J2 Haplogroup

J2 has its origins in Anatolia, the eastern portion of Turkey, and is thought to have spread into Europe during the Neolithic period (~5,000 years ago), which saw the spread of soil cultivation, crop production and the raising of livestock. This culture of farming and agriculture has since spread much further than the people who developed it, although J2 were likely founders as they followed a Levantine/Anatolian dispersal route to southeastern Europe. Haplogroup J2 now has a wide distribution and often high frequency across Iberia, Italy, Turkey, Albania, Greece, Arabic countries and across into India. J2 has been well-studied and can be split into several subgroups, although the modes of individual distribution for those subgroups are not well understood. Many influences, such as Greek and Roman societies, would have played a part. 20% of Ashkenazi Jews are J2. 

*Excerpted from Ancestry DNA Report.

A male Gelardi descendant had his Y-DNA tested and the results are that the Gerardi/Gelardi family line is in the J2 Haplogroup.

 Interesting DNA Facts

The Y-Chromosone is passed only from father to son.  It is the Y-Chromosome that determines that the child will be male. Because of the father-to-son mode of transmission, the Y-Chromosome has followed the father's surname line for, perhaps, hundreds of years and the paternal genetic line for, possibly, thousands.  Y-DNA only undergoes a change (called a mutation) about every 500th father-son transmission on average. Y-DNA is initiated by a mutation at one transmission from some father to his son, probably, many years ago and has been passed down from that man through perhaps hundreds of father-son transmissions until passed to you (or your male relative) from your (his) father. The Gerardi Y-DNA would be relatively unchanged for hundreds of years.  All males would have the Haplogroup J2.