Question of the Week: Do you have Italian roots?

Question

Do you have Italian roots?

Depending on which DNA report I look at - I have about 1%!  

How about you?

P.S.  If you do, you might be interested in our Italian Roots Project. 

P.P.S. Reshare the question image on Facebook so your friends and family will see your answer.

Comments

Our family DNA is interesting. We are able to consistently trace the family line back to the point of immigration for most cases, and usually our people came over in the 1600's. So we know what countries they came to the US from -- England, Wales, Scotland via Antrim, and the Rhineland. But when we look at some of the admixture breakdowns on GEDMatch, we get this consistent percentage of Italian showing up. It is in the neighborhood of 10%, va bene!

I am pretty sure the Templars are to blame. I told my daughter, "Your fantasy DNA is half Jedi, a quarter Gambler, and a quarter Scientist. The reality is more like a quarter Moisture Farmer, a quarter Orphan Scrounge, and half Sith."

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The roots of my hair or whatever is left of it are just like the rest of my hair, gray. Actually I am half Scotch and half soda.

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my great great grandparents came over from 

Rezzonico, Como, Lombardia, Italy. Our family names include Arrieri, Mosconi, Gambetta. IM definitely italian on my mother's side and very Scottish on my fathers. 

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My origins on familytreedna where I did my test through it says European 61% under that category it's West and central Europe 49% Scandinavia 12% next category is new world 31% under that category is north and central America 29% South America 2% next category is african 2% under that category it says west Africa 2%

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My Italian ancestors from my grandfather's side came from the Tyrol in the northernmost part of Italy. His family arrived here on Austrian passports but it has been part of the Habsburgs region Prussia-Hungarian Empire, Bohemia, Bavaria and a bunch of other places; my knowledge of history being quite limited. My Grandmother's family is from the Lucca province which encompasses Florence. My Italian DNA comes out at 32% (rather than the 50% based on known family names) which means my grandfather had a pretty large percentage of Italian DNA despite the history of where he came from.

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Edit: Oops! Meant to answer, not comment!

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Yes.. my maternal mother's side has Irish/Scottish lineage.   This is also the pillar that has all the brickwalls.

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DNA test says 11%

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I am very confused, I had my DNA results back saying I have 58% Italian.
My father was from Cyprus and my Mother from Scotland.
I do not have any Italian in my family, how is it possible for me to have 58% Italian. I am thinking, maybe my father was not my biological father.
I do have 24% Scottish, but no Cypriot.

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Teresa, Yes your father was from Cypress. I do not believe anyone would question that. I would not think too much of your latest DNA readings because someone in your family ancestry way back may have come from Italy or it is possible that the test may have missed something. DNA tests at the genealogical level are not always 100% correct. In fact Ancestry has updated a couple of times and stating the more information that they receive  from tests the more accurate they will become. I hope that this satisfied your question.

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Thank you for your reply.

I still don’t know why I have a high percentage of Italian and no DNA from my father.

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Hi Marsha, I've got the same roots. One source even mentions my familyname (Arzoni) came from Rezoonico. My family came from Chiavenna (north of lake Como) to the Netherlands in abt. 1800. Greatings, Rob Arzoni.

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Definitely yes (even if I haven't taken a DNA test yet). My father´s family came from Lombardia, Italy (mostly Milan, Como and Padua). My grandmother's from that side maiden name was Cerudi, also from Milan. I haven't been able to track them much beyond what my grandfather passed me down because that region has not many records informatized yet.

When I went to Milan for the first tima last year (I was born and lived all my life in Argentina) my first impression the first day in the subway was... that they all looked like my father and my grandfather and my grandmother! Very moving experience.

Answer 1

Before DNA tests, we had no idea of our Italian blood. My father was always told he was 100% Greek. His DNA ancestry said he was nearly half Italian. Also some Middle Eastern ancestry.

