Are Italian Americans, Italian?

[@alexmentes1348]

Funny experience. I'm of Hungarian origin. I was in an Italian restaurant in Florida eating at the bar. The busboy came out and spoke to the bartender in Italian (the restaurant imported Italian kids to work for the summer.) I'm B1 in Italian so I said something to the bartender in Italian. She responded, di dove in italia? I said, non sono italiano. I miei genitori erano ungarese. She then started to speak Hungarian. Not too often that you meet people in America conversant in both Italian and Hungarian.

[@mtkeg65]

It's not too often in America to meet people who can converse in English 😆

[@igorjee]

Interestingly, Hungarians are the total opposite of Italians. They are ready to accept anyone as Hungarian, and even claim them even if they only had the remotest connection to the country. I guess because the Kingdom of Hungary was so all-encompassing and after its dissolution millions of ethnic Hungarians remained outside the border and further millions went to America etc. So being born abroad and being Hungarian is absolutely normal. For most Hungarians, ancestry matters, and only to a lesser extent, language and culture. A legjobbakat!

[@gergelyrohaly250]

Hát ez vicces 😃

[@blogbalkanstories4805]

It's all too rare to meet ANYONE who is fluent in both Italian and Hungarian. Anywhere. Sure, there will be some thousands or maybe tens of thousands of Hungarians who speak great Italian. And that will be just about the amount of it. Hungarian is not a language a lot of people speak outside Hungary and some neighboring region, and it is notoriously difficult to learn for people who have grown up with Indoeuropean languages.

[@Hikaeme-od3zq]

​@decobocopithec I don't think italians are particular at gatekeeping, we even have the ius sanguinis, I think it's more of an issue with italian-americans, i.e italians love argentinians and brazilians of italian heritage because they're much more similar in culture and speak a similar language (actually most of the times, they speak italian too) while the "italian-americans" most of the time don't even make an effort to do the most basic stuff such as learning the language or keeping up with the modern culture and instead stereotype themselves with the "beepityboopity Tony let's eata da pasta".

[@anta3612]

Italian here (from Italy). I've had the opposite problem in the US: Italian Americans telling me that I'm not Italian! I'm from northern Italy (sorry Metatron that you had the misfortune of dealing with a racist attitude that unfortunately exists in various places in the north) and so I'm not familiar with many of the dialects that Italian Americans tend to speak. Also Italian Americans have their own culture which differs from modern culture in Italy (especially in the north as most Italian Americans have southern origins). It was very irritating to have people, who didn't speak correct modern standard Italian and who'd never even visited Italy, tell me that I'm the one who's not Italian. It goes both ways.

[@gaia7240]

The same happened to me on the internet

[@jpf338]

Hey may I ask you a question? I'm Argentine (much to my sorrow) I travel to Europe (Berlin mostly) and always love the idea to move and live somewhere in the Eu since I felt more in tune in there than were I grew up. I have the Idea to integrate as much as I can where ever I go, I don't want to be an immigrant that recluse and keep complaining about how things are different, I want to integrate as much as I can to the culture of my final destination. Since I'm descendant from Italians and I'm managing my Italian citizenship I though that Italy might be a nice destination. People might get angry but going back to the place where my grandpa lived feels more poetic, and also it has the climate that I most enjoy. The place would be somewhere in Piamonte or Lombardy, do you think me and my wife will face much backlash there? TLDR: Northern Italian descendant want to move to northern Italy and integrate, would people ostracize us much?. Thanks in advance!

[@Hikaeme-od3zq]

​@AsgarorHammer You won't, especially if you live in the big cities (Milan, Turin, Varese, Alessandria etc), where there are big multi-cultural communities and people are used to seeing people from all over the world. Just learn to speak the language and you'll be fine.

[@Kordian459]

​@@jpf338 my brother in Christ, avoid Lombardy and look for more friendly regions like Emilia-Romagna

[@ilariatebaldini4592]

@@jpf338 Hi! I’m a northerner Italian, I wold like to give you my point of view in the matter if possible! Unfortunately at the moment the most popular political view on immigrants is not super positive (but the fact that you have Italian origins can play to your advantage). A lot of people here seems to have forgotten that they are often related to people who emigrated to America in the past hahahah. My best answer is that unfortunately racist people exist everywhere :(. If you move to a city it might be easier for you to integrate and to find more open minded people. On the contrary people who lives in the countryside, like myself, tend to be used more to people like them, people who speaks the same dialect and look the same. But this doesn’t mean that each one of them is not open to meet new people :).

[@danielaf1487]

I'm Italian from Rome, Italy and travelled to New York City a few decades ago, where I was introduced to some Italian-Americans. They were like parallel universe Italians, really weird... like a mass of stereotypes of Southern Italians but teleported from another era. 😂 The fundamental difference was also that I am and feel European, whereas these Italian-Americans clearly were not, at least not in this life.

[@TheIndogamer]

Well, most Italian-Americans are of Southern Italian origins.

[@lucaamoruso2672]

​@@TheIndogamerIt doesn't matter. I'm from Bari (south Italy) and we don't have nothing in common with the so called Italian Americans. They are just Americans who claim to be Italians even though they don't know anything about Italian history, its traditions, its culture or language. Probably, they watched too much Hollywood garbage movies about '' being Italian ''.

[@ilbastardo9195]

ao so' romano de roma ao

[@freemandefender1238]

Here is what I suspect is going on here. The native Italians are intensely jealous of Italian-Americans because unlike them they prospered economically in the U.S. while they have fallen dramatically behind them financially. That once these people were allowed the opportunity given them in the New World they were able to support themselves and their children and do so well that they achieved the second highest income of all ethnic groups that migrated to America. Those Italians that remained behind were the less ambitious and the less capable and they achieved nothing in comparison to their adventurous brethren. They were left to wallow in their misery and cling to a past they had nothing to do with creating . Italia today is a failure economically with widespread unemployment and a completely corrupt and decadent political structure that has created nothing but a society dependent on the largesse of the same government they continuously vote in to continuously provide the largesse. The Italian migrants had no safety net at all at the time of their migration and so they were forced to make do on their own hook. Italy today is a land of few natural resources, a weak military dependent on U.S. support, few economic opportunities, high unemployment, and unarchiving population beset by an invasion of Africans. The best governor in the US in the U.S. is a person named DeSantis and may be the next president of the United States. Failures always have to put on air of superiority to mask their sense of inferiority. They seemed alien to you because you are incapable of appreciating successful people.

[@marinaparigiani4090]

d'accordissimo.

[@ronaldderosa]

I’m Italian-American completely (all of my grandparents and great-grandparents came from Italy). My wife is Jamaican-American, born in that country (and is now a U.S. citizen). I realized after talking to her family from Jamaica that this idea of talking about your country of origin does not exist in Jamaica, so much so that my wife’s grandfather was confused and thought I was born in Italy. My wife has African and Indian blood but she doesn’t refer to herself as “Indian-Jamaican.” I love Italy, have learned Italian and really come to cherish my own heritage as Italian-American however given the dynamic I have described I have come to realize it’s only the most accurate to say “I’m American.”

[@ilariabarnett8700]

Exactly! As an Italian, from Italy, I don't understand why you guys from the US have this compulsion of looking back at your heritage in such an obsessive manner. It drives me crazy and I also find it really devising, why can't you all be from the US!?! I know lots of Italians from African parents, they are born in Italy, to me they are 100% Italians as they speak like me, they move like me they share the same culture as me. So for me, Italian Americans are just Americans.

[@liberalbias4462]

​@@ilariabarnett8700 Italian American don't mean you think you're from Italy. It is it's own ethnic group Cultural distinctive.

[@ilariabarnett8700]

@@liberalbias4462 yes but it still sounds weird. I have a German grandparent but that doesn’t make me German nor of German descent. I am Italian.

[@charliesargent6225]

@@ilariabarnett8700 Italians with African parents are NOT 100% Italian.

[@Letyparatore]

​@@ilariabarnett8700 Sai stavo per dirlo io. In effetti qui manco ci interessano le origini, sei nato qui? abiti qui? sei italiano, punto. Loro invece hanno bisogno di dire per forza che hanno origini diverse, non so sembra che gli faccia schifo essere completamente americani 😂 ma perché? Mica noi, a momenti nascondiamo le altre origini per dire che siamo completamente italiani. Poi se per lo stato e alcune persone non è così mi dispiace per loro, per me se una persona conosce solo l'Italia come cultura e lingua allora è italiano, non mi importa che origini ha. Poi c'è chi cresce con 2 culture, ma devono essere anche moderne, perché che tu italo americano mi parli dell'Italia di quando c'era Mussolini (o anche prima) e non sai niente degli anni successivi allora mi spiace dirlo ma non sei italiano come me, avrai il sangue ma sei rimasto indietro. Come vuoi che mi confronto con te che manco sai cosa è successo in questo paese dagli anni 70 a oggi e non parli italiano corretto ma solo dialetto (e anche male).

[@nikosisidoros4703]

In greek it's exactly the same. If a greek meets someone and they say they're greek, the immediate reaction is to switch to native language. That's only because in our language it means that you're born and raised in Greece. Otherwise we'd say " Είμαι από ελληνική οικογένεια " which means " I'm from a greek family " . It's a language thing as you said.

[@Kostas_Dikefalaios]

I was born and raised outside of Greece but I still would answer in fluent Greek to you and of course I am Greek. Ειναι η κουλτουρα, καταγωγη κι η γλωσσα μας που μας κανει Ελληνες, οχι που γεννηθηκαμε. I would say what you do when somebody has Greek origins but isnt in any way linked with Greece, the language or our culture.

[@nikosisidoros4703]

@@Kostas_Dikefalaios Don't get me wrong. It's not that I (or anyone else) wouldn't consider you as a greek. Most of the time greeks of diaspora act more greek and have preserved the culture more intact. My point was that the meaning of that phrase would mean to most of us that you were raised in greece. Sorry if my wording came accros wrong. Φιλια απ την πατριδα αδερφε μου!!!

[@Buttercup697]

@@nikosisidoros4703here in Greece, Greek Americans kinda stick out… they come across as American in manners and dress. And accent. Greeks in Greece, are very European. 😉

[@realdragon]

Same about Polish, if someone says they're Polish I want to know from which part of Poland are they from

[@EllinoItalos]

Actually my experience has been the opposite. I'm of both Greek and Italian heritage. When I am in Greece and people ask where I'm from, I say I was born in the US but mother is from Kalymnos. They then tell me "είσαι Καλύμνιος όχι Αμερικανός" . Probably because I speak the language well. On the other hand I've had Italians tell me that I'm not Italian, just American.

[@littledanmcnamara1840]

I was in a pub in Ireland called durty Nelly's, there was an American in there, she said she was Irish in a thick American accent. When we asked where she was from. She said Cork, she said her family moved to America in 1690. To me that's too far away to call yourself Irish

[@henryperez606]

This happens a lot in the United States. At some point we all have to realize that we are Americans. You can’t be from somewhere and don’t know anything about it as far as day-to-day living. The fact that we’re all different shades and colors and sizes makes us a little different than other countries. But we’re Americans. I know there are different ethnicities in other countries, but not like here. And that’s great

[@AlexKS1992]

I’m with you on that one, my family left the Isles (including Ireland) a long time ago and I’m one of the few that calls myself an American.

[@marcomontella6006]

I have the impression that North Americans (US and Canada, not Mexico) are stuck to labels they someway 'fabricate' to define themselves. No one is just American, you are American and Italian, you're American and Irish, you're American and African. Even if your anchestors leaved those places centuries ago, even if you don't konow anything of the culture of your anchestors, even if your parents, grandparents and so on mixed and married people who had not the same origin. Because you define, sometimes more arbitrarily, some others not so, who you are. American and... I think, but that's just a personal opinion, this way of defining a national identity ended up to create in some way social divisions, with which Americans are still struggling today.

[@SicilianCuisine]

@@henryperez606 totally agree

[@SicilianCuisine]

@@marcomontella6006 absolutely spot on. They probably started because they needed to identify everyone, but now is an obsolete way of speaking and continuing to put people in boxes and categories all the time is not helpful in any way!

[@xneapolisx]

Ciao Metatron. Interesting video. As a native Italian (Neapolitan) now residing in the USA, I've encountered a weird phenomenon here and was wondering whether the same thing has ever happened to you. About 20 years ago (after Iiving here for 5 years) this American girl I was talking to asked me what nationality I was. I answered that I was Italian, and she proceeded to tell me that I didn't "look" Italian, which left me a little confused. So I asked her, "excuse me, but what exactly does an Italian look like?" to which she replied, "oh you know, like those one of those guys from Brooklyn." Then things got weird; I sarcastically rhetorted "Oh, I see, Brooklyn, of course! I forgot that Brooklyn is a part of Italy!!" Let's just say that things went downhill from then on. Of course now it's a funny tale, but people walk a tighrope when attempting to define nationality or ethnic background. It's something which can lead to huge misunderstandings and chaos if one has preconceived ideas and mistaken notions when it comes to different cultures. Thanks for keeping the lines of communication open. Ciaooo!!!

[@septimus7524]

It depends on where you go in the U.S. New Yorkers, generally, can be summed up as arrogant AND ignorant. For them, New York IS the world, and it's not hard to see why. To a New Yorker, Brooklyn may as well be Italy. However, if you wind up in a state like Arizona, you're not gonna find the same reaction, to your look OR joke. We're surrounded by either extra tan white people or Mexicans (and for some reason, old people), so telling an Arizonan you're Italian will prompt a more normal and appropriate response. ...Yes I mostly took this moment to dog on non-Arizonans. I'm just given em a hard time, We're on the same team afterall! .....Arizona rulez

[@HS-handle]

Metatron does look Italian, though

[@xneapolisx]

@@septimus7524 I actually spent two years in Arizona (Tucson area mostly but traveled all over the West and Pacific NW - stunning part of the country) and absolutely loved it! Could easily see myself going back to liive there, as opposed to New York, but due to work and familial reasons, it's the Big Apple for me for now. BTW, agree 100% with you in respect to your answer. NYers think the world begins and ends in Manhattan. They even have "feuds'" with other NYers but it's a great city, once you become accustomed to its intense pace and prohibitive costs.

