The genetic contribution of Greek chromosomes to the Sicilian gene pool is estimated to be about 37% whereas the contribution of North African populations is estimated to be around 6%.

https://www.nature.com/articles/ejhg2008120

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5792608&forum_id=2:#49395593)

i think the sicilian self-identification just comes from the deracination/clinging to an established identity in the US type stuff. i often heard italians shit testing each other over the sicilian stuff growing up and iirc it was even a plot point in one of the godfather films

the sicilians were the "hard" italians getting off the boat at ellis island. the bog standard southern italians were just poor hardscrabble farmers and fishermen impoverished from centuries of papist feudalism and a couple generations in didn't have the recognizable and "strong" italian identity that the sicilians had already established in the us and so they latched onto it

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5792608&forum_id=2:#49395619)

the cultural differences between the heel of the boot and the soccer ball are heightened enough to be noticeable though. sicilians are closer to the balkan peoples than they are to e.g. present day romans or the bavarianish dolce vita tuscans, at least culturally speaking

neapolitans, at least on the coast, are very much of the soil but not as clannish and squabbling as sicilians are. i don't know much about the calabrians admittedly

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5792608&forum_id=2:#49396002)

Northern Italians=VISIGOTHIC and OSTROGOTHIC admixture (Milan is German)

Republican Romans=White, short-ish Latins and Etruscans with a strong classical greek genetic admixture

EMPIRE leads to CONFUSION in all things ime as eventually the peripheries intermingle with the imperial core, creating a dilution of the essential vitality that allowed for Empire to begin with. Foucault talked about this!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5792608&forum_id=2:#49395584)