Although Italy is currently home to an estimated 5,000 thousand Armenians, the ties between Italians and Armenians date back to the Roman era. During the Roman era, the Byzantine Armenian general Narses obtained military authority over Italy from the Emperor Justinian I. The south of Italy and Sicily had long been under Byzantine control by then, so many Armenians were able to follow and settle there; this would explain why Saint Gregory the Illuminator is particularly venerated in Nardo, Naples, and Palermo.