[@septimus7524]

@@xneapolisx Oh yes New York is absolutely quite interesting for this reason. It really is its own little world in many ways. If you come back to AZ though I'd give it a little bit... we're sort of undergoing what I'd call "Californication" Basically my home town, Tucson, is hardly Arizonan anymore. It's more like an extra dusty San-Francisco now. Hell, Pima Country is practically a California satellite state. Problem is California has gone to such shite that they're moving into Arizona and Texas especially, in droves. ...And then they change all our shit to resemble California, ruining it and defeating the whole purpose they moved.. Sorry, I'm just *not* please with Cali fucking with my state.(they have a habit of doing that)

[@xneapolisx]

@@HS-handle meaning...?? I don't want to be argumentative, but I have family members that range in their looks from blonde hair, blue eyes and extremely fair skin to these with extra swarthy skin, dark brown eyes and inky jet back hair. Again, what's the Italian 'look'? If you mean how one of those guys from The Sopranos looks then we're never going to see eye-to-eye and I think EVERY Italian (per the definition given by Metatron) will feel the same. Ciao ciao!

[@josephpettit8572]

I went to campania last year, finding long lost relatives. Both great grandparents are from the same town in campania. I was introduced as American with Italian descent. Found cousins and met wonderful people. Everyone I talked to was very kind and welcoming. I felt they was proud "I came back home". Now I have friends/family I can visit. My advice: just be respectful and do research

[@gabrielboi3465]

that's amazing

[@Pdor_figlio_di_Kmer]

And you know why? We from the south (like me) have long been the target of the racism of SOME (as Metatron said) asinine northerners that believe they are the true Italians, and know better (the majority of us at least) to copy the bad example when dealing with descendants of our nationality from America or other countries that were subjected to our past immigrations. Lately this racism of theirs is polarizing towards immigrates and since they don't have two neurons to rub together to expand the horizons of their racism further, they have left us MOSTLY alone to throw their idiocy whole towards poor people coming from middle-east or north-Africa immigrated here. In the end, those differently-brain-equipped people are a waste of time to discuss with. They aren't worth the time of people that do not practice racism. I said *the majority of us* [from the south] above because lately the racism towards immigrates, I have to add to my shame, finds acolytes even among SOME people from the center and south Italy. In the end, there are no boundaries to idiocy, you can find it everywhere.

[@aris1956]

I am also from the Campania region and live here in Germany. There is to say that especially we Italians in southern Italy towards someone who comes to visit us, as our guest, as our relative, we make them feel like they are really at home. There is a welcome, a human warmth, very special in the south. PS: In your case there is then to say that it must be a beautiful feeling that you have found your origins, your roots.

[@kekkuzzo75]

Which part of Campania?

[@josephpettit8572]

@@kekkuzzo75 oliveto Citra

[@bianconerointheus6692]

I’m from Torino and have been living in the US for ten years. I haven’t had a great experience with the Italian Americans I’ve met so far. Super proud and loud about their Italian heritage and yet they can’t speak Italian , never been to Italy, they pronounce wrong any single word, even their own last name. I must say that there’s a huge difference with the few first generation Americans who were raised by Italian immigrants. Those are generally much more aware of the culture and speak Italian fluently. But yeah, when I meet someone here who tells me “what? You’re from Italy? I’m Italian too!” in my mind I’m always like “yeah, sure of course you are”.

[@ascendant95]

Ask yourself this. Why would 3rd generation Italian-Americans speak Italian? Italian is spoken in ONE COUNTRY and one country only. What practical use does it have for Jason Giambi? When will Al Pacino's children need to know how to speak it? Go ahead and demean and disrespect Italian-Americans who are proud of their heritage by telling them they "aren't Italian". You disgust me.

[@bianconerointheus6692]

@@ascendant95 They aren't Italian. They are American and there's nothing wrong with that. The US is a beautiful country. I didn't mean to make you cry. I'm sorry.

[@ascendant95]

@@bianconerointheus6692 The more Italians I meet and talk to.....................the more happy I am to be American. I'm starting to become ashamed of my roots. Your government brainwashed you into being food authoritarians because they knew that love of food was the only way to unify the Italian country full of many very different people. So you are basically a serf. Your government brainwashed you to be obnoxious. Italian-Americans, for the large part don't trust their government. We don't allow ourselves to be maleable and obedient. Italian-Americans > Italians. We invented half of the food too. Carbonara? You can thank Vinny from Brooklyn, NY for that. I know I know. An Italian chef mysteriously found his war onto an American war ship in WW2 and used the bacon and egg rations to create Rome's most famous dish. Keep dreaming.

[@ascendant95]

I could make you cry a lot easier than you could make me cry....................you effeminate punk.

[@ascendant95]

@@GorgeousGeorge97 Jews speak Hebrew because they are posing as people they are not. Yiddish is their true language. I wasn't aware that 4th generation Greeks speak Italian, but what do you expect...............I'm a dumb American savage who can no longer consider himself Italian. I'm proud to be Italian-American and if any "Italian" wants to laugh at that they can go ahead. I am so grateful to my grandfather for coming to America and becoming wealthy. Snobbish Italians who have been brainwashed by their government to be obnoxious in order to keep the Italian peninsula unified no longer bother me. They can feel superior with their 212 Euros in their bank account all they want. Nowadays I laugh at them.

[@studiozone2203]

This video made my day man. I relate to the individual who's comment you read at the beginning of the video. I'm Italian American and have recently been trying to learn the Italian language and get in touch with my families roots. The information you gave is extremely helpful. Thank you brother.

[@MichaelScheele]

While I was born in Japan, I grew up in America. I do not call myself Japanese-American. I say that I am of Japanese descent. When I encounter people from Japan, they are confused by my inability to converse in Japanese. I had that issue in spades when I visited Japan for business. While traveling abroad, the locals usually assume I'm Japanese until I speak. In the UK, they knew I was an American before I said a word.

[@ErikPT]

Lol the American in you is noticeable because the British are well aware of how we carry ourselves

[@thetalk3155]

You can tell a Yankee when u see one no matter their ethnicity

[@Moribax85]

@@thetalk3155 what if he's a Dixie?

[@lowlandnobleman6746]

@ Moribax Ah yes, people who erroneously use the words Yank/Yankee for all Americans, even though Yanks are Americans from the North. It’s like the American equivalent of going to Glasgow or Dublin and telling the locals “this is the finest English city I’ve ever seen”.

[@MichaelScheele]

@@lowlandnobleman6746, non-Americans generally don't understand the distinction. I assume they'd hear "Bless your heart" a lot in the South. I have lived most of my life in the Pacific Northwest and only went to college in New England. I do not consider myself a Yankee, just a generic American.

[@Thetrimanbeat]

Thank you Metatron for looking at the root of the problem. You often see so many people on the internet picking a side and defending their view with their lives without even thinking about it. Critical thinking is more important than ever as the world is more connected, however the lack of it is tearing us apart. Great video as always, grazie mille!

[@77thNYSV]

Exactly. When we Americans say, "I am " we're really just meaning that our family came from there. And we as Americans understand that, but then we assume get in trouble when we assume people from that country would agree and know what we mean. I'm an American of Italian descent and always make it a point to say that my family is from Italy when people ask about my ethnic background.

[@huguesdepayens807]

That should be obvious, Euros do that on purpose to be smug.

[@maxstirner6143]

Why you, Americans, do use descent as ascendent? You're down the ladder, therefore you're the descent and your grands are the ascend, so your family isn't Italian descent but Italian ascend

[@huguesdepayens807]

@@maxstirner6143 That was the least coherent thing I've ever read. Learn English please.

[@Gab8riel]

@@maxstirner6143 His ancestor are italian and he descends from them. So he can say that he's of Italian descent (meaning he's a product of italians "descending") or he can say that he has Italian ancestry. Both make perfect sense

[@maxstirner6143]

@@Gab8riel no, It doesnt. It's Italian ascend. Ascend means high in the ladder. Therefore, you're of Italian ascendant, not descendant. You're descendant of Italians, but your family is of Italian ascendant. If you're pointing up, it's ascendant and if you're pointing at you, you're descendant.

[@gregcoogan8270]

I'm of Italian descent (mother's side). When I visited Italy, if it came up in conversations, I said I am of Italian descent, or that my great grandparents immigrated to America from Italy. I never told them I was "Italian American", only that I am an American.

[@ascendant95]

It's good that you followed all of their rules in order to appease them. When in Rome you have to bow to the Italians just like the Italians are currently bowing to Brussels Belgium.

[@west3783]

​@@ascendant95 Lasci sti commenti ovunque come un disperato. Non sei un Italiano quindi mettiti il cuore in pace che a nessuno interessa delle boiate che vuoi dire sull'argomento.

[@erosgritti5171]

personally, being half Italian and half Slovakian, I don't think that being Italian or Slovakian depends on how much Slovakian or Italian ethnicity I have, but on my cultural growth. A German raised in China, who speaks Chinese, who loves and has Chinese customs, is a Chinese to me. I feel both Italian and Slovak because I embrace both cultures. An Italian American who doesn't know anything about Italy, who doesn't like pasta, who doesn't gesticulate and who doesn't speak ill of his country, is not an Italian.

[@JagdDachshund]

Bullshit, no chinese will consider them Chinese.

[@_marcobaez]

BRAVOOO!

[@gerhardschneider7506]

Me being from the north of Italy (Provincia di Bolzano) I find it always weird to tell some foreigner that I am Italian, because as you can see from my name I'm part of the German (actually Austrian) speaking minority living in Italy. Most of the time, when I tell them my name their eyes go blank and I have to explain to them why Italian is not my first language (it is of course my second language but I've learned it only in school). The second part of your video makes me very sad that even today, there is still prejudice against Italians from the south. Of course I am aware that this hatred(?) against southerners exists, but hearing it from an affected person really has opened my eyes how stupid and hurtful it is.

[@Sefse311]

As Italian, if you tell me that you are italian, with your name, I would not bat an eye. I might just ask "oh why are you called Gerhard?". But if you say "oh I am not italian, I come from South Tyrol" I would just stop saying anything... I still don't get why after 70 years there is this "problem". Also, as Italian from the south, when I first moved in the north, I was talking to the phone with my family and a lady overheard and, while I was on the phone, she started to say loud that I should not be there, and similar...

[@Gabriel-dy6pm]

Yes you are right, this is one topic that Metatron did not emphasize, but in fact: there is no such thing as an "Italian ethnicity", for actual italians. In fact, not all Italian of speak Italian as their mother-tongue (my grandparents did not, for example: one grandmother would speak Calabrian, the other grandmother spoke a Lombard dialect, while my mother was raised in Pustertal, South Tyrol). Italian has become the official language only in 2006. The Italian Constitution implies that institutions such as courts may speak their language, while citizens have a right to be aided by interpreter if they speak a different one. The Italian language used to be a lingua franca, it is not necessarily a mother tongue. Generations of Italian citizens have learned it only at school of from television and radio. This idea that nations are the same thing as ethnicities and "roots" is something that belongs to the American mindset. The word "Italian" in the hypenate "Italian-American" works as a mark of identity for them, but the same word indicates a nation which is diverse, much wider and complex.

[@gerhardschneider7506]

@@Sefse311 You see, the history of South Tyrol is quite complex, even after 70 Years you will have fanatics on both sides (Italian native speakers and German native speakers) who are quite radicalized. But the issue gets less and less prominent. Since the Schengen treaty the border with Austria has basically disappeared (exception Covid restrictions). Also, everyone who lives in South Tyrol has huge job opportunities because (IF!) they speak three important languages (Italian, German and of course English). I would never say I am not Italian, if I get asked in Italy where I am from, I would reply I am from Provincia di Bolzano, and they would of course hear my accent.

[@biancaenera2500]

And there you go, hate. There is no hate, affected by what a joke? Drama queen.😅

[@biancaenera2500]

@@Gabriel-dy6pm yeah, well dialects are still Italian but we all speak Italian as first language. You don't study calabrese or milanese and for sure you cannot use them as a language.😒

[@ROMANTIKILLER2]

I find you put it very well, the problem mostly being the dissonance of what Americans of Italian heritage perceives as being "Italian". For me as someone from the north of the north of Italy, I feel like the dissonance is even stronger as the perception of Italian abroad often seems to be stuck with an image of southern Italy in the 1950s. Which it is in of itself not bad (I distance myself from those examples you mentioned in the last part of the video, which unfortunately I know being a thing especially in smaller villages in the north), but it just feels extremely disconnected to what is my experience growing up in modern northern Italy. I remember once being in a bar in Germany that was presented to me as Italian and I found myself actually having to talk in German with the "Italians" there (likely sons and grandsons of Gastarbeiter that emigrated in 60s), as they could only speak what sounded like Calabrese dialect that they was probably spoken home by their family, but not actual standard Italian language.

[@crios8307]

È vero, sembra quasi che noi del nord non esistiamo non esistiamo solo perché c é già un immagine ben precisa Dell "italiano". A volte sorrido, perchè sono una persona silenziosa seppur socievole. Altre volte immagino la dissonanza che creerei nel non avete un tipico "carattere italiano". E spiace sentirsi relegati all immagine di "freddi" quando semplicemente non c è quella esuberanza che caratterizza di più altre regioni.

[@cronnosli]

If you come to Brazil, here we have a 1800-1920 vision about Italy, based from where the italians come, firstly from Veneto, Emilia-Romagna and Lombardia, later from Toscana, Campania, Calabria and Sicilia. This does not mean that all italians come from that locations, but the majority did! We use to imagine italians as large families, mostly country side, tied to farm or food. Always talking very loud with a lot of hand expressions.

