Italian Argentines
Italian Argentines (Italian: italo-argentini; Spanish: ítalo-argentinos, or tanos in Rioplatense Spanish) are Argentine-born citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who emigrated to Argentina during the Italian diaspora, or Italian-born people in Argentina.
Italian Argentines during the opening parade of the XXXIV Immigrant's Festival in Oberá, Misiones | |
| Total population | |
| c. 690,000 (by birth) c. 25,000,000 (by ancestry, about 62.5% of the total Argentine population) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Throughout Argentina (Plurality in the Pampas) | |
| Languages | |
| Argentine Spanish, Rioplatense Spanish, Italian, Piedmontese, Venetian, Neapolitan, Sicilian, and other languages of Italy• Cocoliche pidgin (also Lunfardo slang). | |
| Religion | |
| Catholic Church (Latin Church) (with a small minority of Eastern Catholics of the Byzantine Rite) | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Italians, Italian Americans, Italian Bolivians, Italian Brazilians, Italian Canadians, Italian Chileans, Italian Colombians, Italian Costa Ricans, Italian Cubans, Italian Dominicans, Italian Ecuadorians, Italian Guatemalans, Italian Haitians, Italian Hondurans, Italian Mexicans, Italian Panamanians, Italian Paraguayans, Italian Peruvians, Italian Puerto Ricans, Italian Salvadorans, Italian Uruguayans, Italian Venezuelans |
Between the 1850s and the 1950s, 3.5 million Italians immigrated to Argentina. It was estimated that at least 25 million Argentines (62.5% of the country's population) have some degree of Italian ancestry. Argentina has the second-largest community of Italians outside of Italy, after Brazil. Contingents of Italian immigrants arrived in Argentina from all regions of Italy, mainly from Northern Italy in the 19th century and mostly from Southern Italy in the 20th century.
Italian community in Argentina, along with Spanish immigrants, became a major part of modern Argentine society. Argentine culture has significant connections to Italian culture in terms of language, customs, and traditions. Argentina is also a strongly Italophilic country as cuisine, fashion and lifestyle has been sharply influenced by Italian immigration. Italian foods such as panettone (pan dulce), pasta, olive oil, fainá, pizza, vermouth and fernet have become Argentine food, and Italian immigrants also played a major role in the making of the Argentine wine industry.