inhabitants with Italian ancestry is generally undeterminable, and the use of French language is now ubiquitous.

In addition, Corsica was a part of the Republic of Genoa until 1770 and, until recently, most Corsicans spoke the Corsican Italian dialect and even the Italian language.

Notes[link]

1. ^ [1] Italia Ora - l'Italia in tempo reale. ItaliaOra.org Web. 10 October 2011. (Italian)
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} (Italian) http://www.migranti.torino.it/Documenti%20%20PDF/italianial%20ster05.pdf
3. ^ ^{a b} [2] Unos 20 millones de personas que viven en la Argentina tienen algún grado de descendencia italiana. asteriscos.tv 27 June 2008. (Spanish)
4. ^ "U.S. Census Bureau, 2009 American Community Survey". http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-ds_name=ACS_2009_1YR_G00_&-mt_name=ACS_2009_1YR_G2000_B04003&-CONTEXT=dt&-redoLog=true&-currentselections=ACS_2007_1YR_G2000_B04001&-geo_id=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en. Retrieved December 25, 2011. 
5. ^ ^{a b} Gli Italiani in Uruguay. consultanazionaleemigrazione.it Web. 11 October 2011. (Italian)
6. ^ "Ethnic origins, 2006 counts, for Canada, provinces and territories - 20% sample data". 2.statcan.ca. 2010-10-06. http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census06/data/highlights/ethnic/pages/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo=PR&Code=01&Data=Count&Table=2&StartRec=1&Sort=3&Display=All&CSDFilter=5000. Retrieved 2011-05-22. 
7. ^ Santander Laya-Garrido, Alfonso. Los Italianos forjadores de la nacionalidad y del desarrollo economico en Venezuela. Editorial Vadell. Valencia, 1978
8. ^ "Australian Census 2006". http://www.abs.gov.au. 
9. ^ Die italienische Auswanderung in die Schweiz. stadt-zuerich.ch 28 June 2009.
10. ^ ^{a b} "Immigration Laws: October 2003 - Number No. 14". MigrationInt.com. http://www.migrationint.com.au/news/solomon_islands/oct_2003-14mn.asp. Retrieved 2007-05-04. 
11. ^ ^{a b} "Documento sin título". Lucanidelperu.com. http://www.lucanidelperu.com/presenza%20italiana.html. Retrieved 2010-09-02. 
12. ^ (French) "Insee - Population - Enquêtes annuelles de recensement 2004 et 2005 - Près de 5 millions d'immigrés à la mi-2004" (in French). http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/document.asp?ref_id=ip1098&reg_id=0&page=graph#graphique1. Retrieved 2009-01-11. 
13. ^ "Informazioni sul Belgio / INCA BE - INCA BE" (in (Italian)). Inca-cgil.be. http://www.inca-cgil.be/informazioni_sul_belgio. Retrieved 2011-05-22. 
14. ^ (Spanish) "Demographía" (in Spanish) (PDF). Ine.es. 2006. http://www.ine.es/prodyser/pubweb/anuario06/anu06_02demog.pdf. Retrieved 2007-05-04. 
15. ^ http://www.abc.com.py/nota/los-italianos-y-su-aporte-a-la-nacion/
16. ^ http://www.ambitalquito.org/ZaccariaDAniello.pdf
17. ^ "RO.AS.IT - Asociatia Italienilor din Romania". Roasit.ro. http://www.roasit.ro/html/ro/linkuri.php/. Retrieved 2011-05-22. 
18. ^ "Population by Ethnicity, by Towns/Municipalities, Census 2001". DZS.hr. 2001. http://www.dzs.hr/Eng/censuses/Census2001/Popis/E01_02_02/E01_02_02.html. Retrieved 2007-05-09. 
19. ^ "Recensement de la population: Population par nationalité 1875 - 2001". statec.lu. http://www.statistiques.public.lu/stat/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=389&IF_Language=fra&MainTheme=2&FldrName=1&RFPath=68. Retrieved 2010-11-09. 
20. ^ "CIA - The World Factbook - Monaco". CIA.gov. April 17, 2007. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mn.html#People. Retrieved 2007-05-09.  Dose not include native Monegasque.
21. ^ http://www.sanmarinosite.com/eng/demografia.html
22. ^ "AM.AS.IT - Asociatia Italienilor din Armenia". Roasit.ro. http://www.roasit.am/html/ro/linkuri.php/. Retrieved 2010-05-22. 
23. ^ ^{a b c} Cohen, Robin. The Cambridge survey of world migration. Cambridge University Press, 1995. pp. 142-4. Web. 22 May 2011.
24. ^ "Swiss Statistics - Nationality". Bfs.admin.ch. 2010-08-24. http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index/themen/01/07/blank/key/01/01.html. Retrieved 2011-05-22. 
25. ^ [3] Italian Citizenship. www.interno.it Web. 26 March 2011.
26. ^ http://www.sanmarinosite.com/eng/demografia.html
27. ^ Macesich, George. Issues in Money and Banking. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000. p. 42. Web. 08 October 2011.
