[Taurin]

Originally Posted by kyashan

are you from Turin? What do you think is the % of Turin citizens of southern descent?

You could ask the other way round, so that I may go out and count on my fingertips how many Piedmontese could possibly remain. Seriously, I don't know the exact extent of the consequences of southern migrations, but most of my acquaintances are either of southern ancestry or mixed.

Anyway don't worry, it's still prevalently Europid around here. You just have to get used to the Rumanian and Albanian talk, and patiently endure the Arab parlance.

Originally Posted by svin
I visited Tuscany in summer. Is it considered to be part of N. Italy? I didn't get impression that it was southern European country (or eastern, if we agree with Mynydd that division of Italy is more west-east, than north-south). I was expecting France to look like that.

Tuscany definitely belongs to the Center, together with Marche, Umbria, Lazio and Abruzzo. Should we simplify the subdivision, then Tuscany, Umbria and Marche would usually be assigned to the North (they're even considered in the separatist program of the Lega Nord), while Lazio and Abruzzo would side with the South.

Originally Posted by Breha

Many tuscans overlap with northern italians, believe me.

Don't forget that the invading gauls destroyed large etruscan presence in Aemilia and southern Lombardy.

Chronicles speak of something of an ethnic cleansing by the Gauls but reality as we know is probably different.

Very well, but we don't need claims about early antiquity, in order to 'annex' Tuscany - as its medieval and modern history, until the Risorgimento (i.e. the subjugation), has always sided with the communal and dynastic history of the North. You may however remember the opinion of some disappointed Lega leader, "we should amputate higher."

Originally Posted by Mynydd

And, anyway, the North vs. South issue is in reality a matter of (South-)West vs. (South-)East identity.

That's what even genetical maps would suggest. Northern Italy tends to cluster with western Europe, while the South seems strongly affiliated with Greece.

Anyway, genetics aside, it is well known that so-called 'Gallo-Italic' languages belong to the western branch of Romance languages, whose frontier is the line La Spezia-Rimini (which should more aptly be named Massa-Senigallia). Here's a reasonably accurate map, for those interested in details.