[@RMKnabben]

I'm Italian-Brazilian and lived for some years in Northern Italy (in Treviso, Bologna and Torino) and I could see how welcoming Italians can be to people with Italian origin. Even old men from Veneto, presumably one of the toughest people in Italy when it comes to foreigners, the moment they found out I have Italian background, they were particularly nice to me. It was a bit like they said: "ALLORA VA BENE!". In some parts of Brazil we describe ourselves through our origins a bit too literally as in the USA. But I've never said that I'm Italian in Italy. It also sounds a bit rude. To make it short I often say that I'm Italian-Brazilian when I meet Italians (citizenship + language + persona connection).

[@pucciox40]

"Presumably one of the thoughest people" made me laugh so much, cause it's completely true Also Brazil, as many other southern american countries, are perceived much closer to the italian heritage due to the long lasting diaspora of italian people in SA. Also a funny note: Brazil hosts one of the most ancient venetian comunities in the world in which italian isn't speaked since they originated from an emigration prior to the foundation of the Italian Kingdom, in fact they speak "Talian", without the -i

[@Elveaworld]

@@pucciox40as someone from Veneto, it really makes me sad to see this general consensus on the fact that people from Veneto are this bad, and I wish I could disagree but I really can’t. Thankfully the new generations are way less “racist” and the issue is slowly going away at least for the majority of people. You’ll always have ignorants everywhere and I hope people can stop associate this kind of ignorance with people from my region at some point because its really a shame. Veneto is a beautiful region with a beautiful culture, hope we can move on from all this stuff and be recognized for the good and not the bad! I personally feel connected to all Italians, I was reading of others discussing the difference between nation and ethnicity or culture, and although I somewhat agree that the two are not necessarily the same thing, I also think that what makes Italy and Italians beautiful is that our differences are a treasure and you can discover something new and exciting everywhere you go in terms of language, appearance, culture, architecture, art, music… from the north to the south it never gets boring and a lifetime might not even be enough to experience everything!

[@grumpybulldog19]

I'm also an "italo-brasileiro", I have italian documents but when visit Italy I'm ashamed to use them because my level of the italian language is pretty low and I don't want to put people (and myself) in weird situations, so I show my Brazilian passport. I got in trouble in Portugal when I aplied to a job and was denied because the HR person thought I was a fraud because "I was an italian who speaks very good "brasileiro"" (old portuguese people say we speak brasilian, no portuguese). When I travel to US using my italian passport, security guards always receive me with a "ciao signore", it's funny be have double citizenship.

[@delpage1]

I am Italian-American who married a Brazilian. I have met Italo-Brazilians because of it. I get a kick out of the fact that we still share some cultural similarities and attitudes.

[@theodenking320]

I am an italian who is born and lives in northern Italy, and I well know that some nothern italians insult southern italians or consider them not-italian, but I want to share some experiences that I lived. When visiting Sicily, I met people who said that I was not a real italian, because some think that the only italians from south Italy are real italians. With this I just want to say that the discrimination comes from both parts of Italy.

[@crios8307]

Purtroppo la disputa "nord v. sud" non se ne andrà facilmente, anche considerando che spesso gli "italiani" vengono associati più all immagine stereotipata dell italiano del sud. Io piú che altro vedo che alcuni ragazzi che hanno origini del sud (tantissimi in Torino) non si sentano sempre accolti al sud (non tutti ovviamente). Quindi alla fine abbiamo problemi anche in casa, oltre che fuori.

[@Ratrace4808]

Sarebbe anche ora che smettessimo di fare ste scemenze e iniziassimo a sentirci una nazione vera e propria

[@ermutanda3802]

ma con chi ti frequenti esattamente? Non ho mai beccato nessuno da nessuna parte d'italia in 25 anni che abbia mai detto "no quello non è italiano perché è di Caltanisetta"

[@massimovolpe1343]

@@ermutanda3802 Non so di dove sei ma nella mia zona (langhe/roero) ci sono molte persone che la pensano ancora così. Certo tra i giovani è meno diffuso. Comunque qualcuno dovrebbe dire al cameriere di torino che a Torino trovare un torinese è più difficile che trovare un bolognese a Bologna. Tutti i miei amici hanno almeno un parente del sud se non entrambi, sono letteralmente l'unico ad avere entrambi i parenti del nord nel mio gruppo.

[@CloseToTheEdge]

Semmai ci sono dei siciliani che si sentono esclusivamente siciliani e non italiani. Quelli si che esistono (io sono di palermo e mi sento italiana, non siciliana). Ma è praticamente rarissimo trovare un palermitano che dica che uno del nord non è italiano, mai visto uno. Invece di quelli di cui parlavo sopra ne esistono di più.

[@juliana_f_c]

I was surprised when you included Napoli with Roma and Firenze to talk about northern people. I always thought napoletani considered themselves southern. Is that incorrect? Loved the vid :)

[@alexandernicholas7150]

I don't think that he meant that Napoletani were northerners - at least when I lived in Italy it was clearly the south.

[@diezelfunk]

Long time subscriber here. Appreciate the work you do, Raff. Even bringing light to social problems. Speaking of Sicily, I would love to hear stuff from you, like the history of medieval Sicily.

[@alanjmcc]

Loved the common sense behind this explanation. You brought home the sensitivity of identity questions without adding to it. Well done.

[@a.sarnelli]

Tratti dei argomenti sempre interessanti e questo argomento è uno a cui ci tengo molto. Mio padre è di Salerno ed è venuto in America quando era giovane, ma dico sempre che sono di origine italiana. Dire che sono italiano sarebbe semplicemente falso, anche se io avessi un passaporto italiano. Se lo voglio dire in questo modo, dico che sono italoamericano, cioè Italian American, che descrive meglio la dualità della mia identità. Ma anche tra noi italoamericani è un grosso problema è causa molti fraintendimenti. Quando incontro qualcuno che mi dice che è italiano, basta guardare il suo modo di vestire e ascoltare come parla per capire se intende che è d’Italia e è di origine italiana. Ma se è italoamericano, chiedo sempre “ma la tua familgia di dov’è?” e “di che generazione sei tu?” Se non hanno minima idea di dove arriva la sua famiglia, ovviamente non sa nulla d’Italia e lascia perdere quel argomento. Se pure mi dice che della terza o quarta generazione, è così lontano dalle sue radici italiane che nemmeno lo considero italoamericano. Per quanto riguarda il razzismo tra il Nord e Sud, sapevo sempre che esistesse da ciò che mi raccontava mio padre dei polentoni, ma ci credevo tanto, o almeno credevo che fosse qualcosa del passato. Siccome ho imparato italiano a casa da mio padre, i miei nonni e altri parenti, parlo con una cadenza meridionale. Ho passato tre settimane a Varese e mamma mia quante volte è successo a me che qualcuno mi chiede che se sono di Napoli e inizia a sparlare di Napoli, come è piena di spacciatori e delinquenti. E ho fatto volontariato in oratorio, quindi mi ha sorpreso tanto che pure i bambini e ragazzini pensavano così. La mia famiglia con cui abitavo mi ha consigliato che se io volessi vivere in Italia, sarebbe meglio che io parlassi un italiano più neutro, che al Nord il mio italiano è irritante alle orecchie. Come potete immaginare, mi hanno lasciato a bocca aperta. Comunque, le tue opinioni delle cose sono sempre logiche e interessanti. Grazie molto per il contento che fai! 👏🇮🇹❤

[@luigigenoni5944]

Se hai un accento dialettale molto forte, e' facile che per italiani di altre zone la tua parlata risulti un poco irritante. Non e' tanto una questione fra nord e sud, e' che a volte se non si parla un italiano sufficientemente simile a quello "standard" si rischia di fare un po' di fatica a capirsi. cambia proprio il significato di alcuni vocaboli. Fa eccezione l'italia centrale, dove piu' o meno tutte le parlate sono compensibili a chiunque del nord e del sud e la pronuncia della lingua e' quasi sempre perfetta.. Io sono di Varese, all'incirca,( ossia Varesotto e non varesino), ma so bene che la bellezza dell'Italia sta nella sua stupenda unita' nella varieta' e chi la nega, come quei cretini cui si fa accenno nel video, non merita di farne parte. Vorrei anche aggiungere che avere un forte accento dialettale parlare in dialetto non sono la stessa cosa. Io adoro parlare nel mio vernacolo insubre, ma fuori dal suo legittimo contesto, al di la' di un vago allure alto milanese per l'apertura delle e e dell o che e' proprio impossibile eliminare, lascio il dialetto a casa.

[@luigigenoni5944]

@@MargheritaReads non ho detto che non ci si capisca proprio, ma che a volte si fa un po' fatica su alcuni termini, o che suona stonato. ad esempio l'uso transitivo di alcuni verbi intransitivi tipico di alcuni costrutti sintattici di derivazione dialettale in alcune aree d'Italia. non e' nulla di insormontabile.

[@SicilianCuisine]

@@luigigenoni5944 ma insomma, anche al centro hanno le loro espressioni gergali, una volta un tizio toscano mi ha detto una cosa incomprensibile (e aggiungo che io parlo un italiano standard e senza alcun tipo di accento perchè ho fatto un corso di dizione).

[@SicilianCuisine]

bellissimo commento Anthony, ad ogni modo si deve distinguere tra parlare italiano standard con un accento tipico regionale o di una città specifica, e parlare invece un italiano misto a espressioni dialettali o gergali del luogo di provenienza. Può anche essere che facevano fatica a capirti e quindi ti hanno chiesto di parlare un italiano neutro, cioè STANDARD. Io per esempio non sopporto l'accento milanese, però li capisco quando parlano. 😂

[@luigigenoni5944]

@@SicilianCuisine sicuramente hanno le loro espressioni gergali, ma in generale hanno una pronuncia corretta e in effetti anche molte delle.loro espressioni gergali sono entrate nel lessico letterario. ovviamente ci sono sempre dei margini.

[@TastyScotch]

This is great advice, not just for italians but for anyone travelling abroad. Saying your family or your ancestors came from a particular country is much more clear, and is in fact what you meant in the first place 😂

[@mayvillefinestdancer]

Well. I am an Italian citizen (legally speaking). So if I speak in a an adminstrative situation, I would identify myself as an Italian (citizen). But being a citizen by descent (as every other Italian in the world) is one thing, and being culturally italian is another. I do speak Italian (a language that only part of my family spoke, as others came here speaking Lombard and Ligurian) and I do love Italy and I do my best to reconnect. BUT, culturally, I'm still an Argentine of Italian descent. And that's perfectly fine.

[@stephenrusso6019]

Thank you for hearing me out brother, sorry for the tangent I went on there and the long sentences, my typing is bad. I met a couple from Rome yesterday and what you said was 100% true and it was a very pleasant time. I appreciate it, it means a great deal. Also to everyone else, I am an American first and foremost and that will never change. however, as you can see there are personal reasons as to why I think the way I do.

[@sparrow420500]

USA! USA! USA!

[@stephenrusso6019]

@@sparrow420500 Indeed Brother.

[@OneThousandHowards]

I always found the need to reassure other Americans about our pride in our nationality a bit odd, at least for me. I always thought it was a bit self explanatory that you’re ok/proud of your homeland unless you state otherwise. I don’t see anything wrong with having a foot through both doors as it were. Idk how you feel about it, but that’s been my observation. Thanks for askin the question, was neat to hear Metatron’s opinion on this

[@stephenrusso6019]

@@OneThousandHowards they just view ethnicity and culture differently than we do. I mean they are already in the land of origin.

[@OneThousandHowards]

@@stephenrusso6019 For sure

[@MorbidManiac93]

So glad you addressed this! I have definitely have seen this. My Family is originally from Calabria and when I was in Italy recently, when I told other Italians at the airports in New York and Rome that I was going to visit my family in Calabria, I immediately got dirty looks when I said Calabria. Those same people I noticed in the airport in Rome were taking other connecting flights to the Northern parts of Italy. Atleast in my experience, I've seen some hatred from Northern Italians in relation to Calabria.

[@AndreaBorto]

It is because ndrangheta is the most active mafia nowadays in Italy.

[@francescoscaglione4403]

@@AndreaBorto no è perchè sono dei razzisti

[@Danipiz666]

@@AndreaBorto as if the rest of Italy was immune to mafia... it's true that there is blatant racism from northerners to southerners, why denying that?

[@AndreaBorto]

@@Danipiz666 typical southerner comment. This shows so well why south struggles to improve itself. I've talked to many southerners and very few admit there are things to change in their approach to life. Playing the racism card (which is nonexistant, since the north host 10 million southerners - and many marriages are mixed) is the perfect escapism of the stubborn people of the south. The truth is people in the south never want to change, they do work of course but they are too much tolerant with breaking laws and rules, with dishonest attitude, and being sloppy. People in the north break their backs for people that want Reddito di Cittadinanza ( a free salary) and many refused to accept a job while working in informal economy. Corruption is worthy of third world country in the south. Mafia del Brenta, milanese, Rome mafia was inspired by Cosa Nostra, ndranghet,a Camorra, Sacra corona unita. I don't wanna flattening you only because you are "offended" I just wanna tell to international audience southerners are not good as the people in the north, which has their lacks but notlike you. After all, you're great as companions but you're not a model to follow.

[@Danipiz666]

@@AndreaBorto Lol. First of all, in another comment you said that sicilians have an arab temper. Which I believe it has been said with some racism, am I wrong? Secondly, I've lived in the north for six years and I can assure you and the international audience that discrimination within italians does indeed exist. Marriages between northerners and southerners do exist and are not uncommon, but mostly in big cities. If you go just outside the outskirts of them, the scenario will change dramatically. "The truth is people in the south never want to change+blablabla" racism? Where? This is no racism, just stating truth (I guess you'd say that) 😂 just as much as saying that none of us works because we receive the reddito di cittadinanza. Sorry to disappoint you but plenty of us do work, in my case I even worked in your beloved and supposedly more european (lmaoooo after you really live in Europe you notice the difference) northern Italy, and I can assure you I didn't notice this great work attitude you talk about, and oddly enough I am more valorized where I live now, which is France, than when I was in Northern Italy. At least French people aren't as racist to italians as you northerners are towards us southerners:)

[@phyllisnicholas2603]

I agree with you 100%. My mom and dad’s side of the family are all from Isola delle Femmina in the province of Palermo. I have lots of family there. When visiting Sicily, I feel so very comfortable. I have encountered the ignorance in the north of Italy that you talk about. I live in Monterey, California where is a very large Sicilian population. They came from Sicily to Monterey to fish, and have become quite successful. I feel like I’m Sicilian, and of course American. I just stumbled upon your channel, and I’m enjoying it. Thank you!

