It is estimated that there are 1,0 ... living in the world. over 80 million people of Italian originIt's a figure that exceeds the population of Italy itself: a parallel nation, scattered across every continent, held together not by geographical borders but by something more subtle and more resilient—memory, language, food, surnames, the stories of those who have left.
A history spanning one hundred and fifty years
Modern Italian emigration has deep roots. The first great wave—what historians call the Great Emigration —begins after the unification of Italy and continues until the First World War. Between 1876 and 1915, approximately 14 million people leave Italy, almost all from the South and Northeast: farmers, laborers, and miners fleeing poverty, famine, and a land insufficient to feed their families. The Americas, the mines of Belgium and Germany, and the factories of Switzerland and France await them.
The second great wave arrived after World War II. In the 1950s and 1960s, Italy was a devastated country, and once again hundreds of thousands of Italians boarded trains and ships. This time, the main destination was Northern Europe: West Germany, Switzerland, Belgium—where in 1956 the Marcinelle tragedy claimed the lives of 262 miners, 136 of them Italians. But they also set off for Australia, Canada, Venezuela, and Argentina. It was the era of cardboard suitcases, handwritten letters, and remittances sent home to build an extra room.
Where did the Italians go?
The country with the largest community of Italian descendants in the world is Brazil: it is estimated that between 25 and 30 million Brazilians have Italian ancestry, concentrated primarily in the southern states—Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná—and in the megalopolis of São Paulo. Argentina follows, where approximately 40-50% of the population boasts Italian ancestry, for an estimated total of between 20 and 25 million people. In the United States alone, censuses record approximately 17 million Americans of Italian descent, heirs of those who landed at Ellis Island between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In Europe, postwar Germany hosted over a million Italian workers, many of whom remained there with their families. Switzerland, France, Belgium, and the United Kingdom each have Italian communities numbering hundreds of thousands. Australia—particularly Melbourne and Sydney—also became a second home for many postwar Italians.
Today, according to data from AIRE (Registry of Italians Resident Abroad), there are approximately 6 million Italian citizens officially residing outside the country. However, this is a partial figure: it does not take into account those who have acquired citizenship of their host country, nor the generations born abroad who have lost their bureaucratic ties to Italy while retaining their cultural and emotional ties.
The thread that doesn't break
Over the generations, the bond with Italy doesn't dissolve. It transforms, it layers, it sometimes becomes mythologized—but it remains. Those who grew up in Argentina with a Calabrian grandfather recognize the aroma of Sunday ragù. Those with Venetian roots in Brazil still speak a dialect that disappeared from their homeland. Those born to immigrants in Germany return on vacation to their great-grandparents' hometown and feel simultaneously from there and here.
This sense of dual belonging—to the land of origin and the land of arrival—is one of the richest and most complex human experiences. It is nostalgia, but also pride. It is the weight of what has been left behind, but also the strength of those who have been able to start over.
What you will find in this channel
On this channel, we chronicle Italians around the world: their stories, the communities they've built, the traditions they've brought with them, and those they've reinvented far from home. We follow cultural initiatives, associations of Italians abroad, and projects that keep the connection with Italy alive. And we also observe the contemporary phenomenon—that of young people leaving the Bel Paese in search of opportunities, bringing a new Italian identity to the world, different from that of their grandparents but no less authentic. Because the story of Italians around the world isn't over: it's still being written, every day, in every corner of the planet.