 Human graves of a steppe nomadic character as well as horse burials dated to the second half of the 8th century AD attest to the presence of Bulgars in the Molise and Campania regions.Toponyms containing the root "bulgar" and personal names such as "Bulgari" and "di Bulgari" continued to appear in medieval documents relating to the Italian Peninsula.In the 17th century, Bulgarian Roman Catholics often visited Rome in their attempts to negotiate support for a Bulgarian uprising against the Ottoman Empire.