[@lucianomezzetta4332]

Finally an Italian not from Brooklyn or Jersey.

[@marianvos6861]

I am Dutch, born and bred. Moved to Sweden when I was 44. Thought it would be fun to join a facebookgroup called Dutch heritage. I was met with a group of hardcore Americans claiming to be Dutch. They had never been to the Netherlands, did not speak the language and had no Dutch passport. Charing pictures of the Netherlands from times gone by and claiming that they knew all there was to know. They all had some kind of romantasized view of the country. And all were angry with me for claiming that no one in the Netherlands would consider them Dutch.

[@jeanlundi2141]

Well you were going well but your last sentence is telling. Why would you suggest that? They ARE dutch. It's just not a dutch you understand. I'm portuguese and if I meet a portuguese.american from the states....I may or may not relate a lot to that person (specially since the majority of them came from the Azores and Madeira, not the mainland)...but it would be super insulting to say or suggest they are less portuguese than anyone else.

[@mrpetit2]

My mother's side is originally from Germany, from somewhere in the late 1800's. And although I speak the language, live about 60km from the border, visit Germany many times per year, either for work or pleasure, have some German friends, I would never claim to be German. That would feel really silly. I'm Dutch. Why would I claim to be German?!?

[@omarsheriff51]

​@@jeanlundi2141They are not portuguese at all, they just have some portuguese decent. That's very american to claim you ARE what you come from.

[@jeanlundi2141]

@@omarsheriff51 BS. A lot of these people speak the languae, keep the traditions and are not even one generation away from being born in the old country. Yes, they are american on passport, but their heart often is connected back to their original culture.

[@omarsheriff51]

@@jeanlundi2141 If you take italian americans, none of them speak italian, and their culture is extremly far from actual italy. They have their own italian american culture, but they're certainly not italians.

[@adamcarchidi4707]

That's why I always make it a point to say that I am Australian, but my background is Italian. And yes, it's true that if you ever happen to meet up with somebody who is 100% Italian, that if you tell them that your background is Italian, they will absolutely love you for it. Absolutely, this is true.

[@Azzury.]

Not my experience at all. Most Italians don’t care or in some occasions are even negative towards you about it. Italians fundamentally don’t have ethnic pride that transcends nationality which is on the grounds of kinship and blood, in the same way Greeks, Armenians, Arabs, Chinese etc are. I think it’s bizarre, verging pathological, to not feel a connection on the basis of a shared common lineage and heritage from people around the world in the diaspora, but if that’s them then that’s them.

[@ascendant95]

@@Azzury. Sadly.....................they have been brainwashed by their government to be food authoritarians and to be obnoxious. They do this to the citizens to keep the Italian peninsula unified as one country. It's really a shame that they have to stoop to that to keep the country together. Now I know why my grandparents left and had no desire to go back.

[@DrFranklynAnderson]

“There’s nothing wrong with being Turkish. If I was Turkish, great!” _Armenia has left the chat._ 😉

[@jmgonzales7701]

yeah sure what an attrocity but alot of cultures have done that as well.

[@tuluppampam]

Armenians would have also been better off being Turkish (not in the sense that the Turks were right)

[@boboboy8189]

it's funny that american always ignore who the main culprits. and it's not the sultan.......

[@jmgonzales7701]

@@boboboy8189 who is

[@its_dey_mate]

Balkans have left the chat too lmao

[@plia1984]

We (people) make very strong conections between certain words and concepts. So, you someone uses the wrong word, it creates confusion or starts a fight. If two persons are thinking the exact same concept, but using diferent words, the other cannot realise you are in agreament

[@scobra1cz]

If people stop pretending they're something they're apparently not, it would help a lot. If someone is living a vast majority of his life in America, speeks English and never step outside the America again (except vacations), he's not an (fill in the nationality of your choice), regardless how much his imigrant ancestors are trying to convince him he is.

[@alessiovalentini4401]

Italian American culture is the mix of the situations of the poor countryside of southern Italy between 1880 and 1960 into a single homogeneous culture completely Americanized until today. The result is something that has never existed in Italy and cannot represent Italian culture and identity. Italian Americans is a sub culture and identity of USA. The most important feature of Being Italian is an identity in which people share language, culture and traditions, not genetics or DNA because Italians are extremely different from each other. Only 400,000 people speak Italian in the USA, 2/3 are true Italians and out of 18 million Americans who define themselves as Italian or Italian American is an extremely small number. No Italian Americans speak Italian. Americans with Italian ancestry pass off as Italian the mix of dialects of languages ​​other than Italian such as Neapolitan and Sicilian mixed with each other and with American English, the same situation for the other traits of the culture. They don't have a conception of Italian culture, language, food, traditions etc. They are simply Americans and part of an American sub-group called Italian Americans. The definition of Italians by these Americans has generated for decades distorted and stereotyped images of Italy, which are viewed negatively by Italians

[@logotec]

Very interesting video! I was born in Germany, but am an Italian citizen and consider myself an Italian, more so, a Sardinian! 🙂

[@crios8307]

Sardinia is a very peculiar place in terms of culture, i can only imagine what it is like to feel a sense of belonging like that one :)

[@ascendant95]

It doesn't matter if you have the citizenship.......................if you left YOU ARE NO LONGER ITALIAN! I heard you put sauerkraut on your bruschetta. Consider yourself German now and forever. If you were really Italian you would bow to the cultural norms just like the Italians have been bowing to Brussels Belgium for 30 years now. The Germans too for that matter.

[@_marcobaez]

BRAVOOOOO!! You finally said what all people in USA needed to Hear!! THANKK YOUUU!!! I hope everyone sees this

[@Meira750]

I was in Salerno recently and I was speaking Italian (my accent is spot on) and I told the person my name and she said, "Ah, Lettieri, Tu sei Italiana!" So I told her that my father had been born in the province and she said, "ma il tuo accento è perfetto, parli benissimo, sei italiana." Apparently, if you speak the language well enough, you are seen as authentic, not just with origins.

[@marcelferrari1700]

Indubbiamente si tratta in parte di una incomprensione dovuta al diverso significato attribuito al termine "italiano", tuttavia trovo che sia un po' riduttivo ricondurre tutta la faccenda ad una semplice "barriera linguistica". Per quanto una persona italo-americana abbia a cuore l'Italia e sia interessata a scoprire le proprie origini e le radici della propria famiglia, essere cresciuti in un paese completamente diverso implica delle differenze linguistiche e culturali evidenti. Un italiano nato e cresciuto in Italia riconosce subito un italo-americano da tratti come il comportamento o la parlata, e si rende subito conto che appartengono a due contesti diverse. Non si tratta di elitismo nei confronti della parola "italiano", piuttosto della capacità innata che abbiamo di riconoscere individui "diversi" da noi. Io per esempio sono di origini italiane, ma nato e cresciuto nel canton Ticino, nel sud della Svizzera. In Ticino si parla italiano, viene insegnato l'italiano come prima lingua nelle scuole e si impara la cultura italiana, senza però essere italiani. Detto questo non mi è mai capitato di avere delle "incomprensioni" quando mi presento come italiano ad un italiano d'Italia, semplicemente perché culturalmente siamo identici anche se di nazionalità diverse. Trovo comunque il video interessante e utile per incoraggiare gli italo-americani ad interessarsi alle proprie origini.

[@stephenrusso6019]

It seems some on the comments don't think we consider ourselves American or that we would throw away that Identity. Absolutely not, I'm a proud American but I will not pretend I am native here. most of us are not. Just because our cultures diverged does not mean we cannot come together and see each other as our own.

[@marcelferrari1700]

@@stephenrusso6019 that is an absolutely valid point and I see it as a good thing that you still feel a connection with your origins. My point was that that it is not purely about the meaning we attribute to the word "Italian", but also because as humans we inherently recognise other humans that speak different languages and have a different culture as "different from ourselves". I don't intend this with any negative connotation, but at the same time it seems to me like some Italians struggle to see italian-americans as their own for this very difference. I say this because I have never been told "you are not a real italian" even thought I do not have an Italian passport, nor have I ever lived in Italy and this is simply because I am a native Italian speaker and culturally very similar to Italians. My grandparents left Italy and moved to Switzerland, so technically I am in a very similar situation as many italian-americans whose grandparents moved to the US, yet no Italian has ever discredited me for saying that I was also Italian.

[@deiniou]

I am amazed that I coould read and understand everything, saludos desde españa! So I lived in Ticino for almost a year for work, I arrived there not knowing anything about the country, and when I got there... Eh! Italia! That was a pleasant surprise, I have worked also in germany and it was okay, but Mediterraneos will always be mediterraneos.

[@marcelferrari1700]

@@deiniou Italian and Spanish do share quite a bit haha! I had a similar experience when visiting Spain and Cuba. Glad to hear you had a good experience in Ticino too! :)

[@deiniou]

@@marcelferrari1700 Oh yes, being able to have a good pizza as well as food from the Bernese Overland was awesome, and when I visited Bellizona by myself I had such a great time.

[@ShibaHamamatsucho]

I am an Italian-American Dual Citizen. I have an Italian passport. My given and last names are Italian. I was born and raised in New York, and my maternal grandparents immigrated to America from Catania. I've only had positive interactions with Italian people. I usually just say how I am a dual citizen but I lived most of my life in America. I speak at a decent level, but nowhere near native, so I make sure that I tell them that I'm not a "real" born and raised Italian. In fact, I speak Japanese way more fluently (N1+/C2) than I can italian (Barely B1), and I feel guilty about that, but that's another story,

[@luke211286]

I can relate. I have Japanese passport courtesy of my mother. I was born in Japan as well. But since our family moved when I was young, I didn't have the benefit of formally learning Japanese. I can speak at a conversational level although my reading/writing leaves much to be desired. Whenever I visit Japan on vacation, I never mention my nationality unless it became a topic. Somehow, the locals would be surprised that I speak well as a visitor, and I am content with that.

[@skywalker541]

@@luke211286 I didn't think Japan recognized dual citizenship with any other country.

[@EphemeralProductions]

Ottimo Matteo! Abbracci

[@luke211286]

@@skywalker541 They don't. My other country (Philippines) however does. So everytime I enter Japan, I just have to use my JP passport and then there would be no trouble. And lately, Japan turns a blind eye to those suspected of having dual citizenship. Probably has to do with population issues

[@gabrielboi3465]

if you are a dual citzen with italian name i think that any italian would consider you a "pure" one.

[@JuliusCaesar819]

Interesting! More videos on Italian related topics please. :) Because of you, I started learning a few words in Italian. My first language is French and the linkages are interesting. Considering this a channel about languages, perhaps making a video comparing the differences and similarities between latin (roman?) Languages (i.e. French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, etc.) would be interesting. Anyways great video. Ciao!

[@Guido-Fawkes]

Agradeço por colocar a última como um "etc", certeza que é um francês, por isso fez o que fez, afetado

[@balleo]

@@Guido-Fawkes etc....is a word contraction of latin "Et cetera" , I have similar words in portugues, spanish, romanian...

[@Guido-Fawkes]

@@balleo in Portuguese it is the same thing, but because lacking a single nation to cite he used "etc", it is usually said to abbreviate when there are countless others to cite, this Frenchman did it on purpose

[@tic-tacdrin-drinn1505]

@@Guido-Fawkes Well, under "etc." you can add: Rhetoroman, Ladin (from the Italian Alps), Lombard, Venetian, Occitan, Catalan, Portuguese... etc.

[@mrblaque215]

As an Italian American (Sicilian origin), I have noticed when I met Italians from Italy, that most people just thought of me as an American. But when I met Sicilians from Sicily, they told me I was Sicilian and that I was one of them. Not saying everyone would be like this, but just most people I met in my experience have treated me in this regard.

[@VincentMangiapane]

Not my experience. Sicilians say that I am not Italian (Sicilian) and that I am American as can be despite being a citizen of their country, loving their country, claiming their country as also my country, being 100% full-blooded Sicilian with perhaps more Sicilian heritage than some of them, being culturally connected to there, knowing how to communicate with them in enough Italian to get by, and going to Italy many times and even spending a year there in one of my visits (if you could call it a visit). You might think this is somewhat of a joke, but it is not unfortunately.

[@mrblaque215]

@@VincentMangiapane that’s interesting. I guess maybe the reason for it was that Sicilians I met were here in America. Perhaps if I was over there they’d act differently. But that’s good to know. Thank you.

[@VincentMangiapane]

@@mrblaque215 However, they would be more okay with you saying your Italo-Americano or Siculo-Americano if you do not feel comfortable identifying yourself as 100% American and still want to retain your heritage like I do.

[@VincentMangiapane]

@@mrblaque215 Also, Sicilians even considered my mother as 100% American and no longer at all Sicilian, despite her having 100% Sicilian ancestry like we do or at least I do, and despite her not being able to speak much English, not being a U.S. citizen, and being entirely born and raised in Italy straight up for 24, almost 25 years still not understanding much American culture and maintaining consistent connections and conversations with Sicilians in Sicily. Sicilians are that strict usually in determining who is Sicilian and who is not. They no longer consider my mother Sicilian only because she is a resident in the U.S. with a green card that has to be constantly renewed or else she will be directly deported back to Sicily. And despite all this, Sicilians usually do not call her Sicilian, but rather 100% American even though she has not even Americanized. To them, it is like if you have to only be Sicily for your whole life with also being completely born and raised in Sicily. To them, if you even step foot in a place outside Sicily or Italy, then you are immediately no longer Sicilian or Italian and that you cannot do anything about it. Heck, I even had a 106-108 year old relative in Sicily who was considered Sicilian by other Sicilians as she was a native of Sicily and lived there for more than 100 years (one century). I feel like that is the type of criteria you have to fill out in order to be accepted as Sicilian by other Sicilians in Sicily.

