The Roman Empire is often associated with the most glorious moment in the history of the Italian peninsula, but are we, modern-day Italians, the genetic descendants of the old inhabitants of the Eternal City?

A short disclaimer before delving deeper into the subject: culturally, ethically, philosophically, we all  are the descendants of the Ancient Romans and of  their oriental cousins, the Ancient Greeks, at least in the western part of the world. While the influences on our own culture from other civilizations are important – from the Chinese to the Arabic to the Scandinavian – our cultural, ethical and spiritual backbone comes from the Mediterranean basin.