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Italian settlers in Libya ( it, Italo-libici, also called Italian Libyans) typically refers to Italians and their descendants, who resided or were born in
Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
during the Italian colonial period.


History

Italian heritage in Libya can be dated back to
Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
, when the Romans controlled and colonized Libya for a period of more than five centuries prior to the fall of the
Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
and its takeover by
Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
and
Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...
civilizations. But predominantly Italian heritage in Libya refers to modern-day Italians. In 1911, the
Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...
waged war on the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
and captured Libya as a colony. Italian settlers were encouraged to come to Libya and did so from 1911 until the outbreak of
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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.


Developments

In less than thirty years (1911–1940), the Italians in Libya built a significant amount of public works (roads, railways, buildings, ports, etc.) and the Libyan economy flourished. They even created the Tripoli Grand Prix, an international motor racing event first held in 1925 on a racing circuit outside Tripoli (it lasted until 1940). Italian farmers cultivated lands that had returned to native desert for many centuries, and improved Italian Libya's agriculture to international standards (even with the creation of new farm villages).
Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
experienced a huge growth in those years, with many new churches built for the growing Italian community: in the late 1920s the two catholic Cathedrals of
Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...
and
Benghazi Benghazi () , ; it, Bengasi; tr, Bingazi; ber, Bernîk, script=Latn; also: ''Bengasi'', ''Benghasi'', ''Banghāzī'', ''Binghāzī'', ''Bengazi''; grc, Βερενίκη (''Berenice'') and ''Hesperides''., group=note (''lit. Son of he Ghazi ...
were built. The one in Benghazi was considered the biggest in north Africa. The governor Italo Balbo is attributed with the creation of modern Libya in 1934, when he convinced Italian leader
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...
to unite the Italian colonies of
Tripolitania Tripolitania ( ar, طرابلس '; ber, Ṭrables, script=Latn; from Vulgar Latin: , from la, Regio Tripolitana, from grc-gre, Τριπολιτάνια), historically known as the Tripoli region, is a historic region and former province o ...
, Cyrenaica and the Fezzan into one single country named "Libia" in Italian.


Emigrants

Libya was considered the new "America" for the Italian emigrants in the 1930s, substituting the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. The Italians in Libya numbered 108,419 (12.37% of the total population) at the time of the 1939 census. They were concentrated in the coast around the city of Tripoli (they constituted 37% of the city's population) and Benghazi (31%). In 1938, Governor Balbo brought 20,000 Italian farmers to colonize Libya, and 26 new villages were founded for them, mainly in Cyrenaica. On 9 January 1939, the colony of Libya was incorporated into metropolitan Italy and thereafter considered an integral part of the Italian state. Libya, as the
Fourth Shore The Fourth Shore (in Italian ''Quarta Sponda'') or Italian North Africa (Africa Settentrionale Italiana/ASI) was the name created by Benito Mussolini to refer to the Mediterranean shore of coastal colonial Italian Libya and WWII Italian Tunisia ...
, was to be part of the Imperial Italy, desired by the
Italian irredentists Italian irredentism ( it, irredentismo italiano) was a nationalist movement during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Italy with irredentist goals which promoted the unification of geographic areas in which indigenous peoples ...
. By 1939 the Libyan Italians had built 400 km of new railroads and 4,000 km of new roads (the largest and most important was the one from Tripoli to Tobruk, on the coast) in Libya.


World War II

In 1940
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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
broke out between Italy and
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
. The defeat of the Axis forces in the North African Campaigns of World War II meant Italy lost Libya to British and French control. After these Western Desert Campaign defeats in 1943, Italy was forced to abandon its colonial intentions and projects, but most of the Italian settlers remained in Libya.


