(1778–1827), a prominent Greek-Italian During the
Early Middle Ages, new waves of
Greeks came to Magna Graecia from Greece and Asia Minor, as southern Italy remained governed by the
Eastern Roman Empire until the late 11th century. However, they would stay a larger minor
ethnic group in the south of Italy. Although most of the Greek inhabitants of southern Italy assimilated and no longer spoke Greek, a small
Griko-speaking minority still exists today in
Apulia, mostly in
Salento, and in
Calabria.
Griko is the name of a language combining ancient
Doric,
Byzantine Greek, and
Italian elements, spoken by people in the Magna Graecia region. There is rich
oral tradition and Griko
folklore, limited now, though once numerous, to only a few thousand people, most of them having become absorbed into the surrounding Italian element. Records of Magna Graecia or southern Italy being predominantly Greek-speaking date as late as the 11th century. The migration of
Byzantine Greek scholars and other emigres from
Byzantium during the
decline of the Byzantine Empire and mainly after the
fall of Constantinople in 1453 until the 16th century, is considered by modern scholars as crucial in the revival of
Greek and
Roman studies, arts and sciences, and subsequently in the development of
Renaissance humanism. These emigres were grammarians, humanists, poets, writers, printers, lecturers, musicians, astronomers, architects, academics, artists, scribes, philosophers, scientists, politicians and theologians. In the decades following the fall of Constantinople, many Greeks began to settle in territories of the
Republic of Venice, including in
Venice itself. In 1479 there were between 4000 and 5000
Greek residents in Venice. Moreover, it was one of the economically strongest Greek communities of that time outside the
Ottoman Empire. In November 1494 the Greeks in Venice asked permission and were permitted to found a confraternity, the
Scuola dei Greci, a philanthropic and religious society which had its own committee and officers to represent the interests of the Greek community. This was the first official recognition of the legal status of the Greek minority by the Venetian authorities. In 1539 the Greeks of Venice were permitted to begin building their own church, the
San Giorgio dei Greci which still stands in the centre of Venice in the present day on the
Rio dei Greci. ==Modern Italy==