Italian Scots are people of Italian descent living in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. 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 estimated that there are 70,000 to 100,000 people in Scotland of Italian descent or Italian nationals, which is up to 1.9% of the overall Scottish population. Latest available figures from the

2011 UK Census A census of the population of the United Kingdom is taken every ten years. The 2011 census was held in all countries of the UK on 27 March 2011. It was the first UK census which could be completed online via the Internet. The Office for National ...

show there were 6,048 people born in Italy living in Scotland. This was up from 4,936 in 2001 and 3,947 recorded in 1991. In 2016, Ronnie Convery, secretary of the Italian Scotland charitable organisation and director of communications at the Archdiocese of Glasgow, asserted that a completely new dimension was being added to the Scots-Italians community. He said, “There has been a brand new migration over the past two years, and the biggest one we have seen in 100 years." Migration to Scotland from Italy has been predominantly from the provinces of

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 ...

and

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the ...

. Additional provinces with fairly significant emigration to Scotland include Isernia,

La Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest cit ...

Pistoia Pistoia (, is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a ty ...

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second m ...

, Latina,

Massa-Carrara The province of Massa-Carrara ( it, provincia di Massa-Carrara) is a province in the Tuscany region of central Italy. It is named after the provincial capital Massa, and Carrara, the other main town in the province. History The province of " ...

and

Pordenone Pordenone (; Venetian and fur, Pordenon) is the main ''comune'' of Pordenone province of northeast Italy in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region. The name comes from Latin ''Portus Naonis'', meaning 'port on the Noncello (Latin ''Naon'') River'. H ...

. The Scottish Italian community settled mostly in the

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

area, most of whom are of Tuscan origin. The smaller Italian community in and around

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

is predominantly of Lazian origin.

History

Arguably the first people from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

to reach Scotland were the Romans in and around 40AD, although the modern nations of Italy and Scotland did not exist at the time and of course the Roman Empire was a cosmopolitan institution, with some Roman Emperors from the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

and

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. Still, at least some of the Romans in Scotland were probably from what is now Italy and their constructions in Scotland of the

Antonine Wall The Antonine Wall, known to the Romans as ''Vallum Antonini'', was a turf fortification on stone foundations, built by the Romans across what is now the Central Belt of Scotland, between the Firth of Clyde and the Firth of Forth. Built some ...

and other, mostly military installations, provide some insight into the period. No Roman or Romano-Celtic identity appears to have existed in Scotland at this time and it was not until the end of the 19th century that any form of an Italian-Scots identity ever began to take shape. Many Italian-Scots can trace their ancestry back to the 1890s where their forefathers escaped

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompan ...

and

poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse

in their homeland for a better life in Scotland; yet it was not until

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

that a sizeable population of Italian-Scots—over 4,000—began to emerge, with

hosting the third largest community in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. Since then, there has been a steady flow of migration between the two countries. Italy and the

fascist Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and the ...

involvement in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

brought many hardships on Italians settled in Scotland - many families were separated as adult males were interned. The family members that were left behind were forced to cope with mistrust and

discrimination Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of Racial discrimination, r ...

. Of those imprisoned many men found themselves held in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

and the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = " O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europ ...

. A number of others were employed in

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

, at

Scapa Flow Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern end in June 2009 Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay a ...

, to construct a barrier against

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

U-boats U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare rol ...

. These men additionally constructed the Chapel of Lambholm from scrap metal and junk. Nowadays, this Chapel is one of Orkney's most popular tourist attractions. Today, Italian Scots can be found working in all manner of

profession A profession is a field of work that has been successfully '' professionalized''. It can be defined as a disciplined group of individuals, '' professionals'', who adhere to ethical standards and who hold themselves out as, and are accepted b ...

s. However, a large proportion of the community have plied their trade in the

catering Catering is the business of providing food service at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio. History of catering The earliest account of major servi ...

industry, working in the chip shops, ice-cream parlours,

pizzeria A pizzeria is a restaurant focusing on pizza. As well as pizza, dishes at pizzerias can include kebab, salads and pasta. Many pizzerias offer take-away, where the customer orders their food either in advance or at the restaurant and then take ...

s and restaurants across Scotland. In Edinburgh,The Italo-Scottish Research Cluster (ISRC) aims to study Italian immigration in Scotland and promote relations between Scotland and Italy.