[@Dea_Decay]

I can second your advice, being of Italian descent, while traveling around Sicily and having conversations with people I would mention I was from America but this relative was from Palermo, and this one from Messina, and so on, and that was why I was a big part of why I was visiting those places (as well as being an archaeology student at the time) I pretty much always had a warm reception by locals. I mean I'm sure there were other factors, but often it was the people there who would ask why I was visiting those cities, or Agrigento, or Sciacca, I would tell them about my families connection to it, or just my own being interested in the history and never had issues with people being aggressive.

[@anta3612]

Hi Metatron. I've done this too: I've started speaking Italian with people who say they're Italian. Their response? Either that I was showing off or that I didn't know how to speak Italian correctly because as I'm sure you know, most Italian Americans tend to speak one of the southern dialects (if they speak any Italian at all).

[@Danipiz666]

Non parlano nemmeno i dialetti del sud, non preoccuparti 😉

[@anta3612]

@@Danipiz666 Infatti. Sembra parlino un miscuglio di dialetti del sud e l'inglese.

[@SicilianCuisine]

@@anta3612 esattamente! Ho conosciuto da piccola un signore siciliano che aveva vissuto anni in America e usava espressioni tipo la JOBBA che non esiste in nessuna lingua. (Ovviamente la giobba era il lavoro, da job!!!)

[@erikas.6790]

Ho sentito anch'io questa cosa, quando sono arrivati in America hanno inventato una nuova lingua italianizzando parole inglesi, come risultato i discendenti non hanno mai imparato il vero italiano e i primi arrivati non hanno mai parlato davvero inglese 🤷‍♀️

[@anta3612]

@@erikas.6790 Molto interessante questa spiegazione!

[@hazelthenut5940]

I think its a lot more than a linguistic misunderstanding. Compared to a lot of other ameircans (or canadians) of european decent, I personally find Italian Americans can be particularly obnoxious. Of course, most of them are lovely, this is just a loud minority.... (and by "loud" i mean the "SORRY I YELL A LOT I'M ITALIAN! WE'RE LIKE SO LOUD HAHA" kind of loud :D) Some of them can be heavily patriotic to the point where it gets REALLY annoying. They say things like "I'm italian so im technically not white", badly quote the divine comedy (of which they've only read inferno, if anything at all), and will throw bland jokes which they heard from their grandma at you, going "oh you wouldn't get it because its an italian inside joke". Even here in this comment section you see them trying to list off every single part of their background that makes them "talian" even if it has nothing to do with the comment. Its almost like they're at a job interview for a bad brooklyn pasta restaurant. Again, most italian americans are fine.But, considering the way a lot of these people act shapes a lot of opinions about what italians are like, I really wouldn't blame any real italian for hating these guys so much. Because of I hear that guy in my class throw a (likely mispronounced) "minchia" into another random english conversation again, I think I'll die.

[@gaia7240]

The funny thing is that Italians from Italy would hate them for this

[@fritolaid6805]

White isnt a tangible thing and is an american invention and italians were lynched in the US

[@jopeteus]

I watched a documentary about Finnish Americans. They had moved to America in the 1800's and they STILL spoke Finnish and retained the culture!! the only difference was that English had influenced the Finnish they spoke. But to me it was completely understandable (I'm Finnish)

[@blotski]

That reminds me of a documentary I saw on Welsh language TV in the UK about Argentinians in Patagonia of Welsh descent who still speak Welsh.

[@marcocarlson1693]

You are absolutely precise in telling the audience about this. I am Italian American from Sicilian origins and I believe that every word you said, and the way you stated it, is exactly the truth. As far as anyone who funnily said I was not Italian based on being Sicilian, I would tell them first, don't try to argue with me, just go tell Giorgia Meloni and Sergio Matterella, they are not Italian either, but You are. That's just to start. Great explanantions. You obviously have things correct, and that says A Lot about a person these days. Best regards.

[@363catman]

I agree with what you are saying about saying "I'm Italian". I always say "io sono mezzo abruzzese" when taking to someone from Italy. As an American (and a southerner) I can say most of us tallyz in america came over before WW2 and lost contact with family in Italy so the understanding of "Italy" is like a time capsule of how the country was about 100 years ago. Italy and Italians in America evolved in different directions (think Quebec vs. Actual France) especially in the food department.

[@marcominoliti7320]

Si semp nu cumpar

[@SonOfBaraki359]

"Quebec vs. Actual France" It's different, Quebec was english before ths US existed

[@HS-handle]

Maybe not just in the extreme North. The first time I heard Sicilians weren't real Italians was about 20 years ago. I asked a middle-aged guy from Aprilia, Lazio who was in my city on business what a Sicilian word I had heard on TV meant and he replied to me Sicilians were rather Arabs than Italians. And he was the CEO of a major company doing business internationally (and still is)

[@marcelferrari1700]

Average Lazio enjoyer 💀

[@AndreaBorto]

Sicilians iften upset other italians because they have a certain temper

[@Danipiz666]

@@AndreaBorto ah ma quindi oltre che coi calabresi ce l'hai pure coi siciliani 🤣 di dove sei te, Rovigo?

[@alessiovalentini4401]

Sicilians in Italy are seen and grouped with the rest of southern Italy, there is no Italy vs Sicily division like in the USA

[@Phantom-xp2co]

​@@alessiovalentini4401 tutti terroni!!

[@stevenquestionseverything4445]

My cousin that is from Rome believes that Sicilians are truly Arabs, not Italian, so then I had to remind him that I’m of half Sicilian origin (must of slipped his mind??). Then he went on to ridicule my mum’s dialect (ciociaro). This is what Italians are like, they look down and mock anyone outside of their region and especially if your further to the south. I think you really need a thick skin to live in Italy. Either way, still very proud of my Italian ancestry 🇮🇹

[@WG55]

I am constantly having to explain this to Irish people in comments on Conan O'Brien's videos. When he refers to himself as "Irish" in an American context, it means "Irish-American," not that he was born in Ireland.

[@pv6212]

Great video, Raf! The discussion brought back a lot of funny memories from my childhood in Chicago. My family's mix was from Calascibetta, Sicily on dad's side and from Scontrone, Abbruzzo on mom's side. We also had relatives from Calabria and Naples on my dad's side thru marriage, and more Sicilians on mom's side thru marriage. The personalities at family events always made for a wild time. Thanks again for all the great content! It is always a lot of fun and very educational! Have a great weekend! Cheers!

[@Oneleven1]

Given Calascibetta and Scontrone, I’m gonna guess that your family was from Taylor St?

[@pv6212]

My Dad and his family lived there and my Mom and her family lived on Campbell Park. Later the Veneziano clan moved out to LA while Mom and her folks stayed in Chicago. Dad eventually moved back to Chicago to marry Mom in '58. @@Oneleven1

[@ricoproia328]

Born in the USA, I’m more Italian than most Italians. My DNA is 98% Italian and 2% Greek.

[@Gabi_Citterio]

As a northern italian, I am really ashamed so many italians, BOTH in northern and southern italy, "hate" each others. After all the struggle it got to unify Italy...

[@salasrcp90]

wow i didnt know that, thats very disappointing and sad.

[@andreanecchi5930]

Io ho incontrato napoletani che mi hanno insultato solo perché sono del Piemonte

[@Phantom-xp2co]

Era meglio se stavamo divisi

[@salasrcp90]

@@Phantom-xp2co no amigo. la union crea fortaleza

[@aegwyrt]

My father is English and I am a British citizen because of him, but I grew up in Canada. When I was in the British Army, some of the lads were slating Canadians, some of whom we'd met while training out there. I reminded them that I am Canadian and they said, "Yeah, but you're not a proper Canadian!" It was the nicest thing anybody has ever said to me.

[@lucmanzoni6265]

I guess it was that day when you weren't carrying your lumberjack axe while eating a Tim Horton's doughnuts glazed with maple syrup...

[@corinna007]

My family has been in Canada for five generations now; I would actually be a little insulted if someone told I wasn't a "proper Canadian"; because it would make me feel like they saw us as nothing more than backwoods Colonials. But I also have no ties to England except a cousin who moved there, so maybe that's just me.

[@aegwyrt]

@@corinna007 The point is that I had already assimilated to English culture and was not clearly an outsider.

[@corinna007]

@@aegwyrt That makes sense, I guess

[@ashenen2278]

It really sounds familiar being myself of Ukrainian and Indian ancestry and being brought up in Germany. In Germany they still treat me as a German as they listen I have an accent-free German (though there are some who think I have an Indian accent because of the looks or Slavic because they've been told I'm from Ukraine). To Ukrainians I'm a perfect Ukrainian (except that I'm tanner than the average Ukrainian) when I tell them that I was born there, eat Ukrainian food and speak the language perfectly (though my Russian is better, I'm from the east, but I'm still improving my Ukrainian). Indians think sometimes I speak Hindi or Punjabi (depends on the context) but alas my Hindi is not the best, not mentioning Punjabi. I still say that I'm of that and that ancestry to avoid any confusions regarding those kind of language barriers

[@just_a_yokai1103]

yooo was ne Combi😂 ich bin halb Italiener und halb Tscheche und kam mit 5 nach Deutschland, dachte eigentlich das wäre schon eine wilde Mischung 😂😂

[@ashenen2278]

​@@just_a_yokai1103 Oh, ich finde es schon cool! Aber ja, ist schon ziemlich unerwartet bei mir die Mischung 😅

[@90PaMa]

You re definitely an interesting combination man, how strange and beautiful the world is

[@liammarshall-butler3384]

I think this video is spot on. I think a lot of American ethnic identity dates back to when there was a larger divide between the Catholics and Protestants and a lot of Catholics strongly identified as Italian, or Irish, or Polish etc. I think many Americans no longer have that big of a cultural connections with where our ancestors came from, and very often the connection we do have is to a place that no longer exists. If your great grandparents immigrated to the U.S. then not only has your family been soaking up American culture, but their place of origin has also undergone drastic changes. So, we need to recognize that this is a quirk of our culture when we speaking to people in other countries and be a little more precise, that we are of Italian, or whatever country, descent.

[@WG55]

Note that this strong immigrant connection didn't exist in every part of the USA. If you look at the census results, while nearly everyone in the northern USA describes their ethnicity in terms of an immigrant community, in other areas - the South, northern New England - their families came over before the American Revolution and they simply refer to themselves as "American."

[@alessiovalentini4401]

Italian American culture is the mix of the situations of the poor countryside of southern Italy between 1880 and 1960 into a single homogeneous culture completely Americanized until today. The result is something that has never existed in Italy and cannot represent Italian culture and identity. Italian Americans is a sub culture and identity of USA. The most important feature of Being Italian is an identity in which people share language, culture and traditions, not genetics or DNA because Italians are extremely different from each other. Only 400,000 people speak Italian in the USA, 2/3 are true Italians and out of 18 million Americans who define themselves as Italian or Italian American is an extremely small number. No Italian Americans speak Italian. Americans with Italian ancestry pass off as Italian the mix of dialects of languages ​​other than Italian such as Neapolitan and Sicilian mixed with each other and with American English, the same situation for the other traits of the culture. They don't have a conception of Italian culture, language, food, traditions etc. They are simply Americans and part of an American sub-group called Italian Americans. The definition of Italians by these Americans has generated for decades distorted and stereotyped images of Italy, which are viewed negatively by Italians

[@l.alfonsoduluc6253]

It is the same in Spain France, etc. Could it be a Latin European thing? By the way, I really like and respect the way you express your ideas. Grazie

[@paige-vt8fn]

Thank you for this breakdown and means of explanation. My father is Italian and i still have his very Italian last name. Gonna be honest, i was slightly worried this was going to hurt my feelings, but it absolutely didn't. It's so important to respect all cultures from all different perspectives. It's not always all about me, it's important to respect the person I am addressing too, and say i was trying to relate to someone born, bred and fluent in Italian, so being respectful of them and explaining my lineage properly in the language is obviously the best and most respectful way to interact with someone from the country, while also not mitigating the pride i have for my lineage as well! Thanks! ❤

[@coolbeanswalker]

I'm Mexican American and Mexicans Americans still consider themselves Mexican. Unlike Italian Americans, Mexican Americans perserved our culture and language

[@AbrahamCasillas-t3o]

And Mexicans born or raised there don't consider us to be Mexican!

[@charlzincharge2281]

My co worker from Mexico told me that they don't consider Mexicans in America Mexican.

[@Mand.alor-the-Rebel]

I'm half Italian and half German. I was born in Civita Castellana (Latium) my father was an Italian from Rome, unfortunately i've never met him because my paretns parted ways before i was born. Than my mother went back to Germany and i grew up near Hannover. My mother lived 6 1/2 years in Italy (her second language is italian) and we have friends there. I was called an Italian by these friends and i liked it. I was in Rome very often and it happend that i was asked for direction a few times (so i don'l look like a tourist) only once i could help but that was an tourist from England.

