Just wanted to start off by asking if if anybody follows what I am saying or asking when it comes to Italians in America compared to Italy
Let’s start with American Italians historically

Sicilians - Dress the most Conservative Dapper Suit Tie immaculately and Unassuming Dressing Low Key for the most Part Very Serious Angry Cold Personality and are more Money Hungry and Bussiness Oriented Drive less Flashy Cars and when it comes to Hits
They Bury the Bodies are Brutal and Think more Clearly to cover the Tracks

Neapolitans - Hot Headed for the Most part Dress Dapper as well but more with a Collar Open Suit with a Gold Cross or Horn more Jewerly and Flashy in Clothes and Cars Tracksuit's walk with a Swagger and are more Street Oriented and like to Talk and Brag and are more Happy and Proud of being a Gangster then Sicilians who some have a Stigma about being a Gangster and Neapolitans seemed to have the Best Street Fighters and Boxers in Organized Crime in America when it comes to hits Neapolitans are more Likely to leave the Bodies in the Street or be even More brutal as to Cutting up Bodies then Burying them examples Roy DeMeo Tommy Pitera and to some Accounts on Wiretaps Sonny Franzese





Calabrese - I would have to say for the Most part More Hard Headed and are More Neapolitan acting then Sicilian and Historically in Clothes Cars and Personality

Barese - is a Grey Area cause Barese people tend to be both like All 3


With that being said Sicilians most likely Marrying only Sicilian Women in America you have Half Sicilian Neapolitans and more half Neapolitans and Calabrese them with Barese Marriages its a Grey Area again

I would say this is pretty accurate but I would like to add that Calabrese are very insular. They think they are superior to everyone else (not all of them of course). and like to hang out amongst themselves (atleast in my experience with the calabrese around toronto). Barese tend to marry either other barese or sicilians for some reason. The barese dialect is the most similar to neapolitan, but it is still very very different, very hard to understand if your not Barese. Most Barese in the US tend to be based in chicago, so you got alot of outfit guys with part/full Barese heritage including Tony Spilotro, frank cullotta, joe lombardo, john di fronzo, the cassano bros and many more. Carmen DiNunzio from boston is partly barese heritage, so is stefano sollecito in montreal.

Thanks Moscone for your Understanding where I am coming from
you are absolutely Correct about the Chicago Outfit even though the Outfit is Based on Mostly Neapolitan Origin except Big Jim Colosimo who was Calabrese and the First Boss and having Sicilian Bosses I do know about about Tony Spilotro and Frank Cullotta being Barese and also that is what Frank Calabrese is as well but all 3 Are half Barese Half Sicilian and Johnny Difronzo and Joey Lombardo are also Barese but I am not sure if they are 100 Percent Barese I will look further into That but I will also be doing another Forum of the Difference between Mobsters from Italy also you mentioned the Barese Dialect being Very Hard to Understand but the North and Central Areas of Apuglia Speak Neapolitan and the Southern is Sicilian Dialect so my Question is when it comes to the Barese Dialect is is more Closer to the Neapolitan Dialect and Neapolitans can Understand them better then the Area where they Speak in the Sicilian Dialect is is the Barese a blend of both with there Own Slang ?

No problem, the city of Bari itself and it’s surroundings (Bari provincia) is more similar to Neapolitan in language. Once you start getting to Taranto, then more so in salento, lecce, they speak a more “sicilian” influenced dialect. But make no mistake, Barese is not like Sicilian, it is more similar to napolitan but stil very very different. Even napolitani people with their heavy slang are confused when people from Bari Vecchia speak. It is a mix of latin/old Norman French/Greek, and ancient Illyrian languages.

So it sounds like the Barese Dialect is more Neapolitan its just they have alot of OLD World slang and words and do Neapolitans exactly understand when people in the the Barese Dialect are saying can they still have Conversations ?

I mean nowadays sure all the young people just speak Italian with maybe just a little accent or some dialect type words thrown in here and there. Back in the day, say like 50's-80's they probably would just switch to a more calm version of their dialect that is more similar to Italian so they would both understand easily. If were talking like back in 1880-1900 when most poorer Italians only spoke their regional dialect, then there might have been a lot of back and forth/repeating before they understood each other. Mind you I'm talking about barese from bari vecchia (the old city by the port) and Napolitano straight from the Spanish quarter. If we were talking about a Neapolitan from somewhere like Salerno or avellino, and a Barese from the hinterlands of Puglia, then the dialects are much more similar to each other.

I hear ya my Roots are from Salerno so if some one from Naples was to go to Apulia would they understand Each other with No problem or they would just speak in Standard italian cause i seen a video where Neapolitans speak Both and i was shocked that Neapolitan Dialect isint like Sicily where they dont speak Standard Italian and they Consider it their own Language also would a Neapolitan be Able to Understand a Sicilian with no Problem cause i also Read That they Understand 80 percent and the other 20 percent has to be Explained Slowly for them to Comprehend

What percentage of those who say they are Italian in America even speak Italian?

