Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Genetic diversity in DNA testing of Italians should be expected

To people of Italian – and especially Sicilian Italian – descent who have had DNA tests and are bothered that results didn’t show them to be 100% genetically Italian – don’t sweat it. In fact, if anything, these results could just be proof of how Italian you really are!

Before I explain, first of all let’s establish that when most of us say we’re Italian, we mean that either we, our parents of our ancestors came from Italy and that we embrace the Italian culture. DNA tests are an entirely different measurement. They try to trace where all of our thousands of ancestors came from in the past 2,000 years. By the standards used, it would be virtually impossible for anyone to test 100% Italian—or for someone with one Italian parent to test 50% Italian.
Sicily actually has more Greek temples than Greece. That's Alfio di Mauro on the right, with our tour group in Agrigento, Sicily.

While on a tour of Sicily in 2015, I interviewed Alfio Di Mauro, whose family roots go back centuries on this beautiful island. Di Mauro has a science PhD and was a researcher at the University of Catania, but now he’s a guide with Rick Steves. He pointed out that a true Sicilian or Southern Italian would have to be a blend of diverse genetic origins.

‟Sicily was in the center of what the Romans called the Mare Nostrum – Our Sea – the Mediterranean,” he said. ‟It was important first of all because it was a fertile land, a garden-like island of the Mediterranean. And second, it was a natural stepping stone between Europe and Africa. Between the western tip of Sicily and Tunisia is only 80 miles.

‟Also, Italy’s long shape divides the Mediterranean from East to West. Sicily is at the end of it, and it’s like the cork in the bottle. So if you were controlling the 80 miles of sea, plus the two miles between Sicily and the Italian peninsula, you were controlling any trade routes between East and West, and North and South. For thousands of years, Sicily was THE island to control. It was considered the center of the civilized world.”

And so the invaders came, saw and conquered, leaving behind traces of their languages, traditions, favorite foods, superstitions and genetic footprints.

‟We’ve had more than 17 invasions in 2,000 years,” Di Mauro said. ‟No other part of the world so small has had so many invasions! You will never find such a power-packed, genetically diverse and historically interesting place like Sicily. If you do a genetic survey of Europe, which is the country with the highest diversity? It’s Italy! What is the region that has the highest diversity? It’s Sicily! It has the highest genetic diversity in Europe.”

What Di Mauro didn’t mention but easily could have: Sicily’s status as a multi-cultural hub of travel and trading also drew many outsiders interested in establishing businesses. When the Jews were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in 1492, for example, many found Italy a safe haven with prospects for making a healthy income.

So if your ancestors came from Italy, don’t expect your DNA results to show anything other than a blend of civilizations. It’s actually additional evidence that you truly ARE Italian.


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10 comments:

  1. since I could only be 50% Italian at most, my Mom side of the family, I was surprised when the DNA said I was only 25% Greek/Roman, 10% mid-eastern, 5% Jewish and 10% mutt! confused, because both (Italian) grandparents are from the same town in Calabria (San Giovanni). evidently, my ancestors did some traveling...

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  2. Many people of Italian origin are surprised at their DNA results, and this article is geared for those people. Read carefully and note how many invaders have come to Southern Italy. Many of your ancient ancestors came from other countries, probably not in recent centuries. But these DNA tests look at your ancient ancestry. If they didn't, what would be the point? Your results are very normal!

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  3. Yet there are those who still don't understand the mechanics of DNA and insist they're 100% Italian, 100% French, etc., etc.
    I'm half Italian through my father and half French through my mother, yet my DNA came out 34% Italian.
    Fascinating stuff, DNA!

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  4. mine came back that im 79% Italian. which from what 's stated here that's really high? I am 12% caucasus which also is a melting pot..

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  5. My family (my dad’s grandparents) both came from San giovanni In Fiore and he had an Ancestry DNA test done last year. His showed 71% Italian/Greek, 20% middle Eastern, 1% Jewish, and I can’t remember the other. The results are definitely surprising!!

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  6. You tend to ignore the accomplishments of the African Moors who civilized Europe.

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  7. Hi Paul and Lucy, I found this PCA and I think it's very accurate, it displays the diversity among Italians, with Northern and Central Italians who forms an unique cluster, and Southern Italians who are closer to Greeks from Peloponesse and Greek islands.


    https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zjQ9G4xwFBI/WyBhZjiVjfI/AAAAAAAAAAY/dutkCTH9FE8KI-0hEklyQgLDMvwaqkt7gCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/EURO%2BPCA_1.jpg

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  8. Hi Paul and Lucy, I found this PCA and I think it's very accurate, it displays the diversity among Italians, with Northern and Central Italians who forms an unique cluster, and Southern Italians who are closer to Greeks from Peloponesse and Greek islands.

    https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zjQ9G4xwFBI/WyBhZjiVjfI/AAAAAAAAAAY/dutkCTH9FE8KI-0hEklyQgLDMvwaqkt7gCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/EURO%2BPCA_1.jpg

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  9. Sicilian and 88% Italian. Thing is about Sicily.. it’s an island so there isn’t waves of tribal migrations that you have in other regions. There was no mass migration.. just a lot of spice added in from around the Mediterranean. When you get into Central Europe, you have waves of different ethnic groups contributions significant proportions of dna to the population. Sicily is an exception to this. In the north of Italy, you had waves of celts, germans, and Mediterranean lineages blended in. Sicily was just Mediterranean dna.

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