[@davidtomasi]

Very good video, as usual. I'd like to add some perspective. I'm originally from South Tyrol, and on both side of the continent myself and my folks are usually identified (by others) as either Austrian or German. Historically, culturally, and linguistically, this is certainly not far from the truth (native tongues are, beside dialects, German, Ladin, and Italian). In any case, I fully agree with Metatron that, here in the US, if someone were to say "I'm Ladin" or "I'm Austrian" I'd immediately switch to those languages, and expect them to hail from that area. Fun fact, in Tyrol people often use expressions such as "South" or even "Meridione" to indicate cities such as Trent, Milan, or Turin. This is at times said jokingly, but at time with offensive undertones (check out the expression "verrückt nach süden"). Somewhat paradoxically however, Sicily is often considered closer to the Tyrolean-Austrian culture (that is, much closer than, say, Milan) due to its history and ties to tradition-catholicism-imperial (Habsburg / Bourbon) background, which older Tyroleans during the times of the Annexation to the Piedmontese Kingdom of Italy and the "Optionen" in the 1930s considered to be "our people in the Kingdom of the two Sicilies".

[@Danipiz666]

As a person from the south of Italy I can agree, the only place in the north where I felt no racism at all towards me was the wundervoll Süd Tyrol! Maybe they were more racist with northerners, but never with me 😂😂 Ein sehr schönes Land voll mit sehr schönes Leute! LG aus Frankreich (aber ich komme aus Kalabrien^^)

[@davidtomasi]

@@Danipiz666 Jo vielen Dånk und an schian Gruaß! 😀

[@andreamarino6010]

Ah austrians tears, still salty about losing a war they started i see

[@antoniobuonanno7902]

E la prima volta in vita mia che sento che la Sicilia e più vicino a l’Alto Adige che a Milano…

[@antoniobuonanno7902]

@@Danipiz666ma che minchiate … l’estrema destra fa anni che governa l’Alto Adige sopratutto la parte germanofona Poco fa mi ricordo che sul web stavo parlando con un austriaco che voleva imporre la sua teoria di differenze regionali tra nord et sud d’Italia quando li ho fatto capire che per me è la stragrande maggioranza degli italiani non esistono, mi ha detto da dove vieni, ho detto sono italiani di Sicilia e lui mi ha detto terrone di merda siete arabi poi li ho risposto prima cosa sono italiano e comunque meglio arabi che germanici 😅

[@easyyo6784]

that was a great video. im a half italian half swiss guy., but i tell everyone who ask me, im from switzerland. born in switzerland, speak german, love switzerland and italia (my father is from Palermo)

[@johnhill9445]

Keep Speaking 🗣️ Truth To Power

[@genebigs1749]

When I was in college studying Italian literature, I had a lady professor from Northern Italy who upon finding out I was of Sicilian and Calabrian origin, snorted and said "You're not even Italian." 40 years ago you got away with stuff like that.

[@puzzled012]

to be frank a lot of Italians in the south of Italy are descended from Greeks (Magna Graecia was real, and language lingered on up until begining/mid XX century)

[@crios8307]

Some southeners do the same to northerns because we act extremely different from them: it's a cultural gap we still have because "the two italies" remained separated for so long that the Unitá was fought by Southern italians, who lashed out against the Piedmontese/ unitarian kings. Then there was the movement of Southern towards North for job positions, and unfortunately it was feared that Southern may bring criminality (stereotype usually related to mafia crimes and the history of bandits and corruption, some of which sadly true) Also, Italy got public schools after ww2, so many people were still ignorant and "provinciali" because of this. These are historical events who planted deep roots in some middle aged italians, but that is fading overtime. This is not to justify that racist remark, but to bring out that Italy's history is very complex and some events may have brought up some italians who are completely considered ignorant nowadays by the younger generations.

[@gabrielboi3465]

To be fair, there are people from southern/central italy calling us northeners "crucchi" (Derogatory term for Germans, as if we were) And I've been made fun of by my relatives in the south for being from the deep North (Basically at the feet of the Alps) saying that we are cold/boring and that we "have nothing but fog!" Im sure that you know that common saying lol. I am very attached to my region's (Lombardy) History, cusine, culture, and aesthetics, but i LOVE all of Italy. So i'd say that italian disunity kinda goes both ways tbh. Still, great video.

[@lucmanzoni6265]

Senza aver letto il tuo commento ho scritto praticamente lo stesso condensato in due righe... da lecchese ho sentito qualche volta dirmi che siamo francesi o tedeschi, non veri italiani. Mi ricordo una volta in Toscana e anche a Roma commenti del tipo "chissà come ti sembrerà bello qui, non come da voi che son tutti capannoni!" manco vivessi a Sesto SG...

[@gabrielboi3465]

@@lucmanzoni6265 Io sono di como, quindi siamo vicini (anche se rivali hahaha) e penso che il Lario sia una delle zone piu' belle del mondo.

[@Hugh_de_Mortimer]

Americans of English descent are not English and do not identify as such: they are simply American. I do not understand why Americans of other heritages do not share this approach. An Italian and an American of Italian descent are quite different.

[@aris1956]

Italians who were born in Italy and came to America as young boys are a little different from those, on the other hand, who were born and raised in America. Those born in America, both in terms of language, culture and everything else, are 100 percent American. Those born and raised in Italy, linguistically they retain their dialect (in fact if they do not speak in English, they speak in the dialect of their region) and they also feel a little more connected to Italian traditions and culture.

[@sptomase]

I think you’re right. I just got back from Italy and nearly everyone treated me like I was welcome and/or belonged there. From Milan to Catania. I spoke Italian to them as much as I could and if I didn’t know how to say something I would say mi dispiace, sono Americano. Lei parla inglese? And they would switch to English if they could. I would often get compliments on how much I could speak. If they would find out my last name like at the hotel or on a tour they would get excited and treat me almost like we neighbors, or family. At some points it almost felt like favoritism towards me. I went on the key master tour of the Vatican and I was the only Italian American in the group and the tour guide mentioned that to me. Next thing I knew I got picked to unlock the Sistine Chapel. Maybe if I would have told them ‘I’m Italian’ things would have been different.

[@Boredman567]

Generally, Americans calling themselves Italian, or Irish, or Chinese, are doing so because when their families immigrated to the US, they kept certain cultural practices and identities that resulted in them being in a specific subculture of Americans. Many cities have a "Little Italy" or a "Chinatown" where immigrants from certain countries tended to congregate and maintain a shared identity and culture. There has also been a long history of ethnic tensions in the US, which I think drove people to embrace their communities more strongly for their own safety and a sense of belonging. Many even kept speaking the language from the old country, resulting in dialects that are entirely located in America (such as Texas German). At the same time, America is well known as a cultural mixing pot, so plenty of these immigrant families assimilated to American culture, often moving and marrying to communities of people with various other ethnic origins. For example, my grandfather was of half French and half Mexican descent. And of course, lots of people's family stories fall somewhere in between these two scenarios.

[@Dammiunnomevalido]

From a northern Italian perspective (I was born and raised in Lombardy) I can confirm there are people who despise southerners and don't consider them legitimate Italians. Any Italian knows there's even a political party born out of this thought. On the other hand, I used to work in an environment where northern Italians were the absolute minority. In many occasions northerners were not considered true Italians by the southerners, or not so representative of the supposedly "true" Italian way of life. In my opinion, every single part of Italy is equally legitimately Italian, and so are the people who live in it. Italy has deep, faceted, strong traditions from north to south, and there's no such thing as a true Italian way of life: we have many. Being all Italian is what unites us.

[@greendalf123]

In regards to northerners saying you aren't Italian, I've experienced something similar. I'm Croatian, but I'm a Croat from Bosnia. Croats have been in Bosnia since the dark ages, and it was the kingdom of Croatia (pre union with Hungary) that controlled most of Bosnia, before it's decline. Anyways, I've lived in North America since the war in the 90's ended so I don't know much about the culture back home. One thing I noticed online was a trend of Croats from Croatia, specifically the regions around Zagreb and Istria, not considering Bosnian-Croats as Croats. It's the most bizarre thing I've ever encountered. The borders in the Balkans have changed a million times, and they think all Croats are just native to the regions that are part of the modern day map? There's also a bit of a discrimination between northern and southern (Dalmatian) Croats, very much like northern Italians and southern Italians, where Dalmatians are seen as more Mediterranean and sometimes not Croat enough. It boggles the mind. If any place comes to a persons mind when they think Croatia, it's Dalmatia. Not the fault of the southerners that their Slav ancestors had sex with more Illyrian natives.

[@Jürgen_von_Schumacher]

I have a Serbian friend (We're like brother and sister) and she always says "Croats, Serbs, Bosnians, we're all the same. If you ask a foreigner whose been here, they'll tell you we're all the same. We're just too proud and angry to admit it." Which is sad in my opinion. To me it'd be like saying Dutch, Swiss, and Austrians aren't like us and we're above them since we're German, which is absolutely absurd to me. The northern Germans, like myself, are practically the same as Dutch and the Swiss and Austrians are absolutely our brothers in arms. Our countries used to be under the same banner and our people are definitely united and similar, especially Bavarians with Austrians. Land borders don't follow cultural borders and just because we have a different nationality doesn't mean we aren't kin and brothers.

[@oyoo3323]

Though I agree with your sentiment, keep in mind that Croat and Croatian aren't actually the same in meaning, in English, at least. A Croatian is someone with Croatian nationality, regardless of their ethnic background; while a Croat is explicitly an ethnic term, meaning it is possible to have Croats who've never set foot in Croatia. So, Bosnian Croats, though indeed Croats, are not Croatians. However, I'm fairly certain this distinction does not exist in Croatian, and they refer to both as Croats, so depending on what they mean when they call Bosnian Croats not Croats, they could be correct. So really, the appropriate response would be to ask them to clarify what they even mean by "Croat". Chances are, most of ðem actually never even thought about it.

[@MrAllmightyCornholioz]

Serbs = Orthodox Serbs Croats = Catholic Serbs Bosniak = Muslim Serbs

[@Jürgen_von_Schumacher]

@@oyoo3323 why did you put an eth for them?

[@oyoo3323]

@@Jürgen_von_Schumacher why ask? You can clearly see it, can't you? If you meant to ask how, it's a force of habit. I was typing with my Icelandic keyboard. I didn't even notice it.

[@laclaire8790]

Metatron ti ho scoperto da poco e sto veramente adorando i tuoi contenuti sia sul canale principale che su questo secondario e con tranquillità e molta chiarezza fai un'ottima divulgazione; volevo soltanto aggiungere una mia esperienza personale per quanto riguarda il conflitto Nord e Sud da persona nata e cresciuta a Milano di origine da parte di nonni calabresi. E' purtroppo ancora presente il razzismo verso le persone del sud però escluderei in gran parte una città come Milano che è oramai veramente multiculturale spesso si dice che "il vero Milanese" neanche esisti più e anzi ho subito degli atteggiamenti di razzismo ed epiteti detti con una leggerezza che se fossero stati detti dall'altra parte avrebbero scatenato giustamente indignazione quando sono scesa diverse volte giù per le vacanze, certe occhiate, commenti detti con ironia sprezzante etc ovviamente sono episodi che in ogni circostanza sono deprecabili

[@jeromewiller2468]

Ciao,hai perfettamente ragione,e sull argomento si potrebbe discutere per ore😜

[@martialtheatrefightingdrea2897]

"L'Italia è fatta, ora dobbiamo fare gli italiani" not my words, you know better than me...more than 150 years later for many people is stil lthe same...Sicily and sicilians considering their history, should be the most advanced region of whole italy, exactly for the reason you told about "Magna Grecia" but also do not forget about Arabians and their architechture and technolgies. Going to see now your video about Tuscany considering i am from there and i really liked this one already!!!

[@lucaparolin5623]

As an Italian who lives abroad, I'm astonished by certain comments. I can clearly feel the arrogance some people have, thinking they're somehow superior being full Italians, compare to someone of Italian origins.

[@Funkysauce]

As a child of Italian immigrants, I feel like I'm a bridge built at opposite ends but never connecting. When I'm back in my father's or mother's towns they say I'm so American and when I'm back in NYC they say I'm so Italian. I speak a mishmash of my parents' dialects and proper Italian so getting around Italy and talking to people, I get some raised eyebrows with the language I use. Especially slang since my parents came in the late 60s and early 70s the Italian slang I learned growing up was from that time period. Imagine someone from another country coming to America and saying things like "groovy" or "far out" in 2023!

[@ascendant95]

It's so nice that as the child of Italians that Italian people love to point out to you that you're not Italian. If they said that to me I would tell them to go bow to Brussels.

[@alexm.c.312]

I’m part of the small % of Italian-Americans born in America that speaks fluent italian as well as American English. It’s difficult because I run into many Italian-Americans that speak so highly of how Italian they are but then they meet me and I’m like well ok. I have no accent in either language so they both sound like my native tongues, as I learned them both before 3 years old. I also lived in Italy for 6 years and graduated from una scoula superiore Italiana. Moving back to this country has kind of given me some identity issues because I feel I’m equally both nationalities having both passports as well while the people from either country treat me like I’m from the other country. For example, my Italian friends in Italy call me americano (soprannome), and here in the U.S. I’m the Italian lol. So confusing. Btw I lived in a few cities in central-southern Italy between abruzzo and lazio

[@masterjunky863]

Se parlassi con te ti percepirei italiano, a differenza di un italo-americano qualunque che sembra scimmiottare la nostra cultura ad esempio usando certi gesti nel modo sbagliato o tirando fuori stereotipi del sud di fine ottocento.

[@alexm.c.312]

@@masterjunky863 infatti parlo anche Italiano se vuoi. Vedo ste cose da per tutto in America. Ogni tanti mi rompe un po il cazzo.

[@henriqueamendola7793]

Salve, Metatron! Io sono nato in Brasile e vivo quà ancora. Ovviamente, di origine italiana, como si puó vedere per il cognome. Sono un cittadino italiano, con passaporto Europeo. Nei primi anni dei 2000, sono andato in Italia per qualque mesi, per fare uno stage (come un tirocinio). Quando ero là, parlavo in italiano il 100 percento del tempo. Siccuro che hò l'accento in tutte ligue che parlo, ma non mi fa fatiga parlare l'italiano. Ero in nord Italia, a pocchi Km da dove é venita la famiglia della mamma, ma tutti quanti (o la maggior parte delle persone) mi hanno trattato come straniero. Devo dire que la famiglia del babbo è di Salerno, allora, non sÒ si è la stessa cosa que hai detto (Nord - Sud), ma mi pare que c'è un pò di pregiudizio. Per finire: io neppure aveva chiesto di essere chiamato "Italiano", ma il "giudizio" veniva da solo. Mi piace tantíssmo l'Italia e ci sono andato altre volte dopo, ma è un pò strano per me, specialmente per vivere in Brasile. Qui, si non parli una parola in portoghese e non hai una goccia di sangue basilliano e dici "sono brasiliano", tutti pensano que sia bellissimo, un orgoglio.