As my father's father came from Lefkada, one of the Ionian islands of Greece, it is nearly impossible to research his ancestors and I am fairly certain this is where the Italian comes from. Many years before DNA testing, I traveled to the island and found my relatives which was a life-changing experience. This was done by literally driving me from village to village and talking with many of the oldest people on the island (with a local guide who took on my cause of finding roots). He would ask them... "Who does she resemble?" I loved every moment of this extraordinary quest. Sometimes, I told them it didn't matter, I love this place and the people, even if I have no idea which are my blood family. They always answered with "You must find them". Eventually we found some old family letters and they revealed my family.

Research has told me that many Greek islanders show a significant amount of Italian ancestry. This is not surprising when you think about historical occupation of Greece and also, geographic proximity. My grandfather's island, Lefkada, is very close to Italy.

I would love to be able to learn more about my Italian roots but am not sure how to do that. Taking DNA tests is still not that common in Greece from what I can tell. It is a small percentage of DNA cousins who come through my father's side in my results on 23andme and Ancestry.DNA.

Ahh, the mysteries one can discover while swimming in ancestral seas!

Comments

Italy and Greece, as you pointed out, have a LONG history of intermixing. A decent-sized chunk of Italy was originally settled by Greeks. There's also the curious case of Hellenized 'Greeks' who are not actually genetically-related to mainland and Islander Greeks. Pontic Greeks will often get 90% Western Asian, with little or no Greek ancestry, despite speaking Greek and having Greek cultures for who knows how long.

Answer 2

My maternal grandfather was born near Florence, so yes.  His family lived in the same farming town back into the 1500s.  According to Ancestry, my mother has zero Italian DNA and I have 2%.  I could not have gotten the 2% from my father's side - he was 100% Slavic/Polish.

Comments

If your mother is coming up zero percent Italian, then either her father was not her biological father, or there was an adoption in there somewhere.

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There is no reason to suspect she was adopted.  When her DNA was first analyzed, she had Italian DNA and I had none.  Then Ancestry revised the analysis recently, and her Italian DNA disappeared, and mine showed up.  I think it's more of a problem with Ancestry's DNA analysis.

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Try testing with 23andMe, their ethnicity estimations are generally considered the best. Does your mother have Southern European results?

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I went from 14% Southern Europe to nothing, and from 9% England/Wales/Northwest Europe to 51% . DNA accuracy is ever evolving. And I have some drastically different estimates from other companies. Definitely no reason to suspect adoption, particularly if you have relative matches on your mother's side.

My Dad accused my Mom of having an affair and that I was not his child. My DNA matches dozens of members on his side of the family.

Answer 3

Yes, Ciucci Family from Lucca, Italy. My Great Great Grandfather Clements F. Ciucci was born in Verciano, Lucca, Toscana Italy in 1854 and immigrated to the U.S. in 1866.

Answer 4

Yes I do and I had no idea whatsoever! After receiving my DNA results I discovered I was 1% Italian, I was baffled by that, until I discovered my TALIFERRO ancestors. Then it made sense.

What a great surprise for me, it added so many more family members to my tree! I was thrilled to say the least.

Answer 5

I do. One of my maternal great-grandmothers was 100% Italian; both of her parents were Italian immigrants. She was the only sibling that didn’t also marry someone who was Italian.

I have not done any DNA testing to confirm but from research my great-grandmother’s father, Michaelangelo, was from Molise and her mother, Serafina, was from Castellammare di Stabia.

I guess that makes me 1/8th Italian.

Answer 6

50%. My mother is from Naples, Italy. My brother was born there too. My father met my mother on WW2.

Answer 7

Having approx. 10% Italian ancestry was the biggest surprise in my results. I am still an amateur at DNA but I have been able to trace ancestors back to the 12th century in England and France.

One thing I have learned is that nothing is cut and dry. I have Ancestry, My Heritage, and DNAland tests and they are all different. There are some similarities though. One says 0% English and the next says 51% English. Not one specifies French despite a huge presence in my chart traced back to Alsace France in the 1100s. One says 30% German and the other two don't at all. There is a common general Northwestern Europe thread that I have to assume inlcudes France although they don't clarify.  

