Total population | |
---|---|
5,100 [1] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Beirut (Greater Beirut), Tripoli | |
Languages | |
Lebanese Arabic · French · English · Italian and Italian dialects | |
Religion | |
Christian: Mostly Latin Catholic; some Maronite Catholic and Muslim | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Italians, Italian Emiratis, Italian Indians, Italian Levantine |
There is a small Italian community in Lebanon (Italian : italo-libanesi, also called Italian Lebanese) consisting mainly of Lebanese citizens of Italian heritage as well with expatriates and migrants from Italy who reside in Lebanon. It is a community with a history that goes back to Roman times.
In 64 B.C., the Roman general Pompey added Lebanon to the Roman Republic. During and before this time, Phoenicians and Romans exchanged knowledge, habits, and customs. Indeed, the veterans of two Roman legions were established in the city of "Berytus" (modern Beirut): the fifth Macedonian and the third Gallic. [2] The city quickly became Romanized, with the descendants of those legionaries from the Italian peninsula.
Between the 12th and 15th centuries the Italian Republic of Genoa had some Genoese colonies in Beirut, Tripoli, and Byblos.
In more recent times the Italians came to Lebanon in small groups during the World War I and World War II, trying to escape the wars at that time in Europe. Some of the first Italians who choose Lebanon as a place to settle and find a refuge were Italian soldiers from the Italo-Turkish War in 1911 to 1912. Also most of the Italians chose to settle in Beirut, because of its European style of life. Only a few Italians left Lebanon for France after independence.
Lebanon opened a legation in 1946, which was transformed into an embassy in 1955. Both countries signed a Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Navigation in 1949. Both countries are members of the Union for the Mediterranean.
Italy and Lebanon are linked by an ancient friendship, which finds its roots in their common Mediterranean heritage, their antique civilizations and thousands of years of common history, intense trade relations and deep cultural and human exchanges. In the 16th century, the special relationship between Emir Fakhreddine and the Medicis family of Tuscany was instrumental in forging modern Lebanon as we know it today, which is a unique mixture of Western and Arabic cultures. Lebanon also left important traces in Italy’s history: in 1584 the Maronite College was founded in Rome, fostering contacts between clergymen, researchers and young students, which today is being continued under the framework of Inter-University cooperation. This excellent level of bilateral relations between Italy and Lebanon is reinforced today by the common views of the two countries on a number of Middle East issues, and by the growing awareness that in a globalized world the two shores of the Mediterranean sea share the same destiny. [3]
The Italian community in Lebanon is very small (about 4,300 people) and it is mostly assimilated into the Lebanese Catholic community.
The intermarriage in the Italian community is very high and most of the younger members are half Italian on the paternal side. In mixed Latin-Maronite or other mixed-rite marriages, the children are raised in the father's rite, and along with bearing the father's surname, identify with the father's ethnic group. Therefore, the children of Italian fathers and Lebanese mothers are counted as Italian, and those of Lebanese fathers and Italian mothers as Lebanese, some last name were modified. There are some Italian families who returned to Italy after World War II together with their Lebanese born children.
There is a growing interest in economic relationships between Italy and Lebanon (like with the "Vinifest 2011"), thanks even to the remaining Italian Lebanese. [4]
Only a small percentage of all remaining Italian Lebanese speak some Italian, while the majority of them speak Arabic as a first language and French and/or English as second language, and are mainly Roman Catholics. Their main organizations are the former Associazione Nazionale Pro Italiani del Libano (ANPIL) and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Beirut (IICB). [5]
The Italian Lebanese of the current generations are assimilated to Lebanese society, and most of them speak only Arabic and French and English (only a few young Italian Lebanese know some basic words in Italian). In religion, most of the young generation are Roman Catholics, while only a few young people practise Islam, mainly because of marriage although some are descendants of Italian converts.
See also List of Lebanese people in Italy
This is a demography of the population of Lebanon including population density, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. As of 2014, Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the fourth-largest city in the Levant region and the seventeenth-largest in the Arab world. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coast. Beirut has been inhabited for more than 5,000 years, making it one of the oldest cities in the world.
The Latin Church of the Catholic Church has several dispersed populations of members in the Middle East, notably in Turkey, Cyprus and the Levant. Latin Catholics employ the Latin liturgical rites, in contrast to Eastern Catholics who fall under their respective church's patriarchs and employ distinct Eastern Catholic liturgies, while being in full communion with the worldwide Catholic Church. Latin Catholics in the Middle East are often of European descent, particularly from the medieval Crusader era and later the 20th-century colonial period.