After World War II

From 1947 to 1951, Tripolitania and Cyrenaica were under British administration, while the French controlled Fezzan. Under the terms of the 1947 peace treaty with the Allies, Italy relinquished all claims to Libya. On 21 November 1949, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution stating that Libya should become independent before 1 January 1952. On 24 December 1951, Libya declared its independence as the United Kingdom of Libya, a constitutional and hereditary monarchy. The Italian population virtually disappeared after the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi ordered the expulsion of remaining Italians (about 20,000) in 1970. After the nationalization of Italian companies, only a small number of Italians remained in Libya. In 1986, after the political crisis between the United States and Libya, the number of Italians decreased even further, reaching an all-time low of 1,500 people, that is, less than 0.1% of the population. In the 1990s and 2000s, with the end of the economic embargo, some Colonial-era Italians (a few dozen pensioners) returned to Libya. In 2004 there were 22,530 Italians in Libya, almost the same number as in 1962, mainly skilled workers in the oil industries (principally in
Eni Eni S.p.A. () is an Italian multinational energy company headquartered in Rome. Considered one of the seven "supermajor" oil companies in the world, it has operations in 69 countries with a market capitalization of US$54.08 billion, as of 11 Ap ...
, which has been present in Libya since 1953) arrived at the end of the nineties. Only a few hundred of them were allowed to return to Libya in the 2000s. On 30 August 2008, Gaddafi and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi signed a historic cooperation treaty in Benghazi. Under its terms, Italy would pay $5 billion to Libya as compensation for its former military occupation. In exchange, Libya would take measures to combat illegal immigration coming from its shores and boost investments in Italian companies. The treaty was ratified by Italy on 6 February 2009, and by Libya on 2 March, during a visit to Tripoli by Berlusconi. Co-operation ended in February 2011 as a result of the Libyan Civil War which overthrew Gaddafi. At the signing ceremony of the document, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi recognized historic atrocities and repression committed by the state of Italy against the Libyan people during colonial rule, stating: ''In this historic document, Italy apologizes for its killing, destruction and repression of the Libyan people during the period of colonial rule.''" and went on to say that this was a "complete and moral acknowledgement of the damage inflicted on Libya by Italy during the colonial era".


21st century

Only a few hundred Italians were allowed to return to Libya between 2000 and 2010. In 2006 the Italian embassy in Tripoli calculated that there were approximately 1,000 original Libyan Italians in Libya, mostly elderly people and assimilated Muslims living in Tripoli and Benghazi. On 16 February 2006, the Italian consulate in Benghazi was closed following protests after Minister
Roberto Calderoli Roberto Calderoli (born 18 April 1956) is an Italian politician and a member of the Senate of the Republic. He was a Minister without portfolio for Legislative Simplification in the Berlusconi IV Cabinet. He previously served as Minister without ...
appeared on television wearing a T-shirt depicting one of the caricatures of Muhammad. The protests resulted in the deaths of 11 Libyans and the wounding of 60 others, as well as damage to the Italian consulate. According to official figures, in 2007 there were 598 Italians in Libya. There were over twenty thousand Italian exiles that were represented by the Italian Association of Returnees from Libya. Almost all the Italians in Libya were evacuated at the start of the first Civil War in 2011, on special flights and by ship. A few Italians returned to Libya after 2012, mainly oil technicians, humanitarian workers and diplomats, but most of these left at the start of the second Civil War in 2014. There are also many descendants (probably 10,000, according to estimates of Italian historian Vidali) of Italian settlers who married Arabs and/or Berbers, and Libyans of mixed Italian and Arab/Berber blood may be considered Arabs or Berbers in the Libyan census. At present, the Libyan Italians are organized in the ''Associazione Italiani Rimpatriati dalla Libia''. They are involved in a struggle to have their confiscated properties returned.


Population chart


Notable people

;Well-known Italian Libyans born in Libya (according to their place of birth):


