Romanians in Italy (Romanian: românii in Italia; Italian: romeni in Italia or rumeni in Italia) became a significant population after 1999, due to a large wave of emigration known in Romania as Fenomenul migrației către UE (the phenomenon of migration toward the European Union). A large part of Romanian emigrants went to Spain or Italy, whose national languages are Romance languages like Romanian. They were followed by another wave beginning in 2002, when Romanian citizens obtained the right to move to any Schengen Zone country without a visa. In 2007 Romania joined the European Union, further increasing the economic and political ties between the countries. , there were 1,083,771 Romanian citizens living in Italy, the largest Romanian immigrant population in any country as well as the largest immigrant group within Italy. Between 2008 and 2020, 98,499 Romanians acquired Italian citizenship. Demographics Population Religion In the years 2011 and 2012 the ISTAT made a survey regarding the religious affiliation among the immigrants in Italy, the religion of the Romanian people in Italy were as follows: Orthodox Christians: 79.0% Catholics: 13.9% Protestants: 2.2% Muslims: 0.1% Non religious: 2.7% Other religions: 2.2% Notable people This list includes people of Romanian origin born in Italy or people born in Romania but mainly active in Italy. Dinu Adameșteanu (1913–2004), archaeologist Alexandra Agiurgiuculese (b. 2001), rhythmic gymnast Chris Avram (1931–1989), actor Ramona Bădescu (b. 1968), actress and television host Paolo Bonolis (b. 1961), television host Cristian Chivu (b. 1980), football player Fritz Dennerlein (1936–1992), freestyle swimmer Iosif Drăgan (1917–2008), businessman and historian Nicolao Dumitru (b. 1991), football player Loredana Errore (b. 1984), singer-songwriter Mădălina Ghenea (b. 1987), actress and model Claudia Koll (b. 1965), actress and missionary Veronica Lazăr (1938–2014), actress Marius Mitrea (b. 1982), rugby union referee Ana Caterina Morariu (b. 1980), actress Gabriele Oriali (b. 1952), football player Cristina Pîrv (b. 1972), volleyball player Bogdan Rath (b. 1972), water polo player Andreea Stefanescu (b. 1993), rhythmic gymnast Cristian Stoica (b. 1976), rugby union footballer Linda Valori (b. 1978), singer Roman Vlad (1919–2013), composer and pianist Virginia Zeani (b. 1925), soprano See also Italy–Romania relations Romanian diaspora References External links La comunità romena in Italia website Italy Romanian minorities in Europe