Notable Italian Scots

* John Amabile, interior designer * Ronni Ancona, impressionist and actress * Nicola Benedetti, violinist *

George Biagi George Biagi (born 4 October 1985 in Irvine, Scotland) is a retired Italy international rugby union. He represented Italy on 23 occasions. He was born in Scotland to Scots/Italian father and an Italian mother and later went to Italy to stud ...

, Rugby Player * Romana D'Annunzio, television presenter * Junior Campbell, musician and composer * Gianni Capaldi, actor *

Lewis Capaldi Lewis Marc Capaldi ( ; born 7 October 1996) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. He was nominated for the Critics' Choice Award at the 2019 Brit Awards. In March 2019, his single " Someone You Loved" topped the UK Singles Chart where ...

(b. 1996), singer-songwriter and first cousin, twice removed of actor Peter Capaldi * Peter Capaldi (b. 1958), actor and director, best-known for Malcolm Tucker in '' The Thick of It'' and the Twelfth Doctor in ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the ...

'' * Emilio Coia, caricaturist * Jack Coia, architect * Paul Coia, television presenter * Angela Constance,

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from th ...

MSP * Mario Joseph Conti,

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Archbishop of Glasgow * Nina Conti, actor, comedian, and ventriloquist * Tom Conti, actor *

Adrienne Corri Adrienne Corri (born Adrienne Riccoboni; 13 November 1931 – 13 March 2016) was a Scottish actress. Early life She was born Adrienne Riccoboni in Glasgow in November 1931, the daughter of an English mother (Olive Smethurst) and an Italian ...

, actress *

Simon Danielli Simon Charles Jonathan Danielli (born 8 September 1979 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish former rugby union footballer who played on the wing for Ulster and Scotland. Early life Danielli who is of Italian descent, was educated at Cheltenham College ...

, rugby union player * Nick De Luca, rugby union player *

Richard Demarco Richard Demarco CBE (born 9 July 1930 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish artist and promoter of the visual and performing arts. Early life He was born at 9 Grosvenor Street in Edinburgh on 9 July 1930 the son of Carmino Demarco and his wife Elizabe ...

, art impresario * Sophia Dussek, musician * Paul di Giacomo, footballer * Linda Fabiani,

MSP, and former Minister for Culture *

Charles Forte Charles Carmine Forte, Baron Forte (26 November 1908 – 28 February 2007) was an Italian-born Scottish hotelier who founded the leisure and hotels conglomerate that ultimately became the Forte Group. Early life Charles Forte was born as Car ...

, hotelier * Rocco Forte, hotelier *

Dario Franchitti George Dario Marino Franchitti, MBE (born 19 May 1973) is a British former racing driver and current motorsport commentator from Scotland. He is a four time IndyCar Series champion (2007, 2009, 2010, 2011), a three-time winner of the Indian ...

Racecar driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organis ...

* Marino Franchitti,

Chris Fusaro Chris Fusaro (born 21 July 1989 in Kirkcaldy, Scotland) is a Scotland international rugby union player. He plays for Glasgow Warriors as a flanker. Rugby Union career Amateur career Early in 2007 he was among a group of boys who achieve ...

, rugby player *

Armando Iannucci Armando Giovanni Iannucci (; born 28 November 1963) is a Scottish satirist, writer, director, producer, performer, and panellist. Born in Glasgow to Italian parents, Iannucci studied at the University of Glasgow followed by the University ...

, writer and satirist *

Keira Lucchesi Keira Lucchesi is a Scottish actress. Life and career Lucchesi's first professional role began in 2009, playing the role of Stella Walker in the BBC soap opera ''River City ''River City'' is a Scottish television soap opera that was first ...

, actress *

Lou Macari Luigi Macari (born 7 June 1949) is a Scottish former footballer and manager. He began his playing career at Celtic where he was one of the Quality Street Gang, the outstanding reserve team that emerged in the late 1960s that also included Ken ...

