Do Italians still have Roman Ancestry ?

Question:

Do Italians still have Roman Ancestry ?

I mean if you think about it, its still the same people, just a different name right?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Italy has undergone numerous invasions, both temporary and permanent, since the heyday of the Roman Republic. Even if you disregard the peaceful influx of diverse people from all over the empire, and class every citizen who lived in Rome in, say, 300 A.D. as a "Roman", the 5th and 6th centuries saw a series of invasions by Germanic peoples (most notably the Lombards) that introduced a large, permanent, German component into the population of Italy, especially in the northern part. Later invasions of the southern regions by Saracens, Normans, etc. also added to the gene pool. There are undoubtedly many Italians alive today who are directly descended from people who lived in Italy during the Roman era, but most (if not all) of them will have at least some admixture from other European peoples too.