Percent Italian for Sicilians

[darkerhorse]

What's the highest percent Italian you've seen from a DNA test for someone in your family with Sicilian ancestry?

[darkerhorse]

Anyone get 100%?

[darkerhorse]

95%?

[MarcuccioV]

I can't speak directly for the Sicilian -- but -- I have an Ancestry match (14 cM) who shows as 68% Southern Italian (which includes Sicily) and 32% Northern Italian. This is the highest (100%) that I have found PERIOD. Unfortunately she has no trees and isn't responding to messages. A couple of others are 97-98% mixed Italian. One that is 97% (the other 3% isn't listed) has a Sicilian father (I match on her mother's side). She is 76% Southern Italy and 21% north...

[darkerhorse]

Thanks for the feedback.

What percent Italian stands out to you as an extreme result in DNA testing?

[MarcuccioV]

Thanks for the feedback.

What percent Italian stands out to you as an extreme result in DNA testing?

Unfortunately my Italian matches are few & far between. I only have a small handful in the 90+ percentile range.

I'd consider 95% as extreme.

I just got a new match today that is 88% southern Italian (NO northern), & 99% total Italian/Latin/Med (1% Germanic). I've messaged him as well but no response yet. No trees to examine.

[darkerhorse]

That sounds high to me, given the influence of other ancestries in Italy.

I would think 95%+ is rare, but maybe I'm thinking of Sicilians.

I suppose many mainland Italians have 95% or more Italian heritage, especially if the DNA testing captures only more recent generations.

[MarcuccioV]

That sounds high to me, given the influence of other ancestries in Italy.

I would think 95%+ is rare, but maybe I'm thinking of Sicilians.

I suppose many mainland Italians have 95% or more Italian heritage, especially if the DNA testing captures only more recent generations.

For specifically Sicilians, you are probably correct. Even for me I have a little Balkan/Caucasian/W Asian mixed in as well. But much of Southern Italy (and Sicily to an extreme) have had so much influx of other invaders/migrators/conquerors, etc that I'm not even sure what constitutes "Italian" or "Sicilian" anymore short of (as you said) recent generations who have remained in one place through enough generations for older DNA to have diluted its way out...

[Beatles78]

I can't speak directly for the Sicilian -- but -- I have an Ancestry match (14 cM) who shows as 68% Southern Italian (which includes Sicily) and 32% Northern Italian. This is the highest (100%) that I have found PERIOD. Unfortunately she has no trees and isn't responding to messages. A couple of others are 97-98% mixed Italian. One that is 97% (the other 3% isn't listed) has a Sicilian father (I match on her mother's side). She is 76% Southern Italy and 21% north...

My Nana (who lived to be 102) shows 56% Northern Italy on Ancestry and 38% Southern Italy.

[Palermo Trapani]

My recent Ancestry is 65% Southern Italian and 5% Northern Italian. I get 24% Greek-Albanian and 2% Greek-Agean. 2% Levant and 1% Northern Europe (Irish, I think it is really a Norman signal) and 1% North African.

There are lots of DNA studies on Italian genetics. All Italian regions harbor significant Early European Farmer source ancestry based on a paper by Raveane et al 2019 "Population structure of modern-day Italians reveals patterns of ancient and archaic ancestries in Southern Europe" ranging from 55% in Calabria to 72% in North Italy (Lombardy I think it is). Components found in throughout all Italy include Western European Hunter Gather (WHG), Eastern European Hunter Gather (EHG, think Steppe ancestry) and Caucus Hunter Gather (CHG) ancestry. Iran-Neolithic signals are found in Southern Italy along with a North African component, found in Southern Italy and Sicily, also in Sardinia in amounts at about 4% on average.

In PCA cluster analyis, Sicilians cluster with Southern Regions (Campania, Calabria, Basilicata, and Puglia) and Central Italians, other than Tuscans plot in an intermediate cluster, but closer to the Southern Cluster. Tuscans plot more with Northern. See Figures 1 and 2 in paper cited above.

So with respect to Italian vs. Sicilian DNA, there is no such thing, they all share the same ancestral components for the most part, with different admixture percentages. Based on those admixture ratios, you can use perhaps Dodecad 12B or MDLP16 or Eurogenes K13, K15 to see what populations in Italy you are closest to, assuming 100% of your ancestors are from somewhere in Italy.