Italians in the United Kingdom

Italian Brits

Italo-britannici (Italian)
Distribution of Italian citizens in England, Wales & Northern Ireland by local authority.
Total population
c. 280,000 (by birth)[1] c. 500,000 (by ancestry) Italians of Odesa

Italians in the United Kingdom, also known as Italian Brits (Italian: italo-britannici)^[3] are citizens and/or residents of the United Kingdom who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who emigrated to the United Kingdom during the Italian diaspora. 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, and Italian Welsh.

History

Roman Britain

The

Continuous contact with

After the conquest of

The rebuilding of Westminster Abbey showed significant Italian artistic influence in the construction of the so-called 'Cosmati' 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.^[7] In 1303,

As bankers, the Frescobaldi financed ventures for numerous members of European royal families, notably their financial conquest of England, which Fernand Braudel 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 of Florence."^[12]

15th to 18th centuries

According to historian

The arts flourished under the Hanoverian dynasty, and this attracted many more Italian artisans, artists, and musicians to Britain. All of this developed in the United Kingdom a moderate Italophilia during the late Italian Renaissance. For example, in the 1790s, many Italians with skills of instrument making and glass blowing came over from Italy, France, and Holland to make and sell barometers. By 1840, they dominated the industry in England.^[15]

From Napoleon Bonaparte to World War I

The

From the 1820s to 1851... accounts for 4000 Italian immigrants in England, with 50% of them living in London. The regional origins of most were the valleys around Como, and Lucca. The people from Como were skilled artisans, making barometers and other precision instruments. People from Lucca specialised in plaster figure making. By the 1870s, the main regional origins of Italian emigration to Britain were the valleys of Parma in the north, and the Liri valley, half way between Rome and Naples. A railway network had been started by this time, and this helped the people from the Liri valley to migrate to the North of Italy, and then on to Britain. The people from Parma were predominantly organ grinders, while the Neapolitans from the Liri valley (now under Lazio) made ice cream...... the occupational structure of the immigrants, up to the 1870s, remained 'substantially the same'. After this date, all itinerant employment crossed regional demarcations.... The centre of the Italian community in Britain throughout the 19th Century, and indeed to the present day, is 'Little Italy', situated in a part of London called Clerkenwell..... description of its existence then, from an 1854 print, is of a "warren of streets around Hatton Garden". Dickens' Oliver Twist and Gustave Dore's prints of London at that time fill in the images. As numbers increased and competition grew fiercer, so Italians spread to the north of England, Wales, and Scotland. They were never in great numbers in the northern cities. For example, the Italian Consul General in Liverpool, in 1891, is quoted as saying that the majority of the 80–100 Italians in the city were organ grinders and street sellers of ice-cream and plaster statues. And that the 500–600 Italians in Manchester included mostly Terrazzo specialists, plasterers, and modellers working on the prestigious, new town hall. While in Sheffield, 100–150 Italians made cutlery..... of the 1000 or so Italians in Wales at the end of the 19th century, a third of them worked as seamen on British ships, a third worked in jobs that serviced shipping, such as ships chandlers, seamen's lodgings etc., and most of the rest worked in the coal mines. In 1861,.... there were 119 Italians in Scotland, the majority of them in Glasgow. By 1901, the Italian population was 4051. By this time, the Italian communities were becoming more affluent. The Italian Scottish community was "…almost all engaged in small food shops – either ice cream shops or fish restaurants."^[17]

By the time World War I started, the Italian community was well established in London and other areas of the British Isles (there were nearly 20,000 Italians in the United Kingdom in 1915). All Italian born subjects living in Britain at the time of WW1 were regarded as 'aliens', and forced to register with their local police station. Permission had to be given by the police if a person wanted to travel more than 5 miles (8 kilometres) from their homes.^[20]

Second World War

When World War II came, the Italians in

This

In the 1950s, Italian immigration started again to some areas of Great Britain; such as Manchester,^[26] Bedford, and Peterborough, even if in relatively limited numbers. It was made mainly from Lazio. But in the 1960s, it tapered off, and practically stopped in the 1970s. However, in the later years of the UK's membership of the European Union, the UK became the most favoured destination for Italian migrants.^[27]