, footballer and football manager * Peter Marinello, footballer * Oscar Marzaroli, photographer *

Dominic Matteo Dominic Matteo (born 28 April 1974) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a defender and midfielder in a 17-year professional career from 1992 to 2009. He made a total of 366 league and cup appearances, of which 276 were i ...

, footballer * Kirsty Mitchell, actress *

Alberto Morrocco Alberto Morrocco (14 December 1917 – 10 March 1998) was a Scottish artist and teacher. He is famous for his works featuring landscapes of Scotland and abroad, still-life, figure painting and interiors, but perhaps his best known works are his ...

, artist * Giovanni Moscardini, footballer * Sir Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice-Chancellor
of the University of Glasgow *

Daniela Nardini Daniela Nardini (born 26 April 1968, Largs) is a Scottish actress who played Anna Forbes in the BBC Two television series '' This Life''. The role earned her a BAFTA Best Actress award in 1998 and also earned her a Scottish BAFTA. She won a se ...

, actress * Paolo Nutini, singer-songwriter * Sir

Eduardo Paolozzi Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi (, ; 7 March 1924 – 22 April 2005) was a Scottish artist, known for his sculpture and graphic works. He is widely considered to be one of the pioneers of pop art. Early years Eduardo Paolozzi was born on 7 March ...

, sculptor * Carmen Pieraccini, actress * Paul di Resta, Formula 1 racecar driver * David Rizzio, private secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots * Marcus di Rollo, rugby player * Carla Romano, TV journalist * George Rossi, actor * Ricky Sbragia, footballer * Tom Sermanni, football coach *

Rachel Sermanni Rachel Sermanni (born 7 November 1991) is a Scottish folk musician from Carrbridge in Strathspey. She has toured with a number of well-known folk and indie artists in the United Kingdom. Her first album was released in September 2012. Biograp ...

, singer-songwriter * Sharleen Spiteri, singer-songwriter; guitarist; lead vocalist of the Scottish pop-rock band

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

* Ken Stott, actor *

Philip Tartaglia Filippo "Philip" Tartaglia (11 January 1951 – 13 January 2021) was a Scottish prelate who served as a bishop of the Catholic Church. He served as Metropolitan Archbishop of Glasgow from 2012 until 2021. He previously served as Bishop of Paisl ...

, Archbishop of Glasgow *

Alexander Trocchi Alexander Whitelaw Robertson Trocchi ( ; 30 July 1925 – 15 April 1984) was a Scottish novelist. Early life and career Trocchi was born in Glasgow to Alfred (formerly Alfredo) Trocchi, a music-hall performer of Italian parentage, and Anni ...

, writer * Peter Vettese, musician *

Jack Vettriano Jack Vettriano (born Jack Hoggan, 17 November 1951) is a Scottish painter. His 1992 painting '' The Singing Butler'' became a best-selling image in Britain. Early life Jack Vettriano was born and grew up in the industrial seaside town of Met ...

, painter *

Charles Edward Stuart Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (20 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, grandson of James II and VII, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland and ...

, Prince * Lena Zavaroni, singer

In popular culture

*''

American Cousins ''American Cousins'' is a 2003 romantic comedy film directed by Don Coutts and starring Danny Nucci, Gerald Lepkowski, Shirley Henderson, Vincent Pastore, Dan Hedaya, Russell Hunter, Olegar Fedoro, and Stevan Rimkus. The plot is about a Scot ...

'' – A film about an Italian Scots family and their Mafia associated American cousins. *''

Strictly Sinatra ''Strictly Sinatra'' is a 2001 British drama film written and directed by Peter Capaldi and starring Ian Hart, Kelly Macdonald, and Brian Cox. The film was released in the United Kingdom by Universal Pictures. Synopsis A young Glaswegian-Ita ...

'' *'' Comfort and Joy'' – A film about a war between rival Italian ice cream companies in Glasgow. The film is a spoof of American gangster movies. *'' Soft Top Hard Shoulder''

References

*Pieri, J. (2005) 'The Scots-Italians: Recollections of an Immigrant' The Mercat Press {{Italian diaspora Italian diaspora in the United Kingdom Scots Immigration to Scotland Ethnic groups in Scotland

History

Notable Italian Scots

In popular culture

See also

References