True, they are Caucasians (Pronounced Cock-Asians) just like Germans, Spaniards, Brits and Danes.
An ultra-swarthy italian from the deepest south could sometimes be mistaken for a Middle-Easterner of Peace.
Rus-Vikings will prevent the region from becoming Blackest Night
Sicily was under Moslem occupation for a period so that explains why some Sicilians may be darker.
Southern Italy was under the rule of the Normans for hundreds of years and later Spain, Austria and France. The Normans re-claimed Sicily and incorporated it into the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily (Southern Italy).
Long before that, in the times of ancient Greece, Sicily and parts of southern Italy were also colonised by Greeks, and the Romans claimed to be descendants of the Trojans.
After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Italy was under Ostrogothic (Germanic) rule, then Eastern Roman (Greek), and then the north and parts of the centre was under Longobard (Germanic) rule and then the Franks and then Holy Roman Empire (German), and parts were under Austrian and then French rule. They also had to deal with coastal attacks and raids from the Turks.