Next I am going to try the LivingDNA test as it breaks down the U.K. into specific regions. That way I can deduct it from my general Northwestern European and assume the rest is French and or German. So I recommend that everyone take as many tests as they can afford, and many of them are $80 or less now. And a few let you upload RAW data from Ancestry so you don't have to pay again.

Answer 8

I have some Italian ancestors - although I don't think all of them were ethnic Italians (they were medieval rulers and nobles).  I think I might have ancient Roman ancestors, though.

Answer 9

100% Italian

From Milano (and Bergamo; Friuli and Genova by my grand mother and wife)

Answer 10

My Mother's parents were from Italy.  They immigrated around 1900.

Answer 11

I started my family tree as a project with my grandmother back when I was in high school. The local historical society at that time did not keep much of anything on the Italians nor were there any records I was able to find (that has since changed, happily). To counteract this discrimination, I wanted to document them to the best of my ability. Ironically, I have found the records for the Tamanini's in a church protected from war due to the remote and mountainous conditions in the Tyrol which is now a part of Italy. It is called Nati in Trentino and they also have an English translator built into their database. The spelling of the name needs to be exact but fortunately Italian is a phonetic language and whoever has worked on the database has a great knowledge of handwriting. Crosscheck your information. There are so many Tamanini's in this town that they had what is called a "sopranome" which is another last name to distinguish one branch of the Tamanini's from another which is common with other names as well. The database covers Trentino Alto-Adige.

Comments

Please contact me if you have any questions; I would be happy to help you with this database.

Answer 12

Yes, 50% of my great-grandparents were Italian.

Answer 13

I am polish, I live in Poland. I descend from two different italian families. One of them I would very much like to find traces of in Italy. The couple were Luigi and Maria Papi (maiden name Hacha). They had at least 4 children in Trieste, more precisely Theresiana in years 1807-1812. Accordind to her baptismal record certificate in latin Aloysia, one of the four was baptised in 1810 in the church St Antonio Patrini Civitati Theresiana. Can anyone point me where to go to look for these records? an Archive?? A database? Are the records maybe digitized? A church?  Thanks if you van help me at all - I would really very much like to find this family before they migrated to Poland,

This is the baptism as copied in Poland for her wedding:

{{Image|file=Papi-12.jpg
|caption=Theresiana 1810 baptism Alojza Papi
}}

Best regards,

Kasia

Answer 14

My paternal grandmother was Italian and lived nearby during my childhood, so I feel a strong cultural tie to my Italian heritage. My grandmother's parents both immigrated to the US in the early 20th century from Vastogirardi, a small village in what is now Molise. 

My great aunt and I have tried to put together what we can from what she remembers, but unfortunately I don't know much beyond the names of my great-great-grandparents. They're my four biggest brick walls!

Comments

Great-aunts are always good for information. Feel free to join the Italian roots project if you haven't already!

Answer 15

I was very surprised and at once giddy to learn I was Italian. I could not believe I am related to Girolama Bonaparte as a cousin, but the confidents are not all checked yet. I'm still calling it until I'm told no. But my DNA says I am Italian and Greek and West Asia.

Answer 16

Yes I do!  My paternal family came from the Cuneo, Turin and surrounding areas of Italy.  My great grandparents migrated here in 1902 and settled in Illinois where there is still a large family of cousins and two aunts living

Answer 17

My Wife's GG Grandmother is Gemma Tiozzo. 1835 - 1905 Quite a famous Italian Opera singer. Traveled the world performing.

Answer 18

Definitely yes, at least 50% (even if I haven't taken a DNA test yet). My father´s family came from Lombardia, Italy (mostly Milan, Como and Padua). My grandmother's from that side maiden name was Cerudi, also from Milan. I haven't been able to track them much beyond what my grandfather passed me down because that region has not many records informatized yet.

When I went to Milan for the first tima last year (I was born and lived all my life in Argentina) my first impression the first day in the subway was... that they all looked like my father and my grandfather and my grandmother! Very moving experience.