Why are Romans blond and Sicilians brunette?

Answer 1

Actually it's a tad more complicated than that. Assuming you're referring to modern Romans, they generally reflect a mix of all of the various phenotypes that one would see throughout Italy as many people from northern and southern Italy have migrated there over the decades (and centuries too probably). The ancient Romans were much like the modern Italians, some were lighter and others were darker but there was probably a general prevalence of brown hair/eyes, brunet white/light olive skin tone, and sharp facial relief (again like today's Italians). As for Sicilians down in the south, there's tremendous variation in the appearances of the people due to the many conquests and settlements of various European and Mediterranean peoples over the many centuries. While Sicilians tend to be darker than most other Italians on average, one can see many individuals with blond or red hair and/or blue/green eyes throughout the island because the Viking-French Normans conquered and ruled Sicily at one time. Many Sicilians also have fair complexions for an island right in the middle of the Mediterranean as well, which is also partially due to Norman genetic heritage. Fairer coloring could also be attributed to the many northern Italian immigrants who came to Sicily in the wake of the Norman conquest with the purpose of establishing Catholicism in Sicily at the expense of the Greek Orthodox and Arab Muslim communities. The Arab Muslims had ruled and settled in Sicily prior to the Norman era, and like the Norman invaders, most of the Arabs were men who married local Sicilian women (themselves primarily of Greek ancestry dating from large waves of ancient Greek and Byzantine Greek immigrants mixed with indigenous Siculi, Sicani, and Elymi populations in Sicily). Many other native Sicilians converted to Islam and became culturally Arabized in order to escape persecution for being Christians, though a large Greek Orthodox Christian community remained throughout the period of Arab rule right up to and into the era of Norman rule, when Latin speech and Catholicism slowly supplanted all other cultural influences (c. 1100-1200 or so). Thus, of all the Italians, Sicilians are the only ones (perhaps Calabrians as well) with a notable contribution of genes from the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean (North Africa and the Levant). This is why one sees some Sicilians with such traits as black curly hair, dark eyes, olive skin, and Semitic features (i.e. larger nose, fuller lips, large eyes, heavier eyebrows, etc.). Then there are the many Sicilians with classically Greco-Roman features, straight to wavy brown/dark brown hair, hazel/brown eyes, and brunet white/light olive complexions, who look more like the standard southern Italian or Greek. This type is the most common. Lastly, there are the Sicilians with lighter hair, blue/green eyes, and fair complexions, which would come from Norman, northern Italian (i.e. Lombard), or possible French ancestors. Of course, you can also see Sicilians who look like they could be a mix of two or more of the above combinations. For example, I've seen redheaded Sicilians who tanned well and had classically Greco-Roman features. Likewise, I've seen dark-haired green-eyed Sicilians with Semitic features, and so on and so forth. As someone with both Sicilian and northern Italian (Florentine) ancestors, I know quite a bit about the variety of looks one sees among Italians. My Florentine maternal great-grandmother was blond, blue-eyed, and with sharp facial features so commonly seen in Italians. Contrarily, my father is 100% Sicilian and my relatives on his side range from blond and blue-/green-eyed to Semitic-looking. Indeed a few of my Sicilian relatives would not look out of place at all in Tunisia or some other North African/Middle Eastern country. My father has a Roman profile, with straight black hair, light olive complexion, and hazel eyes. At 6'1" he's also rather tall for a full-blooded Sicilian so maybe that's some Norman (i.e. ultimately Viking) ancestry coming through.