The region of the country containing the most Italian Britons is London, where over 50,000 people of Italian birth lived in 2009.^[28] Other concentrations of Italians are in Manchester, where 25,000 Italians live^[29] and Bedford, where there are approximately 14,000 people of Italian origin.^[30][31]

The high concentration of Italian immigrants in Bedford, along with

In 2007, there were 82 Italian associations in Great Britain.[34]

A new ethnic minority group, nicknamed the Bangla-Italo, consisting of Bangladeshi Italians formed around London, Leicester and Manchester.^{[35][36][37][38]}

British companies founded by Italians

• Ferranti – electrical engineering and computer equipment firm, founded in 1885.
• Marconi – British telecommunications and engineering company, formed in 1897.
• Arighi Bianchi – furniture store, founded in 1854.
• Grattan – catalogue company, founded in 1912.
• Forte – hotel and restaurant business, founded in 1935.

Demographics

Population

There is no definitive number of Italians in the UK.

According to the 2021 UK Census, there were 276,669 Italian-born residents in England and Wales.^[1] However, the same source registers 368,738 Italian passport holders resident in England and Wales,^[1] and this statistic excludes Italians that also hold a British passport. A study commissioned by the Italian Consulate in London^[39] estimated 466,100 Italians registered as British residents in December 2021. A review article by the community interest company (CIC) I3Italy estimated around 500,000 Italians in the UK at the end of 2021.^[40]

Previously, the

An increase in the numbers of the Bangladeshi Italians in the UK have been witnessed since pre-Brexit.^{[35][36][37][38]}

As of June 2022, 509,100 (594,390 applications, of which 85,290 were made by repeated applicants)^[48] Italians registered under the UK's EU Settlement Scheme, successfully receiving pre-settled or settled status to remain in the United Kingdom. This figure has several limitations:^[40] first of all, it excludes Italians that came to the UK with a visa after Brexit. Further, it includes Italians that have left the UK: indeed, people that leave the UK after obtaining the status do not lose it before several years have passed. Finally, Italian citizens who also hold British citizenship did not need to register for the EU Settlement Scheme, so several people are missing from this statistic. According to the 2011 Census, Italian is the first language of 92,241 people in England and Wales.^[49]

For the period 2015 to 2016, 12,135 Italian students were studying in British universities. This was the third-highest figure amongst EU countries, and ninth globally.^[50]

Distribution

Italians and British-born people of Italian descent reside across the entire UK. Furthermore, unlike many ethnic groups in the country, there are substantial numbers of Italians outside England. Locations with significant Italian populations include London, where the 2011 Census recorded 62,050 Italian-born residents,^[41] Manchester with an estimated 25,000 people of Italian ethnicity,^[29] Bedford with an estimated 14,000 ethnic Italians,^[30][31] and Glasgow, which is home to the vast majority of the estimated 35,000+ Italian Scots.^[51]

Little Italies

• Little Italy in Clerkenwell, London.
• The area around Wardour Street and Old Compton Street in Soho, London used to be known as Little Italy.^[52]
• Ancoats in Manchester used to be known as little Italy.^[53]
• The area around Scotland Road in Liverpool used to be known as Little Italy.^[54]
• The area around Fazeley Street in Digbeth, Birmingham, used to be known as Little Italy.^[55]
• Bedford, where the population is about 8% Italian or of Italian heritage.^[56]
• Hoddesdon, in Hertfordshire has a large Sicilian population.^[57]
• Glasgow is the centre of the Scottish Italian community.^[58]

Notable individuals

See also

• List of British Italians
• Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom
• Italy – United Kingdom relations
• Romano-British culture
• Italian migration to Britain
• Italian diaspora
• Accademia Apulia
• Lombard Street
• St Peter's Italian Church
• Italian Scots
• Welsh Italians
• Genoese in Gibraltar
• British in Italy
• Little Italy, London

References