Sicilian phenotypes BY REGION.. my comprehensive guide to the island and its types!

[Sikeliot]

A small land like Sicily doesn't has that many differences.

The meaningful differences, I would have said nowadays, are:

- More Armenoid and Norid in the west
- More Berid on the south coast
- More Pontid in the southeast

and the rest are the same.

[Akragas]

Very impressed with your indepth analysis of the region and it's people. I have learned a great deal form reading this post.

[Sikeliot]

Very impressed with your indepth analysis of the region and it's people. I have learned a great deal form reading this post.

Do you agree with my analysis?

What I think is clear is that there are different regions of Sicily with different looks, though I now would say, a bit different from before, that:

- Messina and Catania look like Cretans and Dodecanese island Greeks -- East Med "Aegean" type looks
- Syracuse, Ragusa, southern Caltanissetta, and the eastern part of Agrigento province look like southern mainland Greeks (Peloponnese?) -- more Dinaric, Alpine, and other Balkan influences
- The western half of Agrigento (Sciacca and whereabouts), inland Caltanssetta, and roughly half of Palermitans look distinctly Levantine/North African/Mesopotamian influenced
- Trapani and the rest of Palermitans look more Western European influenced mixed with Levantine, and less "Mediterranean". Maybe similar to Ashkenazi Jews

[Akragas]

As I understand it, there were migrations from East to the West. I discovered that my family originated from Messina and migrated to Agrigento around 1200 or so. The greeks, who were I guess Byzantines at that time? moved around the island between the different colonies. I'ts hard to tell, but what I have seen in my travels and from my own family that there is a real mix, some red heads, blues eyes light skinned, brown eyes dark skinned, a real mix no matter where you go on the island. I gather it use to be more notable historically but this has likely changed over time. I am by no way an expert, this is just my perspective. That being said, your assessment does seem reasonable based on where the inhabitants likely originated from. When I go back to Sicily I will definitely be paying closer attention.

[Sikeliot]

As I understand it, there were migrations from East to the West. I discovered that my family originated from Messina and migrated to Agrigento around 1200 or so. The greeks, who were I guess Byzantines at that time? moved around the island between the different colonies. I'ts hard to tell, but what I have seen in my travels and from my own family that there is a real mix, some red heads, blues eyes light skinned, brown eyes dark skinned, a real mix no matter where you go on the island. I gather it use to be more notable historically but this has likely changed over time. I am by no way an expert, this is just my perspective. That being said, your assessment does seem reasonable based on where the inhabitants likely originated from. When I go back to Sicily I will definitely be paying closer attention.

What phenotypical differences do you notice between the people of Sicily and of Greece? I think that light pigmented people in both ethnicities look very different, with some Greeks looking Eastern European in a way not typical for Sicily.

[Akragas]

There are many phenotypical similarities between Southern Italians in general, and Greek. For the most part It is difficult for me to distinguish that much of a difference but for the most I would say there tend to be more Greeks with lighter skin then Southern Italians. And as far as I can tell there is no way to tell the difference between southern Italians for example, someone from Calabria, Sicily or Naples. From Naples south the genetic makeup of these people are very similar. I challenge anyone to pick out a person from Calabri, or Sicily from a group of Southern Italians you can't we look the same.

[aherne]

I think you tend to over-estimate the non-European component. Most Sicilians look European and as such, they would fit FAR better as Romanian than Tunisian.

Take this casting from central Sicily:


^ They could easily be Bulgarian. Only two would pass unnoticed in Tunisia, while pretty much all the rest would be assumed as tourists.

Teenagers from Enna:

^ Once again, looking very Italian, but passing all across (Southern) Europe

[Ilma]

PALERMO and TRAPANI.

Palermo deserves its own section due to the variety of phenotypes, historical settlement diversity, and being the most populous part of the island. But I will include Trapani due to similar historical circumstances and that they neighbor.

The first historical settlement was by the Elymians, a group of unknown origin who are presumably from Anatolia. Genetic data would support this given the relatively high frequency of Caucasus-type haplogroup G on the paternal side in western Sicily. The Elymians founded Eryx (Erice), Segesta, and Entella, all of which would be later Hellenized.

