Italians in France

Italians in France (italo-francesi; italo-français) are French-born citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who emigrated to France during the Italian diaspora, or Italian-born people in France. Italian migration into what is today France has been going on, in different migrating cycles, for centuries, beginning in prehistoric times right to the modern age. In addition, Corsica passed from the Republic of Genoa to France in 1768, and the county of Nice and Savoy from the Kingdom of Sardinia to France in 1860. About 5.5 million French nationals are of Italian origin, corresponding to about 8% of the total population. According to data for 2021, the number of Italian citizens residing in France was 444,113. There has always been migration, since ancient times, between what is today Italy and France. This is especially true of the regions of northwestern Italy and southeastern France. As Italian wealth and influence grew during the Middle Ages, many Florentine, Genoese and Venetian traders, bankers and artisans settled, usually through family branches, throughout France. Regions of significant Italian diaspora sprang up as far north as Paris and Flanders. However it was not much as a percentage of the French global population. This Italian migration developed more through the Renaissance, as previous generations became assimilated. Italian artists, writers and architects were called upon by the French monarchy and aristocrats, leading to a significant interchange of culture, but it was not a massive immigration of popular classes. The 17th and 18th centuries were the era of the Italian dancers, musicians, commedia dell'arte troupes and actors of the theatre Hôtel de Bourgogne. Since the 16th century, Florence and its citizens have long enjoyed a very close relationship with France. In 1533, at the age of 14, Catherine de' Medici married Henry, the second son of King Francis I and Queen Claude of France. Under the gallicised version of her name, Catherine de Médici, became Queen consort of France when Henry ascended to the throne in 1547.