Why do italians look middle eastern?

Question:Is there history behind this?

for example..look at Michael Imperioli (sexy)

http://www.hbo.com/sopranos/img/cast/act...

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Is there history behind this?

for example..look at Michael Imperioli (sexy)

http://www.hbo.com/sopranos/img/cast/act...

The stereotype that want all Italians dark skinned and black haired is wrong: I'm italian and I have green eyes, brown hair, brown and reddish beard and a very light complexion.
Southern italians usually look middle eastern because they are descentents from greeks, iberians, phoenicians, arabs and sometimes in central Italy the are individuals with the same features becaused in this zone were the etruscans, that maybe had partial middle eastern origins, and ancient romans in imperial era imported many slaves from Middle East.
But remember that northern italians have often a appearence similar to the germans and the french with light complexion and a highter frequence of blond hair and blue or green eyes and the middle eastern and mediterranean features are dominant only in southern Italy but even in Sicily you can see people with nordic features: Italy had also a strong ethnic apport from germanic peoples.
Remember that it doesn't exist the typical italian.

oh boy...(shakes head.)

I would say the look is Medditeranean, which involves, Greece, Italy, Turkey etc.. Olive skin..

i am italian and i DO NOT look middle eastern. sicilian italians are usually pretty dark and tan, the guy in the pic, looks italian and not middle eastern... i think you needa look at a few more italians!

they are all from the Mediterranean sea area. they don't look middle eastern. they all (Italians, Greeks, Arabs, Jews) look Mediterranean.

I don't think Italians look Middle Eastern. In fact, I have a friend from Nicaragua and people ask her if she is Middle Eastern all the time. She gets so mad!

My 2 half brothers father is from Sicily and has blonde hair and green eyes.

They are of the Meditteranean race, that's one of the three true subdivisions of the "WHITE" race.
the subdivisions are:
the nordic- Northern Europe, fairer feautres
the alpine- Central Europe, Mixed Features
the meditteranean- Southern Europe, usually darker features

Know you know that white people come in three varieties but wasn't life easier not knowing?

Do you know his clear heredity?If he is American he is probably mixed, not clear Italian. He don't look me Middle Eastern, look more like people from Algeria.