An italian once told me in Naples people usually have black hair, brown eyes and olive skin. But from the North it can be anything, there is more variation.

It depends on the genes, I suppose. In the south, I have noticed, you do tend to get darker Italians, but with that said. I know some Italians from the south and they're quite fair.

People always describe Italians - dark hair, eyes and skin. Italians do usually have naturally dark hair, skin tones can range anywhere from a 'golden summer glow', to being very dark and eyes range from all different colors too.

That's my two penny's anywyas.

Living in a city that houses the 2nd largest Italian population outside Italy after New York, I can tell you that, northerners tend to have blonde hair/blue eyes and southerners (sicilians) are usually darker.

There's a scene in the movie 'True Romance' between my favorite Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper. It's very vulgar (the 'N' word's used) but I thought the scene was friggin intense.
(obviously it's an urban myth)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIzHOfC0cMU

No seriously, I'm not an a-hole, talk to me

I have been to Italy maybe 3 or 4 times. Every time in North Italy. Most people have dark hair and brown eyes, but there are some exceptions too. Some men there are even shorter than me! That is Mediterranean for you...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moomin

Honey-bunnyyyy...

I wonder, could the lighter features of northern italians due to mixed ancestries? If I remember correctly, germanic tribes (of ostrogoth branch) had invaded italy numerous times, and I believe they played a big part in weakening the roman empire during its last days. I could see how southern italy, surrounded by ocean, was less exposed by direct land invasions from the north and thus can afford to be more isolated.

I guess one way of solving this type of conundrum is to look at these places not in national terms but as geographic regions. If you have a good knowledge of the movement of peoples in historic and prehistoric times then you can fill in most of the blanks yourself.

In historic times, southern Italy was a crossroads of many diverse (easternized) cultures including the Etruscans, Carthaginians and Greeks and also later Eastern influences such as the Egyptians and the Persians (whether or not Eurocentrists like to admit it or not).

Sicily was also shaped by later interlopers such as Vandals, Moors, Normans and others.

The composition of northern Italy is quite diverse because the northern regions were disputed between the various Italian states, France and the (largely Germanic) Austro-Hungarian Habsburg Empire. Especially in the Tyrol region. Which is why there are blond Italians. They are basically Germans who have been absorbed into the Italian cultural sphere.

BTW, the thread itself is kinda stupid. You can find these questions yourself and find more reliable answers by just Googling.

Well, Italians, Koreans, and Somalis are among the most ethnically and culturally homogenous peoples on the face of the earth.

And I find that Italians often look alike, regardless of pigmentation- because of their similar facial structures, IMO, so all this talk about "variation" would really be more accurate for some other ethnic group.

I've met an Italian with pale skin and blonde hair, and another with "olive" skin and dark hair, but they both still look almost exactly alike to me. And so, I think facial features tell more than pigmentation, which is sometimes us here in North America still struggle with...we think we can tell where people are from by skin colour alone.

And for any of us Canadians on this board will know Melissa DiMarco, that flamboyant personality from OMNI TV. She's got blonde hair, light skin, and blue eyes...BUT she still looks VERY Italian, because she has this unique facial structure that is so Italian...I can't explain it.