Italian Britons

Italians in the United Kingdom

Total population
Italian-born residents: 162,000 (2015 ONS estimate)
Regions with significant populations
Bedford Peterborough Manchester Glasgow Glamorgan Chelsea Westminster Kensington Liverpool Bristol London
Languages
English Italian Sicilian Welsh
Religion
Roman Catholicism Anglicanism Presbyterianism
Related ethnic groups
Italians Italian South Africans Italian Americans Italian Canadians Italian Australians Italian Brazilians Italian New Zealanders Italian Argentine

Italians in the United Kingdom, also known as British Italians or colloquially Britalians, are citizens or residents of the United Kingdom of Italian heritage. The phrase may refer to someone born in the United Kingdom of Italian descent, someone who has emigrated from Italy to the United Kingdom or someone born elsewhere (e.g. the United States), who is of Italian descent and has migrated to the UK. More specific terms used to describe Italians in the United Kingdom include: Italian English, Italian Scots, and Italian Welsh.

The Romans from Italy were the first Italians to settle in the British Isles along with other people from various parts of the Roman Empire. They came as far back as 55 and 54 BC when Julius Caesar (initially landing in Deal) led expeditionary campaigns in the south-east of England, and then again in AD 43 when Emperor Claudius invaded and subsequently conquered the British islands. Historian Theodore Mommsen calculated that in the five centuries of Roman presence in the British isles, more than 50,000 Roman soldiers (mainly from The Balkans) moved to live permanently in Roman Britain.

Continuous contact with Rome and the Catholic world was initially restricted to the Celtic Christian, Brittonic-speaking portions of Britain where trading activities continued with the Meditterannean and Italy continuing into the seventh century as non-christian Anglo-Saxon kingdoms began to coalesce into England. Initially the stable Anglo-British kingdoms of Wessex and then Northumbria followed the practices of Celtic Christianity however powerful figures such as Alfred the Great, who had been anointed by the Pope in Rome, tended toward Roman Catholicism especially after the Synod of Whitby drawing merchants, men of culture, artisans and educated Catholic clerics from the Latin West including Italy.

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Wikipedia