Ethnicity, Language, & Religion of Italy
Ethnicity
Italians are an ethnic group which is quite varied from one region to the next, but arguably one ethnic group none-the-less. The common thread among them is their ties to Rome in the ancient times and the Latinization and unification of the entire peninsula, making transportation more easily accessible. For the most part, ethnic Italians are simply a combination of all the local people on the peninsula at that time and those who arrived due to the wide-reaching net of the Roman Empire. Italians are, therefore, essentially a combination of the indigenous people like the Etruscans and the settlers who arrive at various times, like the Greeks, Jews, Germans, and other Mediterranean people. Sometimes the Italians are considered Latin in an ethnic sense so are related, to varying degrees, to other Latin people, including the Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Romanians among others.
Language
Italian is the official language of Italy. This language is a Latin-based language, commonly referred to as a Romance language today. Although based on Latin, having been in contact with many different languages and cultures over time, Italian today is quite different from Latin and is perhaps more closely related to French, which is also related to Latin. More distant languages include Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian.