You’re right. Years ago I dated a guy who’s parents came here from Italy, he had redder hair and bluer eyes than any of the red heads in my Irish family!
Exactly-not all that uncommon in areas of Northern Italy, Northern Spain, including the Pyrenees, parts of France-they were part and parcel of the Roman Empire for more than 1000 years, speak Latin based languages, the people are been the product of Rome’s fondness for interbreeding with anyone they found interesting, anywhere.
There are redheaded Sicilians due to early Norman invasions of Sicily, according to what I read. There were a few redheaded kids of Sicilian descent in my neighborhood when I was growing up.