I mean to be able to have a conversation, not just the odd bit of slang or swear word.

They would probably understand the majority in Puglia/Naples. Sicily it depends. In my opinion Sicilian is more similar to regular Italian than Barese. For instance, in Italian "come here" you can typically say "vieni qua" or vieni qui. In Siclian, calabrese and a lot of Napolitan dialects, it is "veni ca". In Barese it is "vien a do" with do (pronounced like "dough") being borrowed from Greek. Some Neapolitans form the outer provinces of Campania also use do instead of ca, but as you can see it is very different from regular Italian. Heres another sentence, in English "come here and give me a glass of red wine." In Sicilian it would be something like "veni ca e dammi nu bicchieri di vinu russu". In Barese, "vien a do e damm nu bicchier' de mirre russ'." Pretty similar, and I think a normal Italian speaker might be able to identify vinu russu as vino Rosso, but a Sicilian or other Italian might be stumped by the "do" and "mirre" parts. The word mirre in barese comes from the old latin merum, which was a word for pure wine. Most latin cultures used the Latin word vinum as their basis for the word wine. (Spanish vino, Portuguese vinho, French vin) however Barese just picked a different word from Latin meaning almost the same thing.

@british, there was a big wave of Italians that came to the states, Canada and Australia from the 50's through to the early 70's. Alot of those people are still a round and speak Italian natively. Conversly, their children would probably speak Italian as well to a decent extent (albeit probably a more dialect infuenced version of Italian) because they would have grown up with their parents speaking Italian in the house. Lots of those people are around as well. Once it gets to their grandkids and great grandkids who are now starting to come of age, they mostly speak very little to no Italian, depending on how they were raised. So If I were to guess, now probably 10-20 percent of Italians/Italian Americans in America are able to speak Italian. As recently as 10-15 years ago I'd bet it was closer to 35%.

Thanks for that, just one of those things.
There is a huge amount of Italians in the UK, I bet the % is exactly the same mate.

Based on my experiences - I live in a region with a big Southern Italian population with most having direct ties to their homeland - I'd say both Sicilians and Calabrians tend to be a bit more insular than others. With the vast majority of Southern Italians there's still a major preference for marrying other Italians, but with Sicilians and Calabrians it's very noticeable they tend to look for other people from their region when it comes to forming family ties.

Sicilians definitely tend to be the most traditional and business-oriented. They're not that easily provoked in a direct physical confrontation, but they're very vindictive. When they feel someone wronged them, they can be extremely cunning and crafty.
Neapolitans on the other hand are ready to throw hands in the blink of an eye when provoked. I'd say it's the same case with Calabrians; very fiery tempered. Barese...you have to work them a bit...less easily provoked than Neapolitans or Calabrians but more so than Sicilians. When you get to the north of Puglia (like Foggia for instance) though it's a different story...they tend to be VERY short tempered and can and will fight in a heartbeat.

If there was a Neapolitan Sicilian Calabrian and Apulian Talking to Each other can all do THEM understand what each one of them are Saying?

Hey KillingJoke having heard an Answer from Ya ?

European Italians Personality Traits and Culture

Sicilians Cosa Nostra - Country People Bourgeoisie Dress Code Suit Tie or Dress Shirt Tucked in Slacks Immaculate Shoes Sun Glasses no Jewerly except a Watch or Pinkie Ring Mustaches or Clean Shaving depends on with part of Sicily Low Key Hombodies Loyal to their Wife’s don’t go to Nightclubs or Bars Strong Structure Chain of Command 10 Commandments
Drug of Choice to Deal Heroin in Most Traditional Rackets from Gambling to Loan Sharking to Extortion (Pizzo) wear Coppola Hats Weapon of choice Lupara Shotgun Large Families of 5 to 10 kids Cigar Smoking Casual Dressers as well Cold Diligent Calculating Quiet Ruthless always Studying the Minds of other People in Business or Friends of Family Vengeful when it comes to Territory or Wars with other Clans/Families

Neapolitan Camorra - Street People Suits no Tie collar opened with a Gold Cross or Italian Horn Wear A lot of other Jewerly Dress Shirt untucked Slacks with Immaculate Shoes Casual Dressers Leather Jacket Jeans Sneakers Flashy in everyway from night Night Clubs to Bars Cars to Weddings to Party’s to Cars and Houses Drug Dealing of Choice Cocaine Drug Trafficking is the Top Racket of 95 percent of the Clans Chain of Command Horizontal Structure no 10 Commandments Alliances within Clans for the most part to keep the Peace Women as of Wives Daughters Sisters involved with the Clans other Rackets Garbage Couterfiting Extortion Auto Mechanic Industry Political Corruption Smuggling Money Laundering Weapons Trafficking Robbery Kidnapping Prostitution Loan Sharking Gambling Murder some Clans out in the Country as Casterta are involved in more White Collar rackets such as Construction Younger Kids are more Involved Clan Wars are more Common then Sicilians Weapon of Choice Handguns or Machine Guns Ruthless Hot Headed Drug Users Street Fighters more Swaggering more Facial Hair from Beards to Mustaches to a Clean Shaven


