Italians of Romania

The Italians in Romania are people of Italian descent who reside, or have moved to Romania.

They are an ethnic minority in Romania, numbering 3,203 people according to the 2011 census. Italians are fairly dispersed throughout the country, even though there is a higher number of them in the northern, southern, eastern and western parts of the country (particularly Suceava County, Bacau County, Galati County, Iasi County, Constanta County, Brasov County, Prahova County, Vâlcea County and Timiş County), and in the Municipality of Bucharest.

As an officially-recognised ethnic minority, Italians have one seat reserved in the Romanian Chamber of Deputies. This was held by the Italian Community of Romania between 1992 and 2004, and the Association of Italians of Romania since 2004.

In recent years, the number of non-ethnic Italians living in Romania has increased substantially. As of November 2007, there are some 12,000 non-ethnic Italians in and around Timişoara. About 3,000 square kilometres of land (2% of the agricultural land of Romania) have been bought by Italians.

According to Eurostat, in 2015 there were 38,580 persons born in Italy living in Romania.

The territory of today's Romania has been part of the Italians' (especially Genoese and Venetians) trade routes on the Danube since at least the 13th century. They founded several ports on the Danube, including Vicina (near Isaccea), Sfântu Gheorghe, San Giorgio (Giurgiu) and Calafat.

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Wikipedia