Do Italians think of themselves as Romans? (country, people, characteristics)
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Well Italians don't equal Romans, Romans where from Rome and surrounds who conquered Italy and much of the Mediterranean world and Europe. However, many Italians, especially in Rome itself, still feel proud of Rome's glory and heirs to the original Romans. After all, Rome is also still the centre of the Roman Catholic Church.
It depends on what part of Italy they're from . Some think of themselves as Etruscans. There were regional populations with their own characteristics and identities.
No.
We are proud of Rome and "In the heart" we consider them our "fathers" but nobody could identify himself as a Roman.
We are their descendants, yes, but modified throughout the course of history.
No. Italians do not consider themselves Romans (or at least not those who don't have a long lineage of living in Rome). Actually the thing that we Americans do not understand is that humans have been inhabiting Italy for well over 30,000 years and many ancient tribes greatly predate those of Roman Civilization. I am an Italian American and have lived in Italy for nearly 3 years in Abruzzo.
I can tell you the inland area of Abruzzo (the province of Aquila) the ancient people who lived in this area were called "MARSI" and the area was known as "Marsica" if you go towards the coast of Abruzzo (the province of Pescara and Teramo) the ancient peoples who lived here were known as "FRENTANI" as you head towards the southern part of Abruzzo you get an yet another group of ancient people who called themselves "Sanniti" there is even a town called Cannosa Sannita named after this ancient tribe. Actually there are may towns in Italy that also predate Rome. In Abruzzo alone the cities of Chieti and Teramo were founded well before Rome. Also, the largest city in the south of Abruzzo called Vasto was founded by the Romans and was called ISTONIUM. The interesting thing I realized about Italians is this: since Italy as we know it wasn't a unified country until 1861 Italians are far more bound to their city and region then they are to Italy as a whole. For instance when I lived in Pescara the people would tell you they are "Pescarese" long before they tell you they are Italian. This is true for cities, towns, and regions throughout Italy. Also, I gave you the names of ancient tribes in Abruzzo but their have been ancient tribes and people living throughout the whole of Italy which again predate Roman Civilization. Lastly I will leave you with this: there is a subspecies of brown bear particular only to Abruzzo in the province of Aquila and it is called ORSO MARSICANO. Orso=Bear Mariscano= Adjective for the ancient tribe of people living in this region.
Well it was Mussolini that tried to sell this whacker, that the Italians were the new ancient Romans and its fascist regime was the heir of the Roman Empire.
After his demise, it is only logical that Italians do not want to identify themselves as ancient Romans, because that would be tantamount to identify themselves as fascists.
And in the end the Italian mindset derives from the Renaissance not from the Romans times, meaning that we feel loyalty to our city/province/region much more than to Italy as a whole, and we consider ourselves great artists but mediocre warriors.
We are proud of our roman past. Our culture, language (romance languages) and some blood is spread everywhere in the ancient territories of the empire.
Italians feel just as proud as the British do about their past Empire. I am from Tuscany and know that my ancestors were probably Etruscan that became Roman citizens (and we taught the Romans almost everything) much like the Scots became British and are just as proud of the British Empire as the English.
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