He was not Italian. This theory was debunked several years ago by forensic linguistic analysis, but the media and the general public still been repeating it.

The theory of him being Galician is partially based on several weird coincidences, like the fact that he used for places discovered in America the same names of places in Galicia, particularly of the Spanish province of Pontevedra. Something that draws special attention is that he used river Xallas in America for a river that flows into sea in a waterfall. And guess what? There is a river Xallas in Galicia, that also flows into the Atlantic ocean forming a waterfall, and it's the only one in western Europe.

There are some other examples like this. There are some other reasons. Anyhow, there al also other explanations for them. Let's see what happens.