hannibal invaded the italian peninsula but never entered rome. he should have, and the roman empire would have collapsed then. carthage was a colony of phoenicians, who started their colonization of the mediterranean from the canaanite coast, which is present day Israel. there were also influences of greek settlers in eastern mediterranean. sicily was once a greek colony, including parts of southern italy. naples was originally called neápolis, when it was first settled by greeks. if you have been to sicily and southern italy, you'll find that majority of "Italians" there are darker in skin, in hair color, and seldom have blue or green eyes like those in northern italy. dna-wise, a good mix of north african, greek, middle-eastern, etruscan genes.