Misleading or Confusing Question. But worth answering.
This is one of those ethnic questions that’s misleading. Because it confuses the modern state of italy, with the italian peninsula, which is french, swiss german, german, austrian, northern italian (germanic), and southern italian (mediterranean and greek).
Southern italians (especially from Naples south) are of greek and anatolian origins. Northern Italians whether very early (Etru) , Italian (Ital), or later ‘invaders) Germanic) are all of Danubian (Germanic) origins. People of Sardinia are the remainders of the earliest europeans. People of Sicily are a blend of pretty much everyone in the ancient world, because Sicily was an extremely important port for transporting goods around the mediterranean using the sailing technology available in the ancient world.
General Rule of Thumb:
If you work at it a bit you can pretty easily identify almost anyone’s tribal origins.
Black hair and ‘swarthy” complexion and body hair = South route around the black sea = Anatolian/Eastern-Mediterranean/ Indo-Iranian. Or as I am often corrected “West Eurasians” (or middle easterners)
Brown, Red, Blonde hair, very white complexion = Northern route around the Black Sea. Northern route people still exist in at least three if not four variations: atlantics, germanics (central europe), nordics, and northern and eastern slavs. The history of southern slavs is extremely complicated and I end up offending someone if I talk about it. But by and large they vary from very old peoples who started metalsmithing in what is today Bulgaria, to the remains of the steppe people who migrated there during the last major migration periods. The problem is that the spanish are largely from Atlantic and Celts and often have dark hair but are from the same lineage (R1b) – just less inbred with later versions of europeans.
Something ‘very different’ happened around the black sea either before or after the deluge. we don’t know what but it caused repeated waves of expansion with the latest being the Yamna (horse) people what gave europe her ancient culture = although pre-yamna, yamna, germanic, christian, and modern values still exist if you understand which originated which set of ideas.
But europeans, in general, regardless of earlier (southern), or later (multiple waves of northern), origins, evolve from what we (incorrectly) call ‘Caucuses’, but is apparently poland-ukraine-southern russia, with the caucuses the line of demarcation between the european, indo-iranian, and (now extinct) people that invaded india.
The word Aryan is correct (Yamna expansion), but impolitic in the current century, and “White” is a poor substitute for Ethnic Europeans.
We are, after all, all from the exceptional grazing and farmland between the north sea in poland, the black sea in ukraine, and the north of the caspian in southern russia.
Europeans originated along the north sea, baltic sea, black sea, and caspian sea, and their russo finnic ancestors the arctic sea.
It’s just that trade in the mediterranean was much more profitable for anyone – until the atlantic and now pacific came along.
Some of us find it ironic that Poland is probably origin of the european diaspora. 😉
Italy empirically (by all measures) consists of two very different countries – north and south. Just like Belgium has french and germanic under the same state. Just as americans have nine different cultures under the same state.
The reason different countries do not separate is that it is economically disadvantagous to one party or both parties.
For example, catalonia (wealthy and culturally and genetically different) vs spain (poor), and north italy vs south italy, and west ukraine vs east ukraine. and the northern states vs the southern states vs the plains states, vs the coastal west (ecotopia). Or canada vs quebec.
All of these countries would be better off alone, but the industrial revolution and fiat credit made it difficult for small counteries to engage in defense.
Today, a handful of nuclear weapons and an armed populace (switzerland) cna preserve independence (sovereignty) against any and everyone.
Therefore:
Italian = State (government)
North italian and South Italian Countries (natural cultural and territorial differences)
Italian Culture = Generally referring to language and diet and festivals
Italy = a territory ranging from the alps to the tip of the peninsula.
Ethnicity = European, vs Germanic vs Greek, vs Mediterranean are Ethnic Groups. Germanic = a prehistoric culture and myth of the home and hearth.
Christianity = an old world mythology and literature of politics.
Modernity = The enlightenment restoration of our ancient judicial, empirical, stoic and Aristotelian traditions.
Three or four races. A handful of subraces. Thirty or so minor subraces. A few hundred super-tribes.
Humans are endlessly fascinating. 😉