>>216076933 (OP)
I expected indifference but many people in Italy actually thought it was cool that I would go back, and wanted to practice English with me. They even asked about my background specifically. They called me their cousin. I have citizenship but it's from blood, not residence. I told them Calabrian, and one guy said "oh me too!" I'm also Sicilian.
I just wanted to look at houses and eat pizza, was going to move there permanently. But now I'm looking at a summer villa because after experiencing year round in Italy it is a bit of a drag. It's cold and rainy but doesn't snow, lizards everywhere which cats bring in, not much to do. And otherwise I live in the baltics so I can have a real winter and do winter sports. Btw you might ask why not north italy? It's full of fucking migrants fra.
I did also have one young guy show me facebook group screenshots he thought were funny because they were Italian Americans acting like they are Italian. He didn't make fun of me but these people probably because they don't speak Italian, they don't live there, they've never been there or otherwise Idk. I have citizenship but I don't really say I am from Italy, that I am just Italian diaspora. I've been told I look Italian and don't look Italian. Is it even really an ethnicity? No. So it doesn't matter.
I don't think many countries really care about this, Italy just has a significant number of diaspora and many more recent than other groups, and had an influx of people applying for citizenship through this although it's mostly over now.