    "The first state deposit bank was the Bank of St. George in Genoa, which was established in 1407."
28. ^ [4] The essence of Italian culture and the challenge of the global age: Italian cultural identity and migration. www.crvp.org Web. 02 September 2010.
29. ^ Keating, Michael. Regions and regionalism in Europe. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2004. p. 378. Web. 08 October 2011.
30. ^ [5] Italy, People. dev.prenhall.com Web. 02 September 2010.
31. ^ The World Fact Book: People - Italy CIA.gov Web. 08 October 2011.
32. ^ George, Maya. Faith & philosophy of Christianity. Gyan Publishing House, 2009. p. 25. Web. 09 October 2011.
33. ^ McKitterick, Rosamond. The New Cambridge medieval history. Volume 4, Parte 2. Cambridge University Press, 1995. p. 105. Web. 10 October 2011.
34. ^ Timothy W. Potter. Roman Italy. University of California Press, 1987. Pp. 218.
35. ^ Timothy W. Potter. Roman Italy. University of California Press, 1987. Pp. 218.
36. ^ David Lowenthal. George Perkins Marsh, Prophet of Conservation. University of Washington Press, 2003. Pp. 260-261.
37. ^ Giovanna Ceserani. Italy's Lost Greece: Magna Graecia and the Making of Modern Archaeology. Oxford University Press, 2012. Pp. 34.
38. ^ Giovanna Ceserani. Italy's Lost Greece: Magna Graecia and the Making of Modern Archaeology. Oxford University Press, 2012. Pp. 34.
39. ^ Alex Metcalfe. The Muslims of Medieval Italy. Edinburgh, Scotland, UK: Edinburgh University Press, 2009. Pp. 39.
40. ^ Alex Metcalfe. The Muslims of Medieval Italy. Edinburgh, Scotland, UK: Edinburgh University Press, 2009. Pp. 39.
41. ^ Alex Metcalfe. The Muslims of Medieval Italy. Edinburgh, Scotland, UK: Edinburgh University Press, 2009. Pp. 39.
42. ^ Alex Metcalfe. The Muslims of Medieval Italy. Edinburgh, Scotland, UK: Edinburgh University Press, 2009. Pp. 88.
43. ^ David Abulafia, Mediterranean encounters, economic, religious, political, 1100-1550, Ashgate Publishing, 2001, p. 236.
44. ^ Landau, Sarah. Renaissance (1300s-1600s). Department of Fine Arts New York University. Web. 25 Sep. 2011.
45. ^ Spielvogel, Jackson J. Western Civilization: Volume I: A Brief History. Cengage Learning, 2010. p. 186. Web. 22 Sep. 2011.
46. ^ Windsor, Laura Lynn. Women in medicine: an encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2002. p. 202. Web. 27 Sep. 2011.
47. ^ Singer, Charles (1941). A Short History of Science to the Nineteenth Century. Clarendon Press. http://www.google.com.au/books?id=mPIgAAAAMAAJ&pgis=1  (page 217)
48. ^ Finocchiaro, Maurice. The Galileo Affair: A Documentary History (http://books.google.com/?id=wKCZFJuMCaQC&printsec=frontcover&q= )
49. ^ "Risorgimento." Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2011. Web. 25 Sep. 2011.
50. ^ Mariani, John F. How Italian Food Conquered the World. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. p. 15. Web. 25 Sep. 2011.
51. ^ [6] UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Web. 25 Sep. 2011.
52. ^ Abbot, Charles. Italy. Morellini Editore, 2006. p. 101. Web. 24 Sep. 2011.
53. ^ Gli Italiani in Brasile. consultanazionaleemigrazione.it Web. 22 May 2011. (Italian)^{[dead link]}
54. ^ [7] Storia. ambbrasilia.esteri.it Web. 30 May 2009. (Italian)
55. ^ [8] United States. factfinder.census.gov Web. 08 May 2008.
56. ^ "italiani in Francia, storie di " ritals "". Archiviostorico.corriere.it. http://archiviostorico.corriere.it/1994/gennaio/26/italiani_Francia_storie_ritals__co_0_9401267517.shtml. Retrieved 2009-05-30. 
57. ^ [9] Ethnic origins, 2006 counts, for Canada, provinces and territories - 20% sample data. statcan.gc.ca Web. 22 May 2011.
58. ^ Santander Laya-Garrido, Alfonso. Los Italianos forjadores de la nacionalidad y del desarrollo economico en Venezuela. Editorial Vadell. Valencia, 1978.
59. ^ [10] Australian Census 2006. abs.gov.au Web. 11 October 2011.
60. ^ La inmigración italiana en Ecuador en los años 20. ambitalquito.org Web. 12 October 2011. (Italian)(Spanish)
61. ^ [11] Languages of Croatia. ethnologue.com Web. 10 October 2011.
62. ^ [12] Population by ethnic affiliation, Slovenia, Census 1953, 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991 and 2002. stat.si Web. 10 October 2011.
63. ^ Montani, Carlo. Venezia Giulia, Dalmazia - Sommario Storico - An Historical Outline

Bibliography[link]