The Lebanese people are the people inhabiting or originating from Lebanon. The term may also include those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon and the Anti-Lebanon Mountains prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state. The major religious groups among the Lebanese people within Lebanon are Shia Muslims (27%), Sunni Muslims (27%), Maronite Christians (21%), Greek Orthodox Christians (8%), Melkite Christians (5%), Druze (5%), Protestant Christians (1%). The largest contingent of Lebanese, however, comprise a diaspora in North America, South America, Europe, Australia and Africa, which is predominantly Maronite Christian.
The Catholic Church in Lebanon is part of the worldwide Catholic Church under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.
Christianity in Lebanon has a long and continuous history. Biblical scriptures show that Peter and Paul evangelized the Phoenicians, leading to the dawn of the ancient Patriarchate of Antioch. As such, Christianity in Lebanon is as old as Christian faith itself. Christianity spread slowly in Lebanon due to pagans who resisted conversion, but it ultimately spread throughout the country. Even after centuries of living under Muslim Empires, Christianity remains the dominant faith of the Mount Lebanon region and has substantial communities elsewhere.
Berytus, briefly known as Laodicea in Phoenicia or Laodicea in Canaan from the 2nd century to 64 BCE, was the ancient city of Beirut from the Roman Republic through the Roman Empire and Early Byzantine period/late antiquity. Berytus became a Roman colonia that would be the center of Roman presence in the Eastern Mediterranean shores south of Anatolia.
The Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon is a Marian shrine and a pilgrimage site in the village of Harissa in Lebanon.
Lebanese Brazilians, are Brazilians of full or partial Lebanese ancestry, including Lebanese-born immigrants to Brazil. According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, they form some of the largest Asian communities in the country, along with other West Asian and East Asian descendants.
Phoenicia under Roman rule describes the Phoenician city states ruled by Rome from 64 BCE to the Muslim conquests of the 7th century. The area around Berytus was the only Latin speaking and Romanized part of Aramaic-speaking Phoenicia.
Italy–Lebanon relations are relations between Italy and Lebanon. Both countries are members of the Union for the Mediterranean. Italy consideres Hezbollah, a major force in Lebanon a terrorist organisation.
Maronites are a Syriac Christian ethnoreligious group group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant whose members belong to the Maronite Church. The largest concentration has traditionally resided near Mount Lebanon in modern Lebanon. The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic sui iuris particular church in full communion with the pope and the rest of the Catholic Church.
There are about 53,000 to 75,000 Lebanese Uruguayans, or Uruguayans of Lebanese origin. The Lebanese are one of the larger non-European communities, though still not as large a group as most European groups. Relations between Uruguay and Lebanon have always been close.
Lebanese Argentine refers to Argentine citizens of Lebanese descent or Lebanon-born people who reside in Argentina. Many of the Lebanese Argentines are descendants of immigrants cultural and linguistic heritage and/or identity, originating from what is now Lebanon.
Ptolemais was an ancient port city on the Canaanite coast in the ancient region of Phoenicia, in the location of the present-day city of Acre, Israel. It was also called Ptolemais in Canaan and Ake-Ptolemais. It was an ancient bishopric that became a double Catholic titular see.
The Syro-Lebanese of Egypt, also known as Levantine-Egyptians or Syro-Egyptians, are an ethnic minority group in Egypt. They are Egyptians who have ancestry originating from the Levant, mostly what is now Syria and Lebanon, but also including those from Palestine. The majority of Egypt's historic Syro-Lebanese community is Christian, mainly Greek Orthodox and Eastern Catholic.
Gabriel ibn al-Qilai, was a Lebanese Christian religious figure of the Maronite Church. Al-Qilai joined the Franciscan Order in 1470 and was consecrated bishop of the Maronites in Cyprus in 1507.
The Catholic Church in the Middle East is under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. The Catholic Church is said to have traditionally originated in the Middle East in the 1st century AD, and was one of the major religions of the region from the 4th-century Byzantine reforms until the centuries following the Arab Islamic conquests of the 7th century AD. Ever since, its proportion has decreased until today's diaspora tendency, mainly due to persecution by Islamic majority societies.
The Maronite Church is an Eastern Catholic sui iuris particular church in full communion with the pope and the worldwide Catholic Church, with self-governance under the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches. The head of the Maronite Church is Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, who was elected in March 2011 following the resignation of Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir. The seat of the Maronite Patriarchate is in Bkerke, northeast of Beirut, Lebanon. Officially known as the Antiochene Syriac Maronite Church, it is part of Syriac Christianity by liturgy and heritage.
This article lists historical events that occurred between 401–500 in modern-day Lebanon or regarding its people.