Next came the Phoenicians from Lebanon, who founded the city of Palermo. They controlled the trade on the northwestern coast of the island, which would later be passed to their successors, the Carthaginians. The Phoenicians maintained good relations with the Elymians, while the Greeks did not due to their desire to expand across the entire island.

Moorish influence in the Middle Ages brought Muslims from North Africa and Syria as well as their culture to the western half of the island, and although they would later conquer all but Syracuse, their primary area of influence was in Palermo. Although most Moors were expelled, those who remained did assimilate and there is an approximately 6% influence on the paternal side of the gene pool from the Arabian Peninsula (J1) and NW Africa (North African E1b1b).

Normans conquered next, forcing out Muslims who refused to assimilate, and settling primarily in Palermo and northern Trapani. They repopulated several towns with people from Northern Italy as well as Calabria and Campania.

All of these groups, as well as the Greeks who settled, would have a genetic impact as well as phenotypical.


Common types include Levantine-influenced (Gracile and East) Meds, sometimes with Armenoid influence:




Norid/Nordo-Med types that show Norman and/or northern Italian influence:




Dinaro-East Med types who look Greek, who resemble the people of the Aegean islands:



And South-Med influenced Cromagnids who look vaguely "North African" -- a similar type is found in the Canary islands:





Overlapping groups: Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews, Coastal NW Africans (Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco), Canarian Spaniards, islander and southern Greeks, Cypriots, Lebanese, northern Italians, and French.

Thanks a lot for your work and thanks from me to take time to talk about Norman imput in Sicilia !!! As a Normand I can tell you the Norid sample here reminds a lot common phenotypes we can find here in Normandy today.

[Sikeliot]

I think you tend to over-estimate the non-European component. Most Sicilians look European and as such, they would fit FAR better as Romanian than Tunisian.

Take this casting from central Sicily:


^ They could easily be Bulgarian. Only two would pass unnoticed in Tunisia, while pretty much all the rest would be assumed as tourists.

Tunisia might not be the best point of comparison as many of them have SSA input and more Cromagnid influence. But I can say confidently that Sicily has the highest post-Neolithic West Asian input and the lowest NE Euro/Baltic element in Europe for the most part.

My phenotype is not exotic for the island (you've seen me) and I am perceived as Middle Eastern but that might just be American ignorance. On dating apps, I get asked at least once a week if I am "Arabic" because some guy wants to know about my ancestry from my photo.

Of the women you posted, they probably fit best in the Aegean like in Kalymnos or Rhodes but I do think a number of them could pass as Armenian, Assyrian, and Lebanese, at least better than as Tunisian. If Romanians look like that, they have more West Asian input than I would have assumed. The difference between Sicilians and mainland Greeks is the NE European/BaltoSlavic input I think.

The phenotypes that could pass in Tunisia would be more likely found in western Sicily, not in Enna (see the last part of the Trapani photos, there are 4 men who IMO do look North African and I said that in the post). In fact, a y-dna study found that the people in Enna largely have Balkan y-dna, most likely from Greece.

[Alessio]

Tunisia might not be the best point of comparison as many of them have SSA input and more Cromagnid influence. But I can say confidently that Sicily has the highest post-Neolithic West Asian input and the lowest NE Euro/Baltic element in Europe for the most part.

My phenotype is not exotic for the island (you've seen me) and I am perceived as Middle Eastern but that might just be American ignorance. On dating apps, I get asked at least once a week if I am "Arabic" because some guy wants to know about my ancestry from my photo.

Of the women you posted, they probably fit best in the Aegean like in Kalymnos or Rhodes but I do think a number of them could pass as Armenian, Assyrian, and Lebanese, at least better than as Tunisian. If Romanians look like that, they have more West Asian input than I would have assumed. The difference between Sicilians and mainland Greeks is the NE European/BaltoSlavic input I think.

The phenotypes that could pass in Tunisia would be more likely found in western Sicily, not in Enna (see the last part of the Trapani photos, there are 4 men who IMO do look North African and I said that in the post). In fact, a y-dna study found that the people in Enna largely have Balkan y-dna, most likely from Greece.

It makes you straight again looking at these photo's, don't lie

It's definitely ignorance on the part of the non Southern Euro descended Americans. I experience the same thing here in North Western Europe.