• Finocchiaro, Maurice A.The Galileo Affair: A Documentary History. University of California. Berkeley, 1989 ISBN 0-520-06662-6
• Montanelli, Indro. L'Italia del Risorgimento. Editore Rizzoli. Milano, 1972

See also[link]

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• List of Sicilians

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The Greek is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Bill Raymond. The Greek is the head of an international criminal organization involved in narcotics and human trafficking.^[1] The Greek is a mysterious figure involved in numerous criminal activities. His given name is never mentioned on the show, and though he is known only as "The Greek", he has stated (in the episode Port in a Storm) that he is not actually Greek. A quiet and unassuming man, the Greek prefers to keep a low profile, operating all of his business through his lieutenant Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos. His smuggling organization operated from a small diner in Baltimore for years, and while Vondas would conduct business the Greek would listen in quietly at the counter. Nick Sobotka, upon seeing the Greek identify himself, was amazed that the shadowy figure had been in plain sight the entire time.

Despite his calm appearance, the Greek is cunning and ruthless, and only interested in facts that make him more money. Series creator David Simon has said that The Greek is an embodiment of raw unencumbered capitalism.^[2] Anyone interfering in this process is eliminated immediately, and he prefers to leave victims headless and handless to hinder identification.

The Greek's smuggling operation includes importing sex trade workers, illicit drugs, stolen goods and chemicals for drug processing. He bribes union stevedores to move containers through the Baltimore port for him and uses his muscle, Sergei "Serge" Malatov, to run containers back and forth from the port to his warehouse, a front managed by "Double G" Glekas. The Greek supplies the major drug dealers in East Baltimore with pure cocaine and heroin, using Eton Ben-Eleazer to move his drugs. His chief client is Proposition Joe, but he is also affiliated with smaller drug dealing organizations like those run by "White Mike" McArdle. His sex trade interests in Baltimore include a brothel run by a madam named Ilona Petrovitch, bringing in girls from eastern Europe. He manages to avoid prosecution for his crimes because an FBI counter-terrorism agent named Kristos Koutris tips him off if a criminal investigation gets too close. It is suggested he and Vondas may serve as federal informants.

Biography[link]

Season 2[link]

The Greek began to draw police attention in Baltimore when his contact at the docks, Frank Sobotka, became the target of an investigation. At the same time a container of thirteen dead young women intended for the sex trade was discovered at the docks, triggering a high-profile homicide investigation. The container belonged to the Greek and the girls were killed by a crewman onboard the vessel that had delivered them. The ship's crew had been paying the girls for sex and when one of the girls refused, she was killed. The crewman responsible dumped her overboard and collapsed the air pipe to kill the remaining women. The Greek had Sergei track the crewman down, interrogated him personally, and had Vondas kill him.

As the investigation continued the police were able to link Eton and Sergei to the drug smuggling operation. When police began tracking containers as they left the port, The Greek and Vondas began to close down the operation temporarily by dumping their cell phones and stealing "clean" containers. Persuading Sobotka to keep the smuggling operation going he bought further protection from Agent Koutris by betraying a load of Colombian cocaine, giving him time to destroy incriminating evidence in the warehouse and Glekas' store.

The Greek recognized that the investigation was too extensive to stop and made plans to leave, sending Vondas to assure Proposition Joe that supply of drugs would continue albeit with new faces. He attempted to buy Sobotka's silence with promised legal aid for his son, but when he learned from Koutris that Frank was planning to turn informant he had the union man killed. Although Frank's nephew Nick Sobotka was able to identify The Greek in a photo and Sergei was pressured to give up the location of his hotel suite, Vondas and the Greek had already boarded a flight to Chicago. Aware that the Greek and Vondas were gone, the police left the investigation behind and moved on to the drug dealers he supplied.

Seasons 4 & 5[link]

The Greek continued to supply "Proposition Joe" Stewart, who formed an organization with other drug dealers called the New Day Co-Op to provide The Greek's product to them in exchange for reduced violence and sharing of territory. When Omar Little steals an entire shipment of heroin from the Greek's men as it is being delivered to Stewart's people, Marlo Stanfield demands a meeting with Spiros "Vondas" Vondopoulos in order to allay his fears that Stewart was responsible.^[3][4] Once Stanfield is satisfied, he waits for the Major Crimes Unit's investigation into his activities to cease and then moves to establish a direct relationship with Vondas and the Greek. After getting in communication with Vondas through former soldier Sergei,^[5][6] Marlo eventually sells himself as Joe's replacement by convincing the Greek that he requires an insurance policy in the form of a replacement for Proposition Joe, in the event that anything should happen to him. Realizing that Stanfield will move against Stewart regardless of his approval, the Greek accepts Marlo's proposal to act as an "insurance policy," knowing that it will mean Joe's death.^[7][8]

After Stewart's murder, Stanfield meets with Vondas to initiate their new business relationship.^[9][10] Stanfield's tenure proves short lived when he is forced into retirement by an investigation, and the other Co-Op members purchase the connection from Stanfield. In the closing scenes of the series finale, Slim Charles and Fat-Face Rick take over meeting with Vondas while the Greek listens quietly in the background.^[11][12]

References[link]