Are there any Greek traditions that come from Italy?

[ssherie_]

What are some Greek cultural traditions that are straight out of Italy! Una faccia una razza!

 

[Worldwide Greeks Editor]

That is a great question!! I have never heard of any Greek traditions that have originated from Italy. If anyone else know of any, please chime in

 

[Blue & White]

The Italians are the Chinese of Europe, they have copied everything from the Greeks!

 

[ellinasgolfer0320]

I'm sure there are, especially in Kerkyra (it was a part of Italy) and Syros (the religion on this island is Catholic), but I don't know what they are.

 

[Blue & White]

The Italians even copied pizza from the Greeks

 

[amygdalE]

The Italians are the Chinese of Europe, they have copied everything from the Greeks!

The Italians... Wait : Italy was originally part of the Proto-Greek Ekoumene, occupied by P-Gr. migrants, where they evolved into the Etruscans, the Latins, the Apulians, etc.(with their respective language and culture). Then, in the first millennium B.C., the Aegean/Helladic Greeks [Hellenes] colonised southern Italy ["Magna Graecia"] and Sicily. These should be called Italic Greeks; they themselves coined the term Oyitalia or Italia -- which was later applied to the whole peninsula, The Italians are mainly Greeks to begin with and produced more original culture than they copied (within the Ekoumene), etc. etc.

 

[paharo45]

The Italians... Wait : Italy was originally part of the Proto-Greek Ekoumene, occupied by P-Gr. migrants, where they evolved into the Etruscans, the Latins, the Apulians, etc.(with their respective language and culture). Then, in the first millennium B.C., the Aegean/Helladic Greeks [Hellenes] colonised southern Italy ["Magna Graecia"] and Sicily. These should be called Italic Greeks; they themselves coined the term Oyitalia or Italia -- which was later applied to the whole peninsula, The Italians are mainly Greeks to begin with and produced more original culture than they copied (within the Ekoumene), etc. etc.

We are so similar! I'm sure we've both shared so many aspects of each others cultures

 

[Blue & White]

We are so similar! I'm sure we've both shared so many aspects of each others cultures

What a left wing response. You must be Italian

 

[amygdalE]

What a left wing response. You must be Italian

Indeed ethnically I am Italian or, specifically Magno-Gracian. My ancestral city is Thoyrioi [in Calabria], which was founded after the flooding and destruction of Sybaris. After Thoyrioi suffered the same fate, Pericles sent Hellenes to repopulate it. Among them were the sophist Protagoras and Herodotos, who noticed a sanctuary to Athena by the nearby river Krathis -- hence "Athena Krathia". Then came Hannibal (ca, 204 B/C.) The refugees founded a town near the source of the Krathis: my native town.

What a left wing response. You must be Italian

The Italians are the Chinese of Europe, they have copied everything from the Greeks!

 

[amygdalE]

What a left wing response. You must be Italian

I wished to add that my username (with an heta at the end) is a transposition of my real last name. It is an occupational name and is rather frequent in my native town and environs. Remember: the wealth of Sybaris etc. was based on the almond business and trade, made possible by the huge almond plantation near Sybaris, which today is called Amendolara. [I am living in New York, without almonds.]

 

[francescool]

Indeed ethnically I am Italian or, specifically Magno-Gracian. My ancestral city is Thoyrioi [in Calabria], which was founded after the flooding and destruction of Sybaris. After Thoyrioi suffered the same fate, Pericles sent Hellenes to repopulate it. Among them were the sophist Protagoras and Herodotos, who noticed a sanctuary to Athena by the nearby river Krathis -- hence "Athena Krathia". Then came Hannibal (ca, 204 B/C.) The refugees founded a town near the source of the Krathis: my native town.

This is so interesting...I didn't know about this ethnic group or this story. So is this group still considered Italian or are they basically Greek at this point?

 

[Blue & White]

This is so interesting...I didn't know about this ethnic group or this story. So is this group still considered Italian or are they basically Greek at this point?

There are only 2 types of people in this world Greeks and people who want to be Greeks

 

[ellinasgolfer0320]

This is so interesting...I didn't know about this ethnic group or this story. So is this group still considered Italian or are they basically Greek at this point?

In my mind, if they feel Greek and they act Greek then they are Greek. Here is a song from Southern Italy called "Kalinitta (καληνύχτα - goodnight). The dialect is a bit different, but you can clearly hear that they are singing in Greek.

 

[amygdalE]

This is so interesting...I didn't know about this ethnic group or this story. So is this group still considered Italian or are they basically Greek at this point?

Matters are rather complex here. Simple answers: Since the political unification of Italy in 1861, Calabria (the region of the ancient "Italiotai") has been part of Italy and the inhabitants see themselves as Italians. However, some individuals know their history and cherish their Greek heritage. The language of my native town, which I have been probing for some ten years (from memory, not from non-existing literature) has various lexical layers: exclusively Greek words like Cullura, Aioste [aiosthe]; Latin words, which started to be adopted, "borrowed", from the Romans who came to chase Hannibal off of Italy; and Italian, especially the vocabulary of modern science and technology. We have also [vanishing] ancient customs, such as leaving a table set for the dead, on halloween (the eve of all saints' day), which goes back to Hekate's Suppers left at the three-way roads. Etc. // Meanwhile, Italy has some great Greek-Italians, like the poet Foscolo and the Greek-Sicilian metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chririco, and, at least in my days, the teaching of classical Greek in all public schools, thanks to the Gr-Sic. philosopher Giovanni Gentile. // Thank you for posting the video... and I agree with what you said.

 

[dubai_suzie]

Matters are rather complex here. Simple answers: Since the political unification of Italy in 1861, Calabria (the region of the ancient "Italiotai") has been part of Italy and the inhabitants see themselves as Italians. However, some individuals know their history and cherish their Greek heritage. The language of my native town, which I have been probing for some ten years (from memory, not from non-existing literature) has various lexical layers: exclusively Greek words like Cullura, Aioste [aiosthe]; Latin words, which started to be adopted, "borrowed", from the Romans who came to chase Hannibal off of Italy; and Italian, especially the vocabulary of modern science and technology. We have also [vanishing] ancient customs, such as leaving a table set for the dead, on halloween (the eve of all saints' day), which goes back to Hekate's Suppers left at the three-way roads. Etc. // Meanwhile, Italy has some great Greek-Italians, like the poet Foscolo and the Greek-Sicilian metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chririco, and, at least in my days, the teaching of classical Greek in all public schools, thanks to the Gr-Sic. philosopher Giovanni Gentile. // Thank you for posting the video... and I agree with what you said.

I wish these traditions weren't vanishing!! They sound so cool

 

[k_tsoukalas]

I am not sure! It is hard to tell where the traditions originated sometimes. I wonder if something like Carnivale was borrowed from Italy, and maybe some of the foods?