Tripoli

* Claudio Gentile (born 1953), international football player and coach * Rossana Podestà (1934-2013), international actress *
Franco Califano Franco Califano (14 September 1938 – 30 March 2013) was an Italian lyricist, composer, singer-songwriter, author and actor. During his career he sold about 20 million records. Life and career Born in an airplane above Tripoli, Libya, Califan ...
(1938-2013), singer and music composer * Don Coscarelli (born 1954), movie director and writer *
Herbert Pagani Herbert Avraham Haggiag Pagani (25 April 1944 in Tripoli – 16 August 1988 in Palm Springs, California) was a Jewish-Italian artist and musician. Biography Pagani was born in a Jewish family in Libya, just around the time when the country sto ...
(1944–1988), singer * Adriano Visconti (1915–1945), fighter pilot and flying ace * Nicolò D'Alessandro (born 1944), artist and writer * Emanuele Caracciolo (1912–1944), movie producer *
Robert Haggiag Robert Haggiag (5 October 1913 – 1 March 2009) was an Italian-American film producer. Life He was born in 1913 in Tripoli, Italian Libya. In 1966 he won a David di Donatello Award for "Best Production". Filmography * 1950: Ladro di Venezia, ...
(1913–2009), film producer * Nicola Conte (1920–1976), navy officer * Victor Magiar (born 1957), writer * Valentino Parlato (born 1930), journalist and newspaper editor * Gianni Pilo (born 1939), writer * Ottavio Macaione (Born 1925–2016), favorite local football player in Tripoli. *
Valeria Rossi Valeria Rossi (born 7 March 1969) is an Italian singer and songwriter. She is most famous for the song , a huge summer hit of 2001 and the second biggest-selling single of the year in Italy. Discography Albums * 2001: '' Ricordatevi dei fi ...
(born 1969), singer


Benghazi

* Maurizio Seymandi (born 1939), TV anchor * (1924–1984), Italian Army General


Tarhuna

*
Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli OFM (5 February 1942, in El Khadra, Libya – 30 December 2019, in Saccolongo, Italy) was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate, who was a Vicar Apostolic of Tripoli and the Titular Bishop of Tabuda. Life Martinelli ...
(1942–2019), Libyan-Italian Roman Catholic prelate


Al Khums

*
Mario Schifano Mario Schifano (20 September 1934, Khoms, Libya – 26 January 1998, Rome, Italy) was an Italian painter and collagist of the Postmodern tradition. He also achieved some renown as a film-maker and rock musician. He is considered to be one of th ...
(1934–1998), painter


Marj

* Lorenzo Bandini (1935–1967), motor racing driver


See also

*
Libyan resistance movement The Libyan resistance movement was the rebel force opposing the Italian Empire during its Pacification of Libya between 1923 and 1932. History First years The Libyan resistance, associated with the Senussi Order, was initially led by Omar Muk ...
* Italian Colonial Empire * Italo-Turkish War * Italian Libya *
Italian refugees from Libya The Italian refugees from Libya were the Italian settlers and their descendants who were forced out of Libya after the end of WWII. Most took refuge in Italy, mainly after their expulsion in 1970, ordered by Muammar Gaddafi. History Post World ...
*
Mare Nostrum ''Mare Nostrum'' (; Latin: "Our Sea") was a Ancient Rome, Roman name for the Mediterranean Sea. In Classical Latin, it would have been pronounced , and in Ecclesiastical Latin, it is pronounced . In the decades following the 1861 unification of ...
*
Italy–Libya relations Italy–Libya relations refers to the bilateral relations between the State of Libya and the Italian Republic. Italy has an embassy in Libya's capital, Tripoli, and a general consulate in Benghazi. Libya has an embassy in Italy's capital, Rome ...
*
Pied-Noirs The ''Pieds-Noirs'' (; ; ''Pied-Noir''), are the people of French and other European descent who were born in Algeria during the period of French rule from 1830 to 1962; the vast majority of whom departed for mainland France as soon as Alg ...


References


Bibliography

* * Sarti, Roland. ''The Ax Within: Italian Fascism in Action''. Modern Viewpoints. New York, 1974. * Smeaton Munro, Ion. ''Through Fascism to World Power: A History of the Revolution in Italy''. Ayer Publishing. Manchester (New Hampshire), 1971. * Taylor, Blaine. ''Fascist Eagle: Italy's Air Marshal Italo Balbo''. Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, 1996.


External links


Photos of former Italian settlers and their villages in Libya
* The Italians in Libya after World War II
Italian Libyan citizenship problemsAgreement to restore Italian Cemetery in Tripoli


{{DEFAULTSORT:Italian settlers in Libya Italian Libya Ethnic groups in Libya Italian02
Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
Italy–Libya relations
Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...