I’d be interested in looking at the genetics of (Christian) southern Europeans in general, especially Greeks and Italians. You’d probably find an interesting mix of characteristic European haplotypes and Middle Eastern ones (thanks to Phoenicians/Carthaginians/Moors, etc). You certainly see it in the people: I’ve known some people from Sicily and Naples who look like Vikings and others who look like Arabs.
We’re ALL mutts......................
Sometimes in the same family!
There's an Italian religious festival in Williamburg, Brooklyn that uses a local resident to portray a character known as "The Turk." He wears an outlandish turban and brandishes a sword from a boat carried on the shoulders of about 100 men. (Yours truly performed this service on 1 occasion over 15 yrs. ago.)
The honor of playing "The Turk" usually goes to a guy with black hair, beard, and eyes and the most extreme aquiline nose. Apparently they have no trouble finding a parish member who possesses these characteristics.
And others who have African features.
The Vikings, the group often referred to as Normans, established a presence in Sicily and southern Italy in the 11th century. Being social people, I presume they socialized with the local population. As did Arabs who arrived later.
“You certainly see it in the people: I’ve known some people from Sicily and Naples who look like Vikings and others who look like Arabs.”
Bari was the capital, for Norman controlled southern Italy. Normans were French speaking Vikings.
My MIL is from Bari, is 5’8” at age 86 after normal shrinkage. Her sister had light brown hair.
My wife’s cousin in Bari, married a pretty local blonde girl.
My motto: Italian women, German cars, Mexican food, Irish music.
I just learned (slow on pop culture pickup) that Jennifer Anniston is Greek, with ancestry from Crete. So it looks like some of those Vikings hit Crete!
The Irish-American family my mother grew up in had 12 children with diverse genes. Some very light blonde, others almost raven-haired; some tall, some short. ALL, tho, had very fair skin and very blue eyes. Beyond that, it was some crazy mix.