[@HeyThreshold]

In che senso ti sentivi giudicato?

[@LadyFos87]

Il mio compagno ha la doppia cittadinanza, italiana e brasiliana, ma non parla una parola di portoghese ed è cresciuto in Italia. Un suo collega brasiliano del Brasile lo definiva scherzosamente "un brasiliano del Paraguay "😂😅

[@lvelinva9126]

Love the videos and appreciate you dissecting a common issue, especially pointing out that there's some people you can't please. I've never really had an issue interacting with native Italians being weird about it (besides online) although my Sicilian friend was completely ignored by an Italian native upon learning he was Sicilian.

[@lucmanzoni6265]

7:18 Se ti può consolare, I am from Lombardy and I got more than once a "you guys are French (or German) not Italian!" from some meridionale...

[@elem382]

I think when people tell you "oh i'm [insert nationality] too!" But then don't speak the language and they have never been there, the thought you have is "yeah, and? why are you telling me that? What's the point?", instead when someone would say "oh my mother/ancestor" was from [insert city]", it feels more just like a conversation starter.

[@doom-gloom]

Because it’s not nationality. It’s ethnicity which is genetically tied. Why do Europeans not understand the difference between ethnic genes and nationality?

[@elem382]

@@doom-gloom Ethnicity isn't important where i live, it just means that "you look the part". But there are been centuries of mix up (travels, wars, occupations,etc) so you maybe look germanic, but if you are italian and grew up in Naple, you are Neapolitan. There are even places where people traditionally look different than the "normal ethnicity", just because of a visitor in the past (isolation did the rest). And in most cases is not about nationality either, it's about culture. Asking someone where they are from is an easy way to know. For example i'm swiss, a little country where the language and culture is different depending your region, so i feel i have something in common with everyone from switzerland but at the same time i can be a foreigner in my own country. Since i'm from the italian part, when abroad, i feel more "italian" and italians treat me like i'm italian too, because of the language and similar cultural background (we know and can talk about the same s#%t). I don't know why non europeans can't understand that ethnicity and culture are not the same thing.😉

[@doom-gloom]

@@elem382 no I agree, I just think that when Americans say they are Italian, they should say they are of Italian descent. I would never call myself an Italian national (I don’t live there and am still learning to speak it) but I am ethnically Italian. The reason it’s more heavily thought about here in the states is because America has so many different peoples that they need to differentiate themselves based on ethnicity. If they don’t then they’d pretty much be pretending they’re all the same ha

[@elem382]

@@doom-gloom I believe that is the reason why "europeans" seems to not understand. We get where it is coming from, and that if your family immigrated from you have a different upbringing than another one that was originally from , and ethnicity is a way to still feel connected with that. But then cultures have evolved in two separated ways. One where ethnicity it is an identity trait, and one where people don't care much about that, because countries changes and people travel and breed. 😆

[@maxpower11433]

Sono di Bolzano, più nord di così ce ne vuole 😂, e avevo sempre ignorato questa forte discriminazione nei confronti dei siciliani, arrivando addirittura a definirli "non Italiani". Sono abbastanza scioccato, mi dispiace!

[@art3mide644]

è vero anche il contrario però, ho sentito gente originaria del sud (nella fattispecie Napoli) che non considerano italiani gli altoatesini.

[@maxpower11433]

@@art3mide644 anche questo è vero!

[@texgj7595]

Hey don't forget people from Apulia when talking about Greece. I am from Brindisi, and when I had my DNA tested it turned out I'm 58.6% "Greek/Southern Italian" and 21.6% just "Italian". We also have very strong ties to Greece here! Magna Grecia included this area

[@mard9802]

I have never ever encountered anyone from Brindisi on-line. You are the first. My mom came from Brindisi and I was raised by her in Brindisino dialect. I can actually speak it quite well and went to school to learn Italian.

[@T-bone9]

I live in Canada and my my mom is also from Brindisi, born in Ostuni and raised in Pezze di Greco. Even the name of the this town shows you the Greek influence

[@valerietaylor9615]

If anyone is interested, the Greek philosopher Pythagoras was born in Sicily, which was also part of Magna Grecia.

[@Nome_utente_generico]

​@@valerietaylor9615please don't touch Pythagoras (it's the Calabrian pride)

[@denisedevoto5703]

My grandmother was from Apulia too, near Bari. She said that Northern Italians were rude to her, and that was in the 1920s. Her sons were all gorgeous with their olive skin and dark hair and eyes. Maybe others are just jealous of their beauty.

[@casa0123]

Sono capitato per caso sul tuo canale e appena ho cominciato a guardare il tuo video e ho cominciato a ridere in maniera sardonica. Io ho un nome Inglese sono nato a Roma 67 anni fa' da madre italiana padre americano con genitori scozzesi (mio padre era nato a Boston nel'23). Io mi sono considerato uno straniero dovunque ho vissuto . In Italia era un straniero per uno sbaglio all'ambasciata americana che mi ha fatto rinunciare alla cittadinanza Italiana quando avrei potuto tenere le due cittadinanze. Comunque in Italia finche' non dicevo il mio cognome nessuno lo avrebbe indovinato perche' come te il mio e' un accento romano abbastanza pronunciato. Adesso vivo a Glasgow parlo perfettamente inglese e uso lo slang Glaswigiano ma con accento Italiano che non perdero' mai. Mi incazzo un poco quando gli scozzesi cominciano a parlare lentamente quando parlano con me perche' credono che sia straniero. La cosa che mi sorprende molto e' come non perdo l'uso dell'Italiano pure se non ho l'ho occasione di usarlo molto dal vivo. Seguo molti canali Italiani. Per risponde in maniera chiara al tuo video dovrei dire che e' uno sbaglio confondere nazionalita' con uso o conoscenza di una lingua. Specialmente oggi giorno in un paese come l'Italia con persone con passaporti Italiani che parlano un Italiano perfetto anche un dialetto, ma che chiaramente la loro fisionomia fa capire che hanno sangue di altri paesi dentro di loro. Per esempio il calciatore Mario Balotelli, il colore della pelle fa capire che ci sono altre radici, quest'ultime sono certe volte la cosa che fa la differenza. Non dico questo in maniera negativa, ma come cosa di fatto. Quando ero piccolo ero stato messo a confronto e capito diverse culture e cibi ad un eta' molto precoce. Per questo rimango sempre affascinato da queste persone che hanno cosi tante "nazionalita''" dentro di loro. Per questo mi ritengo fortunato di avere un approcio molto aperto verso le persone, non aver molta pazienza con i razzisti. Qui in Scozia pur se non vogliono ammetterlo c'e' ancora del razzismo di tipo latente, che e' dovuto a mancanza di cultura. Per concludere ti do degli esempi di razzismo: un head Chef a Glasgow quando ci siamo incontrati per la prima volta mi ha detto "Se compri un giubbotto militare e ha buchi di proiettili nella schiena sai che e' di un soldato Italiano" . Una volta una pattuglia di polizia mi ha fermato perche' non usavo le freccie quando guidavo la amcchina: si andavo un po' di fretta. Il secondo poliziotto che non aveva parlato mai quando ha visto che la mia patente era stata convertita da una Italiana mi ha detto " Se fossi in lei prenederei qualche altra lezione di scuola guida " Guidavo da piu' di 20 anni. Un abbraccio e seguiro' il tuo canale😄😄😄😄

[@xxxbestplayer95xxx17]

wow complimenti, davvero un ottimo italiano scritto per uno che non lo parla quotidianamente. io ho il problema opposto vivo in italia, ma parlo male l'italiano dovendo lavorare principalmente con gente di altre nazionalità in diverse lingue, incasinandomi tutto quanto, non solo il lessico, ma anche la morfologia e l'accento... un disastro completo. 🤣

[@alessandronoto5688]

I was born in the US and both my parents are immigrants from Italy. I appreciate and love both cultures, both in the US and in Italy, and that I continue to read and write in Italian today thanks to my upbringing. I also love growing up in America and soaking up the Italian American lifestyle that I was not getting at home in the house. I’ve visited Italy many times in my life, I’ve even lived there for 2 years and I can tell you that things are changing in Italy. They don’t necessarily do certain things on holidays that we continue to do here in the US nor do they follow the big Sunday dinners that we eat at lunch time. If it continues this way, mark my words , Italian Americans will be the ones to outshine the paesans on the other side of the Atlantic with the holding onto of the old dialects that used to be spoken and the old traditions that used to be followed.

[@elfevilkitty]

It comes down to there being rude people in ALL countries from ALL nationalities. Rude knows no boundaries

[@antonichirullo1567]

O.K.

[@moniayoung3050]

Thanks for this! I travel often to Southern Italy and Sicily and when I speak Italian, with a slight American accent, and they ask me where I’m from I always say I’m American but my mom was born and raised in Napoli. They always just tell me I’m Italian and welcome me home❤ I let them decide. I’m just happy to be there. (EXCEPT when I go further north!!! 😂😂😂 It’s okay. I love them anyway! )

[@gabrielboi3465]

"EXCEPT when I go further north!!! 😂😂😂" Yeah sure, except us Lombards are the region with more UNESCO sites in all of Italy.

[@neilgriffiths6427]

Some guy in the pub told me he was Irish, I have Irish family so quite interestedly asked him "Really! Where are you from?." - to which he went completely stony-faced and did not speak to me again - i.e. he was born and bred in England... . My family roots are actually Anglo-Irish Franco-German Welsh, so I've never used the English language to describe my roots the way an American might...oh, and we have people like your Northern Italians in the UK, too, trust me...

[@kathleenhensley5951]

My mother was from a small town in Campania... she didn't want me to learn Italian, it was the old country. This was the new country... I should become American. I am afraid she failed to make me fully American. There is a part of me that will always feel Italian. A real love for all things Italian, including their history, philosophy and culture. I don't know why. Maybe past lives? Maybe the language problem is sometimes the tree gets replanted and sometimes it doesn't grow strong in foreign soil? There was a Italian American living across the street from me back in the 1970s. I was thrilled to meet a fellow Italian American in a city that didn't have so much as an Italian grocery store. She found out that my ancestors were poor illiterate Southerners and never spoke to me again, except, with obvious disdain. She was rather wealthier than my family and came from NYC and my family was poor and came from Rochester NY. My grandmother did tell me never, never marry a Sicilian. I think it was because her second husband was Sicilian. She said it in Italian so I didn't understand it and mother translated it. I always felt I lost something because I couldn't understand anything at the dinner table. Being an obedient grand daughter I married a man from Virginia.

[@HeyThreshold]

Ignorant people exist everywhere but never let their ignorance affect you: they have a problem, not you. There are historical reasons why Italians didn't teach Italian to their offspring in the US and that's a pity but you could still learn it yourself I guess. I'm from Campania, where was your mother from exactly? Ciao!

[@suzz1776]

As an American, it really bothers me when people say they r "x" American. The only people who r "x" American r people like u who were born/bred somewhere else and moved here, but if ur born in America then ur american. Like if I have to tell people who I am, I say I'm American of swiss-german ancestry. This whole topic came up with a friend of mine who is black, and I asked her why she never called herself African American (she really hated that whole thing) and she said cuz she is not African, she is American with Nigerian ancestry. She said to be proud of where ur from but u can also be proud of who ur ancestors r, but since ur not an immigrant, ur american, and u should be damn well proud of that since there r so many people wanting to come here, risk their lives to get here, and others just can't. So be proud of where u come from. She is a very smart lady.

[@marcomontella6006]

That's interesting. Don't you think that the whole thing, I mean, keeping considering oneself "x" American and not simply American, is reason for social tensions. I mean, todays America, as seen from abroad, seems quite a divided society. I'm wondering if this kind of behviour toward own identity is part of the game.

[@suzz1776]

@@marcomontella6006 I wouldn't be surprised if it was. As a proud American, it really pisses me off how the country is so divided and how it seems like the people running the place and the elites r doing this on purpose, divide and conquer, and it seems like most people r too stupid to see if.

[@deiniou]

Well you have cleared up a life long frustration I have had when people in the US say they are German, or Irish or whetever. When I heard that I used to think to myself "no you are not, you could not be more american!" To be spanish, for example, means more than the language, means two kisses to greet, means dinner at 9pm, means dipping the toast in the coffe for breakfast, means doing all you can to work less, etc. But now I see how they use that expression, I will no longer be frustrated, although I would prefer if they used the phrase you came up with. Anyway as always bravissimo.

[@SicilianCuisine]

exactly my point!!! Well said bro!

[@giulianopisciottano8302]

Why do all the things you mentioned apply to us Italians (from my zone at least) as well? Lol.

[@deiniou]

@@giulianopisciottano8302 mediterránean people my brother

[@Gabi_Citterio]

​@@giulianopisciottano8302 except the 9pm dinner part

[@giulianopisciottano8302]

@@Gabi_Citterio i do have dinner at 8-9 pm tho most people here do

[@Tulkash01]

This video is spot on, especially with the northern vs southern Italian divide. I’m from Trentino-Alto Adige, The nothermost Italian Region. I would never dream to tell someone from a southern Region he’s not Italian but I know people (with very specific political ideas, I might add) who would at least think that. From an historical point of view the IDEA of Italy is old (it was actually a pretty relevant point of contention during the Roman Empire… to give or not to give Italian people Roman citizenship?) but for a long list of reasons Italy did not develop into a unitary nation until the late 1800s. The Country IS divided and the differences are staggering, especially from an economic point of view. Cultural differences exist but in my experience there are also similarities (not all of them positive!). Long story short, in my personal opinion being Italian is something one should take pride in BUT only after having understood andearned it, and most people who live in Italy have not done either of those things.

