Armenians in Italy: Difference between revisions
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Armenians in Italy covers the Armenians who live in [[Italy]]. There are currently 2,500 Armenians in [[Italy]] mainly residing in [[Milan]], [[Rome]] and [[Venice]].<ref>http://www.armeniadiaspora.com/followup/population.html</ref> |
Armenians in Italy covers the Armenians who live in [[Italy]]. There are currently 2,500 Armenians in [[Italy]] mainly residing in [[Milan]], [[Rome]] and [[Venice]].<ref>http://www.armeniadiaspora.com/followup/population.html</ref> |
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==History== |
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The oldest information about Armenians living in Italy goes back to the 6th-8th centuries. |
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Later, in the 9th-10th centuries, a great number of Armenians moved to Italy from Thrace and Macedonia. They were the descendants of Paulicians chased from Armenia by emperor Constantin. |
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As to Armenian communities, they were formed in Italy in the 12th-13th centuries, when active trade was going on between Cilician Armenia and Italian big city-republics as Genoa, Venice and Pisa. Under Cilician Armenian king Levon II (1187-1219), treaties were signed between the two parties, according to which Italian merchants had the right to open factories and to develop industrial activities in the Kingdom of Cilicia and Armenian merchant could do the same in Italian towns. These treaties were periodically renewed, as long as the Cilician Armenian Kingdom existed. In the 13th century the number of Armenians in Italy increased because of the new wave of emigrants after the invasion of Tatars and Mongols. |
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==Religion== |
==Religion== |
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Revision as of 04:15, 22 September 2008
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Armenians in Italy covers the Armenians who live in Italy. There are currently 2,500 Armenians in Italy mainly residing in Milan, Rome and Venice.[1]
History
The oldest information about Armenians living in Italy goes back to the 6th-8th centuries. Later, in the 9th-10th centuries, a great number of Armenians moved to Italy from Thrace and Macedonia. They were the descendants of Paulicians chased from Armenia by emperor Constantin.
As to Armenian communities, they were formed in Italy in the 12th-13th centuries, when active trade was going on between Cilician Armenia and Italian big city-republics as Genoa, Venice and Pisa. Under Cilician Armenian king Levon II (1187-1219), treaties were signed between the two parties, according to which Italian merchants had the right to open factories and to develop industrial activities in the Kingdom of Cilicia and Armenian merchant could do the same in Italian towns. These treaties were periodically renewed, as long as the Cilician Armenian Kingdom existed. In the 13th century the number of Armenians in Italy increased because of the new wave of emigrants after the invasion of Tatars and Mongols.
Religion
Italy has a number of very important churches and religious establishments.
- St. Gregory Church (Rome)
- Holy Cross Armenian Church (on Calle Degli)
- St. Blaise (Surp Vlas) Armenian Catholic Church (Rome)
- San Nicola de Tolentino Armenian Catholic Church (Rome)
- Armenian Apostolic Church of the Forty Martyrs (Milano)
San Lazzaro Island
The Monastic Headquarters of the Mekhitarist Order is on the St. Lazarus in Venice (San Lazzaro Monastero Armeno in Italian). It is located on San Lazzaro degli Armeni, (Armenian: "Սուրբ Ղազարոս Կղզի", English: Saint Lazarus Island), a small island in the Venetian Lagoon, lying immediately west of the Lido; completely occupied by an Armenian Catholic monastery that is the mother-house of the Mekhitarist Order. It is considered as one of the world's foremost centers of Armenian culture.
The beginnings of the island's Armenian history started when Mekhitar and his seventeen monks built a monastery, restored the old church, and enlarged the island to its present 30,000 square metres, about four times its original area. Its founder's temperament and natural gifts for scholarly pursuits immediately set the Mekhitarist Order in the forefront of Oriental studies: the monastery published Armenian historical, philological and literary works and related material, renowned for their scholarship and accuracy as well as for the beauty of the editions, on its own multilingual presses. The island also houses a 150,000-volume library, as well as a museum with over 4,000 Armenian manuscripts and many Arab, Indian and Egyptian artifacts collected by the monks or received as gifts.
The Mekhitarist Order also publishes the longest-running Armenian periodical, the academic "Pazmaveb".
External links
See also
References
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| Historic areas of Armenian settlement | ||
| Caucasus | ||
| Former Soviet Union | ||
| Americas | ||
| Europe | ||
| Middle East | ||
| Asia | ||
| Africa | ||
| Oceania | ||
