Hi Gibbs,

No I didn't run my DNA through FamilyTree DNA. But based on what I've been reading, it does seem that perhaps the Iberian Peninsula received a greater influx of North African DNA than Sicily/Italy due to the longer period of Moorish domination there, however even in Spain/Portugal, the people are mostly descended from the pre-Moorish inhabitants (Romanized people of Iberian, Basque, Celtic, Roman, and Visigothic ancestry).

On the other hand, Italians (and also Greeks) have more West Asian admixture than Spaniards/Portuguese, which is probably of very ancient Neolithic origin (as in it's presumable that the Ancient Greeks and Romans probably also had this West Asian admixture - just a theory though, don't know for certain). SE Europe is kind of a blend of original Paleolithic European and later Neolithic arrivals from West Asia. Other Europeans also have this blend but on average lean a lot more Paleolithic.

That said, Greece did have a period of having been dominated by Ottoman Turks, but the fact that Italians also have this Caucasus/West Asian admixture makes me believe that this admixture is very ancient (plus religious differences between Greeks and Turks would've prevented much mixing from occurring). I'd be curious as to the difference between West Asian admixture in Greeks vs. in Italians. The fact that Italy/Greece are grouped together right now as one region makes such distinctions impossible. It makes me think that many if not most of the Italian samples in "Italy/Greece" are derived from southernmost Italy (i.e. Sicily, Calabria, Apulia), where the locals are largely of Ancient/Byzantine Greek descent.

I'm willing to bet that neither northern nor central Italians would have as much Caucasus/West Asian DNA as southern Italians or Greeks. As such, in the future as more samples are added, we might see more Italians in their own new "Italian" cluster or perhaps closer to Europe West, Iberian Peninsula, or regions farther west whereas other Italians would cluster with the Greeks. I see Italy as straddling both Western Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean regions where people from both sides have blended together. Even ancient Italy was a blend of Celts/Gauls, Romans/Italic tribes, Greeks, and others going by different regions, not even factoring influxes of people from all around the Roman Empire during that period or the subsequent post-Roman invasions and migrations of Germanic peoples, Byzantine Greeks, Moors, Normans, and others into the country.