[@ericafilippo9755]

I usually say, “I miei bisnonni sono di Cosenza.” That often starts a nice conversation. And even though I have dual citizenship, I am obviously American. It is an interesting phenomena how diaspora are interested in their origins, whereas people whose ancestors haven’t left a country in hundreds and hundreds of years just don’t get that connection we have.

[@silviacaniglia1415]

Cosenza mentioned!

[@mtt8881]

Cosenza? I am so sorry to hear that, thoughts and prayers for you😔

[@luisal.5861]

I'm from Cosenza and it's always nice to see someone related to my city!

[@glucausa625]

Hi, I was born and raised in Italy and Legally migrated to this wonderful country with a working visa when I was 27. My personal opinion on being Italian / Italian American is purely based on culture and attitude. Let me give you an example: Kobe Bryant, had not even a drop of Italian blood in his DNA, however, thanks to the time he spent in Reggio Emilia (Italy) that involved a large part of his life, he spoke Italian and acted like one. When I hear his interviews in Italian I don’t feel any difference than hearing someone speaking from my home town or any other part in Italy. Being Italian is an attitude and a culture thing rather than some DNA genes. If your name is Tony Scogliamiglio and you look like me but you grew around white Americans from Arkansas you won’t likely be considered Italian at all but just an American. God Bless America 🇺🇸❤ 🇮🇹

[@333maddoxtj333]

Bel video, però consiglierei di posizionare qualcosa intorno al tuo setup per limitare la dispersione e l'eco della stanza, anche solo delle coperte per creare un cubicolo fanno miracoli

[@IIARROWS]

I'm Italian but I also consider myself African, as at least thousands of years ago my ancestors were from Africa. If it sounds absurd it's because it is. At what point are you still part of an ethnic group?

[@monalisadavinci7076]

I'm also 2.5% Neanderthal and 1% Denisovan

[@belstar1128]

I consider myself a fish because .400 million years ago my ancestors where fish.

[@erictsagiannidis4051]

As long as you fall into the genetic cluster for that ethnic group.

[@monalisadavinci7076]

And originally 🐟

[@IIARROWS]

@@erictsagiannidis4051 You may notice that genetic diversity for humans is very, very narrow. It's much closer than most other species, including many other primates. The only differences on genetic level are just a bunch of sparse genes. How many genes are we talking about for your approach? 1? 10?

[@SicilianCuisine]

this is SPOT ON, it is the problem I always have to explain to Americans of Italian origins not just for the reason you have said, but also because the culture, the mentality and the habits are completely different. It has nothing to do with being rude, but if you are not born and bred here, if you don't speak the language, if you barely know the lifestyle and culture, to me you are not Italian. Sorry! On top of that if you eat meatball spaghetti and pepperoni pizza, you are definitely not Italian! Also being Sicilian myself, just like you, you should have mentioned the case of Sicilians from SICILY (let's make that clear) saying we are Sicilians, we are not Italians, because unfortunately there are some of those as well (not sure I can call them a minority). Once I had some very arrogant American arguing with me about this because I wrote it in a blog post and she said "we say Sicily is not Italy, because Italy colonized Sicily in 1860 by force". Unfortunately Italy wasn't even born yet. So irritating!

[@giovanniserafino1731]

You have certainly opened a “ Pandora’s box!” My grandparents went to America in 1925. My parents born in the USA were son and daughter of Italian immigrants which according to Italian law made them Italian citizens. Being born after 1948, I was recognized by the local Italian consulate as a citizen of Italy “de jure sanguinis.” I have an Italian passport and vote in Italian elections. I speak fluent standard Italian and visit Italy every year. When I visit my family in Italy, even though I am an Italian citizen like all my family , I am always introduced as” nostro cugino americano!” Unless you are born and raised in Italy, no matter what your legal status may be, you will always be considered a foreigner by Italians, even by family members! Americans born in the United States of Italian ancestry are not Italian,. They will always be first and primarily Americans of Italian ancestry. Unfortunately, the majority of them do not speak Italian. They can not even pronounce their Italian family name correctly. Most have never been to Italy, and certainly very few know anything about Italian history or culture; other than they eat “ spaghetti and meatballs “ on Sundays! It is absolutely absurd for them to consider themselves “Italian!”

[@SicilianCuisine]

and spaghetti and meatballs are also considered an Italian American dish here. Maybe in some other parts of Italy was actually eaten back then.

[@lucalex4271]

If it means anything to you, they probably call you the american cousin because it sounds more interesting, and it's also a good way to introduce you than to say you're just italian, since it can lead to interesting conversations.

[@Lekeleke23]

Yeah, in most of Western Europe Italian, Spanish, German, etc. have to do with culture rather than with ancestry. For instance, for us, someone born in, idk, Burkina Faso, that has been raised in Spain is as Spanish as someone born in Madrid. When we ask where are you from, we are really saying "where were you raised".

[@littlemouse7066]

And spaghetti and meatballs don't exist in Italy lol.

[@giovanniserafino1731]

@@littlemouse7066 Actually “ spaghetti and meatballs“ as often prepared in the USA by some Italian American families and others is unknown in Italy . Yes, you can find spaghetti in Italy and a type of “meatball” but they would never be served on the same plate as one meal. Italians consider pasta a first course followed by a second course consisting of meat or fish generally served with side dishes of vegetables. Salad, as in most Mediterranean countries is served after the meal, and never at the beginning. Although popular in Italian American restaurants in the states, in Italy you would never find pasta and meat on the same plate, either at home or in a real Italian restaurant. In fact, Italians would consider such a combination not only odd but somewhat unappetizing. It would be like putting peanut butter and jelly on sirloin steak! 😂

[@marcoalessiopellegrini8994]

I grew up in Italy and in the USA and I can certainly tell you that the so called " Italian American couture and identity " it is something existing primarily around NY . New jersey and Philadelphia . That is were such communities really count and have a real voice with a real definibile identity been known and heard. On the west coast or in the south of the USA having Italian origins means almost nothing in comparison to other nationalities and could also be s complication differently in a place like NY where it can certainly be a plus.

[@FJB45]

You left out Florida bro, especially Tampa !!!!

[@lucianomezzetta4332]

You are 100% wrong. Being of Italian origin in San Francisco is a badge of honor. Italians had a big hand in making that city.

[@LP-ho9ty]

The Italian-American concept does not exist in Italy. It is rather “American with Italian ancestry”

[@asarsp3542]

I am Portuguese and the exact same thing applies to us. It’s always confusing when Portuguese-Americans say they’re Portuguese but it’s all just a misunderstanding

[@kogoromori30]

I'm a Portuguese-German. I always say I'm of "Portuguese origin" rather than Portuguese. Makes no sense to me to claim that I'm from Portugal when I'm not.

[@MW_Asura]

Oh god now the Americans are after us too 😂. They're Americans that just happen to speak Portuguese, that's it.

[@GilBeloGil]

I'm Portuguese too (born and raised), but when Portuguese-Americans tell me their Portuguese, I'm used to it already, and generally don't expect to get spoken in Portuguese back. But I always love to meet them, to me they are still Portuguese

[@kenos911]

Portuguese American is just Brazilian… This is a joke plz don’t kill m

[@NoName-yw1pt]

They like to say they found America

[@cifani3f]

Chi è nato e cresciuto in America , è Americano.

[@nathanjames4734]

As an American of Chinese descent (with absolutely no dog in this fight) I've read a lot of the online commentary about the Italian vs. Italian American debate. Frankly, other than the sheer entertainment of reading the angry messages between Americans of Italian descent and Italians, one thing I find interesting is the fact that no one (in particular Europeans) seem to understand the difference between the terms nationality and ethnicity. Nationality is the country in which you reside/hold citizenship of. Ethnicity is the genetic/religious/cultural group with whom you share an affiliation with. For example, I'm an American (i.e., my nationality) but am ethnically Chinese (i.e., the cultural group with which I share ancestry/culture - I speak the language, eat the cuisine, celebrate certain holidays/traditions etc.).

[@tkps]

You give good personal examples but yours are a minority and it doesn't make you Chinese. Almost all Americans identifying as X American tend to know less about the places they identify with than we do and it's not us who interchange ethnicity & nationality ("when I speak to Italians I leave the 'American' out" as if they wouldn't know??) so I dispute your view we don't understand the differences. We just question the American need to use them. Amongst yourselves? Fine. Export it? We'll have opinions. If one's culture is the 'odd man out', it's not for others to adapt. We prefer integration over separation via qualifying ethnic 'identifiers'.

[@nathanjames4734]

@@tkps You'll need to clarify certain aspects of your answer before I can respond in full. Also, so you know, I have degrees in Geography and Anthropology and have traveled to 50+ countries so yes, I do know more about this subject than most Europeans and Americans. 1.) You state, "Almost all Americans identifying as X American tend to know less about the places they identify with than we do and it's not us who interchange ethnicity & nationality." Who is "we"? Are you trying to say that you're European? You don't clarify who "we" is referring to. You also state that "Americans tend to know less about the places they identify with than we do." If that is what you're saying, are you seriously asserting that you know more about, for example, China, than I do because you're European? 2.) You also state, "It's not us who interchange ethnicity & nationality." Yes it is you. It's both Americans and Europeans who are guilty of this. I defined nationality as the passport/citizenship you hold. That's an academic textbook definition of nationality. However, most Italians still won't consider an Italian American as an Italian EVEN IF they hold Italian citizenship. Italians claim that you have to be born and raised in Italy in the modern Italian culture in order to be considered Italian. That's placing more emphasis on one's "ethnicity" (i.e., cultural role in personal identity) in defining who is and who is not Italian. However, do Italians consider an African person living in Italy who doesn't hold Italian citizenship, Italian? Many Italians would not. But at the same time do Italians consider someone raised by Italian parents with strong Italian cultural influences (food, religion, language) in New York City Italian? I'm guessing the answer is also no. By claiming that one has to be both a passport holder from Italy and be born and raised in Italian culture that's CONFLATING ethnicity and nationality in defining who is Italian. 3.) Lastly, you state, "You give good personal examples but yours are a minority and it doesn't make you Chinese." Yes - my views are in the minority because I have an academic and accurate understanding of terms related to personal identity. Once again you conflate "nationality" and "ethnicity". I never claimed to be "Chinese" by nationality (i.e., I don't hold Chinese citizenship). However, I'm still a member of the Han Chinese ethnic group by virtue of being born of Chinese ancestry and having Chinese cultural influences. In my first sentence I said "I'm an American of Chinese descent" indicating that I'm an American (nationality) and that it was my grandparents, not me, who were Chinese nationals and part of the Han Chinese ethnic group. Chinese people (from China) have a different view of personal identity than Europeans do. Chinese people more often than not view overseas Chinese as still being "Chinese" despite not holding PRC citizenship. I've been to China multiple times, I speak Mandarin with very little accent, I'm familiar with the food, customs, and history. Chinese people accept me as still being Chinese even though I'm an American and live abroad.

[@milena39]

​@@nathanjames4734I'm Italian and to me an Italian is someone whose nationality and culture is Italian. So, even a Nigerian born in Italy is Italian to me. I don't have anything in common with people who live thousands of kilometers away who say they're Italian but then don't speak the language, don't eat the same food as me, didn't have my same experiences (going to school here, watching the same tv shows and programs, etc.), don't have the same costumes and way of looking at life.

[@milena39]

​​@@nathanjames4734ell, if you actually were informed about the matter as you said you were you would know that in Italy (more like the whole Europe), blood doesn't matter at all. It's the culture that defines what you are. For example, my dad is from Puglia (a specific region in the South of Italy) but I consider myself Friulana (someone from the region of Friuli, North-east of Italy) since I've lived here my whole life. I speak the dialect of my region and eat the typical food of my region. When I go to visit my relatives in Puglia they don't see me as one of them, because I'm not. I grew up in the North so I have a different way of doing things, of eating, habits, etc. The place where you are born is fundamental in shaping your whole persona. I don't have the same experiences as Italian Americans, they go to an American school, they speak a different language, they go to American supermarkets, they eat American food, and entrain themselves in different ways.

[@manuelmed98]

You have a degree in Anthropology and yet definitions are arbitrary and you take yours in an essentialist way. There's no one definition of nationality, only definitions as recognized by a diverse range of institutions, and for sure, a debate about which definition is the most convenient. And regarding ethnicity, very few people if any could be considered to only be of ONE ethnicity. It makes no sense to treat ethnicity as concrete. If anything, in this debate Italians usually give more importance to the cultural factor of "ethnicity", which is more straight-forward and logically consistent (though not fully). Italian Americans give more importance to the Italian genetic factor, whilst ignoring they haven't been endogamous so they probably have a huge amount of ancestry from other ethnicities within the American melting pot too, and then try and put their "Italian" culture and today's Italy's culture on the same level.

[@Reazzurro90]

I hope if Stephen watches this video he understands that "Italian Italians" are generally overjoyed when they realize Italian-Americans are becoming interested in their authentic roots. Don't give up in embracing your Italian identity, you'll be amazed at how Italians will welcome you and help you in your efforts. Metatron makes an excellent and often unconsidered point regarding the linguistic barrier - Italians see discussion of nationality as a primarily citizenship issue rather than an ancestral one. I was born in Catania in Sicily but grew up primarily in the US, so I kind of straddle the line between "Italian Italian" and "Italian-American." Typically if an Italian-American visits Italy, I recommend also just saying that you are "italoamericano" and an Italian would instantly understand what you're talking about. Superb video by Metatron.

[@avagliona]

Great video as always, i'm here to thank you cause i watch your videos to improve my English(and of course because of the great contents)and as a Italian native speaker i find easier to learn from people who speak good English with no native accent