Are Italians considered White, Latino, or Spanish?

Question

What are Italians considered? Some say they're White, some say Latino, or could they just be considered Spanish? What do ethnic category do you think they're in?

Answer 1

Whether someone's nationality is considered Latino is based on certain things like language.

Consider these language categories:

Slavic (Spoken by Russian, Polish, etc)
Asian (Spoken by Chinese, Japanese, Cambodian, etc)
African (Spoken by Blacks from Africa)
Latin (Spoken by Spanish, Italians and Portugeuse)
Germanic (Spoken by Germans, English Swedes)

Thus, Italians are INDEED considered LATINO. It has nothing to do with their color. They may not be thought of as Latino because the Italians here in the US are assimilated.

There are light Italians and very dark Italians. The term Latino is based on the fact that their language was derived from the LATIN language...NOT THEIR COLOR. You can be LATINO and be white.

I hope that clears things up.

Answer 2

Ok...there are some really slow people out there.
Italy is a country, not a race.
Italians are the same as other europeans...caucasian.
Even your "latinos" that you people seem to be fond of are causcasian.
Latino is a cultural distinction by the way. just like Italian is a nationality and a culture. When americans call themselves italian, they mean that is where their ancestry derives. As americans, if we are not native then we all have our roots in some other country.

I think most Italians encourage the idea they are seperate just like many other nationalities do. White is not a popular thing to be right now. I find it rather silly because the only minor group-genetic differences are to be found between caucasoid, ******* and mongoloid. white, black and asian.

There are those who suggest that southern italians are mixed. Mixed in this country tends to mean a mix of white and black. and that is simply would not be true of Italy. Southern Italians are a shade darker due to the arab influence of northern africa.

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Answer 3

As someone who is Mexican and Italian- Italian is mostly considered white. Trust me, I look about 50/50 and because I have absolutely no accent, most people, whenever mention of my Mexican side comes up, say "Oh, I thought you were White." "..I have light olive skin, black hair and brown eyes" "I thought you were Italian or Greek or something."
I find it funny, though I'm 50% Italian/German/Irish, because I'm 50% Mexican I'm considered 0% White. Hilarious.

Race is a made-up thing. Like breeds of dogs, we're just different breeds of human.

Answer 4

Spaniards are Latin, we are Latineuropean.
To be a latin person doesn't mean to be black, indian or another, because to be latin is a CULTURAL IDENTITY, not a race.
Besides, Hispanic is the adjetive for Hispania, and Hispania was the ancient roman name for the Iberian Peninsula, where Spain and Portugal are located, in the south of Europe.
So, you can be black, white, indio, mestizo, criollo, mulato or whatever and be latino.
And in Spain we are mediterranean whites, quite different from germanic whites.
Latin was the language of the Roman Empire and its origin was the Lazio, a region in Italy. The word Latin is for the culture and language of the Roman Empire. So the first Latin people were the Romans which were in what today is Italy, and they conquered Hispania (Spain and Portugal), Gallia (France), Romania and other countries. The second Latin people is the people of France, Portugal, Italy, Romania and Spain, and the third Latin people is the people of former colonies of all these countries, so it’s a strange thing to say Latinamerica because the Roman never were in the Americas, but nowadays we called Latin people to everybody who speak a language derived from Latin, a neolatin language such as: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and others. So nowadays, there are Latin people in countries in Europe, in America, and in Africa, because in several countries in all these continents people speak a neolatin language.
The only difference between Italian people and Spanish people, is that Spaniards are born in Spain, have Spanish nationality and speak Spanish, and Italians are born in Italy, have Italian nationality and speak Italian. We both are Latinos, European, Mediterranean whites and have the European Union nationality.
Sources: I'm from Spain, so I´m Spaniard, Spanish, Hispanic, Latino, European and citizen of the European Union and citizen of Spain.

Answer 5

Well out of those categories they are white. I am North African next to the Mediteranean, but since Italy is in Europe they are white. Spanish is from Spain, Latino is from the Americas, so White/Caucasian is the correct answer

Answer 6

Most Italians (such as my uncle, who has light brown hair and blue eyes) are definitely White. Some, however, seem to be a little mixed..... This is one of the few times where it depends on the individual. As a rule, the mixed Italians are the ones who have roots in Southern Italy, although not all people from Southern Italy are mixed. (This is one of the few times where race depends on the individual.)

Answer 7

I'm half italian (both my grandparents on my mom's side immigrated here) and i consider myself white mediterranean. italians are VERY different from Spaniards and latino people - get it straight! except our languages are similar. i can understand a lot of spanish without having studied it at all.

Answer 8

Italians are considered white Caucasian (the same as most Americans) but they may have there own ethnic category but for now we are sure they are known as white(Caucasian)

Answer 9

Italians are whites and latinos, lets get things straigh:

WHITE: people that belong to the white race

LATINO: IT'S A CULTURAL GROUP HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RACE, IT'S NOT A RACE! The Italians call themselfes latinos, it has nothing to do with their race, but people from USA subverted the meaning of the word latino. When a Latin American call itsefl a latino,.IT ALSO HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RACE!

SPANISH: someone born in Spain.

Did I made it clear?

Answer 10

well first they are human beings like everyone else but,
Italians come in all colours there are white Italians black Italians and so on they are citizens of Italy.

i believe you mean to inquire about the in between Italians neither black nor white.
i think they have mixed ancestry.
if you look at the whole Mediterranean region they seem to be a mix of Arab,black and white.

you cant call them Spanish they are Italians they are from Italy and not Spain.