Dionysius of Halicarnassus says the Romans were a mixture of people. Their lineage was Greek, Etruscan and Trojan.

As Dionysius of Halicarnassus says the Romans were a mixture of people.
Their lineage was Greek, Etruscan and Trojan.
Rome was built as a sanctuary for the exiles and the outlaws
This is why, according to legend, they kidnapped the Sabine women.
As a city of outlaws most, if not all, of its inhabitants were men
This event is known as the “The Rape of the Sabine Women”, though it has nothing to do with rape.

Afterwards Rome continued to be a mixture of people around the world.
As the center of the roman empire one could find in Rome, Greeks, Romans, Gauls, Egyptians etc

Later all citizents of the empire became “Roman citizents” thus the mixture became more homogeneous.

But as the empire started to fell, barbarian tribes settled in.

So are modern Italians direct descendants of the Romans?
No they arent
In the south you will find influence of the German tribes, while in the north you will find the influence of the Greeks and to a smaller extent that of the Arabs



http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?/topic/27067-are-italians-the-direct-descendents-of-romans/page-4