[2] For more than a century the Italians of Odesa greatly influenced the culture, art, industry, society, architecture, politics and economy of the city.

[8] Italians of Odesa are mentioned for the first time in documents of the 13th century, when on the territory of the future Odesa, a city in southern Ukraine on the Black Sea, the anchorage of the Genoese commercial ships was placed, which was called "Ginestra", perhaps from name of the broom plant, very common in the steppes of the Black Sea.

[1] In 1789, during the Russo-Turkish War, Giuseppe De Ribas, an officer in the service of the Russian prince Grigory Potemkin, with his troops conquered the village of Khadjibey,[1] inhabited by Tatars.

[6] In this place, Giuseppe De Ribas, having understood the importance of the presence of a new port in Ukraine on the Black Sea, founded Odesa in 1794 with the approval of the Russian Empress Catherine the Great.

All this was facilitated by the fact that at the helm of the newly founded capital of the Black Sea basin, there was a Neapolitan of Spanish origin, Giuseppe De Ribas, in office until 1797.

[1] Once Odesa was founded, there was a need to populate it with new inhabitants, among whom there were many Italians, given the place of origin of Giuseppe De Ribas.

The sky, the sun, the architecture of the buildings, the painting in the churches, the names of the streets - "strade" and "stradelli", the first ships from Naples and Messina, the first shopkeepers, the first grocery stores, the first wine cellars, pasta, the first tomatoes and the first operas were the reflection and echo of blessed Italy.

It is no coincidence that Alexander Pushkin (the great Russian poet) who loved and understood all beautiful things, called the Odessites - the children of happy Ausonia.In 1797 there were about 800 Italians in Odesa, equal to 10% of the total population: they were mostly traders and of Neapolitan, Genoese and Livorno sailors, who were later joined by artists, technicians, artisans, pharmacists and teachers.

[3] In Odesa the Italians also owned bakeries, pasta and biscuit factories, and later in the period 1794-1802, the first Italian-owned trading companies arose.

[1] At the beginning of the 19th century the Italian community began to play an important role in the public and commercial life of the city.

Anatra licensed designs by Farman, Morane-Saulnier, Nieuport, and Voisin, ultimately building at a rate of as many as sixty per month by 1917.

[10] Both of its factories were taken over and operated by the Soviets, until eventually being closed in 1922, after having produced 1,056 aircraft in Odesa, and 50 at a second location they had opened 500 km (310 mi) away, in Simferopol, in Crimea.

[11] The Italians of Odesa were also owners of the city's food industries, where pasta, cured meats and sweets were mainly produced.

The Italians also played an important part in starting the Odesa Opera and Ballet Theater[1] and the Greek Orthodox Trinity Cathedral.

[6] Italian actors who acted in the Odesa Opera and Ballet Theater were Tommaso Salvini, Ernesto Rossi and Eleonora Duse.

[3] The famous Neapolitan song "'O sole mio" was composed in 1898 while the two authors, Eduardo di Capua and Giovanni Capurro, were in Odesa.

[7] Over time they merged with the local population, losing the ethnic connotations of origin:[8] In Odesa there is only one man left in possession of an Italian passport: he is an Orthodox priest of Italian-Russian blood.