Calabrians Ndrangheta - Mountain People combination of Sicilian and Neapolitans Chain of Command is more Guarded compared to Cosa Nostra you can’t be a Member unless your a Relative initation Ceremonies are held in Church’s Dress code is a combination of Neapolitan and Sicilian Casual dressing not Flashy with Jewerly Drug Trafficking and a Drug of Choice to Sell is Cocaine they Control 80 % out of all of Europe other Rackets Kidnapping Weapon Trafficking Loan Sharking Extortion Robbery out of the 3 they have the Least Pentitos (Informants) Ruthless Insular Low Key compared to the Camorra

Puglians Barese Sacra Corona Unita - Smallest Family and a Faction of Camorra Roots - Casual Dressers Drug Trafficking
is their Main Racket as well as Cigarette Smuggling Human Trafficking Extortion Political Corruption Weapons Trafficking LoanSharking
Prostitution Money Laundering have a some what Chains of Command

You mean when all of them speak in their respective dialects? There will be some difficulties.
Like for instance the northern part of Calabria has a dialect that's more influenced by Neapolitan while the central and southern parts of Calabria have dialects that are more related to Sicilian. The Barese dialect at its root is related to Neapolitan, but like Moscone already said there are plenty of differences as well so they're not entirely mutually intelligible. The Foggian dialect on the other hand has a bit more Naples-area Neapolitan influences.

In short, when all of them go off in their own respective dialects, most will experience plenty of difficulties in understanding each other.

Similar situation is on the Balkans too, meaning Slovenian, a Croat, Serbian, Montenegrin, Bosnian, Bulgarian and Macedonian can all understand each other 90% by only speaking in their own languages and dialects, but with some difficulties which can be easily corrected since almost every Macedonian can speak their languages, or the other way around. Lots of similarities with Italy.

So Barese is difficult to understand to a Native Sicilian from Sicily or Native Neapolitan from Naples or a Calabria but to make the question a little easier can a Native Neapolitan From Naples and a Native Sicilian from Sicily Understand Each other 100 percent or it’s more like 80 percent they they understand each other

Also everybody I did my Part on European Italians should like to see if they is pretty Accurate

Neapolitan and Sicilian are essentially two entirely different languages that descended separately from Latin. A native Neapolitan who has never been into contact with a Sicilian probably won't be able to understand him and vice versa.

The differences between Neapolitan language and standard Italian (Tuscan) are somewhat greater than those between Spanish and Portuguese, and comparable to those between Dutch and German.

I always thought a Native Neapolitan could Understand about 80 Percent of a Native Sicilian https://youtu.be/hrQknvaY9lE?feature=shared

In Reggio Calabria they also used to speak Greek. Calabrian Greek is the variety of Italiot Greek used by the ethnic Griko people in Calabria, as opposed to the Italiot Greek dialect spoken in the Grecìa Salentina. Both are remnants of the Ancient and Byzantine Greek colonization of the region.

Calabrian Greek is mentioned in the Red Book of UNESCO on endangered languages. together with Griko. In addition, Euromosaic analyses and recognizes it as being an endangered and minority language in the European Union. It is mentioned by Ethnologue as a dialect of Modern Greek.

The word 'Ndrangheta comes from Greek.

Is Campobasso (Molise) more like Foggian or Neapolitan,since they were part of both at times?

Yes I agree and was away of the Greek Roots in Calabria I remberbseen Documentary years ago on YouTube about the Griko dialect is Fading Away if I’m not Wrong

Well Molise Abruzzo and all those small Southern area Town Before or Next to Naples speak the Neapolitan Dialect for Sure

But what does everyone think of Part 2 Italian European Mobsters ?

Wherein Apulia is the imaginary line that separates the Sicilian from the Neapolitan dialects?

Brindisi and Taranto start of the Sicilian? Or maybe the Southern part of the Province of Bari included since some of Bari looks as far South as upper Taranto

I'd read that Sicilian is in the Salentine Peninsula,but where does that begin?

Also ,how is it explained that in that area Sicilian is Spoken given the distance from Sicily?

Campania and Molise spoke Oscan in Ancient Times,the language of the Osci/Samnites(Sanniti).Probably parts of the areas around there .