The "Manifesto" received substantial criticism, including its assertion of Italians being a "pure race", as critics viewed the notion as absurd. "La Difesa" published other theories that described long-term Nordic Aryan amongst Italians, such as the theory that in the Eneolithic age Nordic Aryans arrived in Italy. Many of the writers of "La Difesa della Razza" took up the traditional Nordicist claim that the decline and fall of the Roman Empire was due to the arrival of Semitic immigrants. "La Difesa"'s writers were divided on their claims that described how Italians extricated themselves from Semitic influence.