How much Arab ancestry do Sicilians have?

The North African-related layer averages a few percent, tilted toward the island's west — real, measurable, minor, deposited mostly in the Islamic centuries and diluted rather than erased afterwards. The medieval settlers were largely Berber and Arab-led North Africans, so North African-related is the precise genetic description.

Are Sicilians more Greek or more Italian?

The question is falsely posed — southern mainland Italians and Sicilians both carry heavy Aegean-related ancestry from the same colonial-to-Byzantine continuum. Sicilian genomes are what Greek and Italian look like after two millennia of sharing one sea.

Is there Norman or Viking ancestry in Sicily?

Traceable at most as a small northern European texture — the Norman state mattered politically far more than demographically. A large Scandinavian percentage from a hobby tool is a panel artefact.

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August 31, 2026

By Andi Thomaj

4 min read

Sicilian DNA: ancient origins of the Mediterranean's great crossroads

Sicily's ancient-DNA record runs from island foragers through a late steppe arrival, Greek and Phoenician colonists, Roman, Arab and Norman centuries. What each layer actually left in Sicilian genomes, and how to read your own.

sicily mediterranean ancient-dna qpadm population-genetics

Foragers, farmers, and a late steppe arrival
The colonial millennium
The Islamic and Norman centuries
Reading your own results
Frequently asked questions

How much Arab ancestry do Sicilians have?
Are Sicilians more Greek or more Italian?
Is there Norman (Viking) ancestry in Sicily?
Sources and further reading

Italian DNA: ancient origins from the Iron Age Latins to Europe's steepest cline

Rome's ancient-DNA transect, the Iron Age base, the imperial eastern shift, why Italy holds Europe's largest internal genetic variation, and what Sardinia preserves. How to read an Italian genome, region by region.

4 min read