Italians in the United Kingdom, also known as British Italians or colloquially Britalians, are citizens or residents of the United Kingdom of
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
heritage. The phrase may refer to someone born in the United Kingdom of Italian descent, someone who has emigrated from Italy to the United Kingdom or someone born elsewhere (e.g. the United States), who is of Italian descent and has migrated to the UK. More specific terms used to describe Italians in the United Kingdom include: Italian English,
Italian Scots
Italian Scots are people of Italian descent living in Scotland. These terms may refer to people who are born in Scotland and of Italian descent. It can also refer to people of mixed Scottish and Italian ancestry. A recent Italian voter census es ...
, and
Italian Welsh.
History
Roman Britain
The
Romans
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
from Italy were the first Italians to settle in the
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...
along with other people from various parts of the Roman Empire. They came as far back as
55 and 54 BC when Julius Caesar (initially landing in
Deal
A deal, or deals may refer to:
Places United States
* Deal, New Jersey, a borough
* Deal, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
* Deal Lake, New Jersey
Elsewhere
* Deal Island (Tasmania), Australia
* Deal, Kent, a town in England
* Deal, ...
) led expeditionary campaigns in the south-east of England,
and then again in
AD 43 when Emperor
Claudius invaded and subsequently conquered the British islands. Historian
Theodore Mommsen
Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen (; 30 November 1817 – 1 November 1903) was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician and archaeologist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest classicists of the 19th centur ...
calculated that in the five centuries of Roman presence in the British isles, more than 50,000 Roman soldiers (mainly from The Balkans) moved to live permanently in
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the period in classical antiquity when large parts of the island of Great Britain were under occupation by the Roman Empire. The occupation lasted from AD 43 to AD 410. During that time, the territory conquered wa ...
.
Middle Ages
![Lombard Street, EC3 - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Lombard_Street%2C_EC3_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1094108.jpg)
Continuous contact with Rome and the Catholic world was initially restricted to the Celtic Christian,
Brittonic
Brittonic or Brythonic may refer to:
*Common Brittonic, or Brythonic, the Celtic language anciently spoken in Great Britain
*Brittonic languages, a branch of the Celtic languages descended from Common Brittonic
*Britons (Celtic people)
The Br ...
-speaking portions of Britain where trading activities continued with the Mediterranean and Italy continuing into the seventh century as non-Christian Anglo-Saxon kingdoms began to coalesce into England. Initially the stable Anglo-British kingdoms of
Wessex
la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons
, common_name = Wessex
, image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg
, map_caption = S ...
and then
Northumbria
la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria
, common_name = Northumbria
, status = State
, status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...
followed the practices of
Celtic Christianity however powerful figures such as
Alfred the Great, who had been anointed by the Pope in Rome, tended toward
Roman Catholicism especially after the
Synod of Whitby
In the Synod of Whitby in 664, King Oswiu of Northumbria ruled that his kingdom would calculate Easter and observe the monastic tonsure according to the customs of Rome rather than the customs practiced by Irish monks at Iona and its satellite ins ...
drawing merchants, men of culture, artisans and educated Catholic clerics from the
Latin West
Greek East and Latin West are terms used to distinguish between the two parts of the Greco-Roman world and of Medieval Christendom, specifically the eastern regions where Greek was the '' lingua franca'' (Greece, Anatolia, the southern Balkans, t ...
including Italy.
After the conquest of Anglo-Saxon England in 1066, the first recorded Italian communities in England began from the merchants and sailors living in
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
. The famous "
Lombard Street" in London took its name from the small but powerful community from northern Italy, living there as bankers and merchants after the year
1000.
![Westminster Abbey Henry3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/33/Westminster_Abbey_Henry3.jpg)
The rebuilding of
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...
showed significant Italian artistic influence in the construction of the so-called '
Cosmati
The Cosmati were a Roman family, seven members of which, for four generations, were skilful architects, sculptors and workers in decorative geometric mosaic, mostly for church floors. Their name is commemorated in the genre of Cosmatesque work ...
' Pavement completed in 1245 and a unique example of the style unknown outside of Italy, the work of highly skilled team of Italian craftsmen led by a Roman named Ordoricus.
In 1303,
Edward I negotiated an agreement with the Lombard merchant community that secured custom duties and certain rights and privileges. The revenues from the customs duty were handled by the
Riccardi Riccardi is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Alessio Riccardi (born 2001), Italian footballer
* Andrea Riccardi (born 1950), Italian church leader
* Arturo Riccardi (1878–1966), Italian Navy admiral
* Davide Ricca ...
, a group of bankers from
Lucca
Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957.
Lucca is known as one ...
in Italy. This was in return for their service as money lenders to the crown, which helped finance the Welsh Wars. When the war with France broke out, the French king confiscated the Riccardi's assets, and the bank went bankrupt. After this, the
Frescobaldi
The Frescobaldi are a prominent Florentine noble family that have been involved in the political, social, and economic history of Tuscany since the Middle Ages. Originating in the Val di Pesa in the Chianti, they appear holding important post ...
of
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
took over the role as money lenders to the English crown.
As bankers, the Frescobaldi financed ventures for numerous members of European royal families, notably their financial conquest of England, which
Fernand Braudel
Fernand Braudel (; 24 August 1902 – 27 November 1985) was a French historian and leader of the Annales School. His scholarship focused on three main projects: ''The Mediterranean'' (1923–49, then 1949–66), ''Civilization and Capitalism'' ...
has signalled as the greatest achievement of the Florentine firms, "not only in holding the purse-strings of the kings of England, but also in controlling sales of English wool which was vital to continental workshops and in particular to the ''
Arte della Lana
The Arte della Lana was the wool guild of Florence during the Late Middle Ages and in the Renaissance. It was one of the seven '' Arti Maggiori ''("greater trades") of Florence, separate from the ''Arti Minori'' (the "lesser trades") and the ''Ar ...
'' of Florence."
15th to 18th centuries
![All Saints, Fulham, the old and the new - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/All_Saints%2C_Fulham%2C_the_old_and_the_new_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2329680.jpg)
According to historian Michael Wayatt, there was "a small but influential community" of Italians "that took shape in England in the 15th century initially consisting of