Missing image
Arbereshflagg.png

Flag Of The Arberesh People

Arbëreshë are Albanian people living in southern Italy. These people settled in Italy during the 15th and 16th centuries after the great Albanian hero Gjergj Kastriot Skanderbeg died. The Arbëreshë were able to keep most of their identity so they can clearly be identified as Albanians. However, unlike the majority of Albanians elsewhere, most of whom converted to Islam, the Arbëreshë are Catholics, and perhaps unsurprisingly, their language has been influenced more by Italian than has other Albanian dialects. Their own term for their scattered "nation" is Arbëria.

The emigrations from Albania to Italy and Sicily have continued since the 15th century, and there are now significant communities of Albanians from Kosovo in the Arbëresh settlements, most notably Piana degli Albanesi in Sicily.

Contents

Villages

The Arbëresh villages have two names, an Italian one and a native Albanian name by which villagers know the place. The arbëresh villages are divided into small "islands" in the areas of the south of Italy:

Puglia: province of Foggia, villages of Casalvecchio di Puglia: Kazallveqi, village of San Marzano: Shën Marcani.
The Abruzzi: province of Pescara, village of Villa Badessa: Badhesa.
Molise: province of Campobasso, villages of Compomarino: Këmarini, Montecilfone: Munxhfuni, Portocannone: Portkanuni, Ururi: Ruri.
Campania: province of Avellino, Ginestra di Schiavoni.
Basilicata: province of Potenza, villages of Barile: Barilli, Maschito: Mashqiti, S. Costantino Albanese: Shën Kostandini, San Paolo Albanese: Shën Pali, Ginestra: Xhinestra, Ripacandida.
Calabria: province of Catanzaro, villages of Caraffa: Garafa, Carfizzi: Karfici, Pallagorio: Puhëriu, San Nicola dell' Viola: Shën Kolli, Vena di Maida Fortified, Arietta, Marcedusa, Andali, Zagarise, Amato, Zangarona, Gizzeria; province of Cosenza, villages of Cervicati: Çervikati, Civita: Çifti, Eianina: Ejanina, Falconara albanese: Fullkunara, Farneta: Farneta, Firmo Closed, Acquaformosa: Firmoza, Frascineto: Frasnita, Cavallerizzo: Kajverici, Castroregio: Kastërnexhi, Macchia Albanese: Maqi, Marri: Allimarri, San Giorgio Albanese: Mbuzati, Montegrassano: Mungrasana, Santa Caterina Albanese: Picilia, Plataci: Pllatani, Cerzeto: Qana, Spezzano Albanese: Spixana, San Benedetto Ullano: Shën Benedhiti, San Giacomo di Cerzeto: Shën Japku, San Demetrio Corone: Shën Mitri, San Martino di Finita: Shën Murtiri, San Sofia d' Epiro: Shën Sofia, San Basile: Shën Vasili, San Cosmo Albanese Strighari, Lungro: Ungra, Vaccarizzo Albanese: Vakarici, San Lorenzo D. Vallo, Rota Greca, San Marco Argentano.
Sicily: province of Palermo, villages of Piana degli albanesi: Hora e Arbëreshëvet, Contessa Entellina: Kundisa, Mezzoiuso: Munxifsi, Palazzo Adriano:Sicily: province of Palermo, villages of Piana degli albanesi: Hora e Arbëreshëvet, Contessa Entellina: Kundisa, Mezzoiuso: Munxifsi, Palazzo Adriano: Toretta turreta, Pallaci, Santa Cristina Froze: Sëndahstina; province of Catane, villages of San Michele di Ganzaria, Bronte, Biancavilla; province of Agrigente, villages of Sant' Angelo Muxaro,Toretta turreta, Santa Cristina Gelá: Sëndahstina; province of Catania, villages of San Michele di Ganzaria, Bronte, Biancavilla; province of Agrigente, villages of Sant' Angelo Muxaro.

Language

There is no official political, administrative or cultural structure which represents the Arbëresh community. The language is not legally recognized, nor is it used in administration (only the commune of Hora e Arbëreshëvet in Sicily recognizes recognises the Arbëresh language) and schools (besides some nursery schools, out of the standard course). There are associations that try to protect the culture, particularly in the Province of Consenze. The Arbëresh language is used in some private radios and publications. The fundamental laws of the areas of Molise, Basilicate and Calabria make reference to the Arbëresh language and culture, but the Arbëresh people still feel that their culture is threatened. Nevertheless, the increase in training in the use of the written language has given some hope for continuity of this culture. It is important to note that the Arbëresh dialect is not a regional "dialect" of Italian, it is a dialect of Albanian (shqip).

History

Prior to the Ottoman invasion of Albania, the Albanians were all called Arbëreshe. After some 300,000 people left and settled in Italy, these Italian-born Albanians continued to use the term Arbëresh whilst those in Albania called themselves Shqiptarëve (compare the Albanian word Shqip, present in the local name for the country and the language).

The Arbëresh, originally distributed in Epirus and in the Pindus mountains, were located in what was then Greece. They are descended from the proto-Albanian population dispersed throughout the western Balkans (see Arvanites). Between the 11th and 14th Centuries, the Arbëresh tribes moved in small groups towards the South of Greece (Thessaly, Corinth, Peloponnesus, Attica) where they founded colonies. Their military skill made them favourite mercenaries of the Serbs, Franks, Catalans, Italians and Byzantines.

The invasion of Greece by the Ottoman Turks in the 15th Century forced many Arbëresh to emigrate to the Venetian Islands and the south of Italy. Indeed, in 1448, King Alphonse V of Aragon, known as Magnanime (1396-1458), King of Naples, wanting to repress a rebellion of Italian lords, called on his ally, Gjergj Kastrioti de Kruja, known as "Skanderbeg", head of the Albanian Alliance. Several clans of Arbëresh and Albanians were deployed to subdue the rebellion. Alphonse of Aragon rewarded them by giving them land in the province of Catanzaro.

In 1450, another force of Arbëresh intervened in Sicily and was established close to Palermo. Thus, the Arbëresh contributed to the creation of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

At the time of the War of succession of Naples, Ferdinand of Aragon again called on Arbëresh forces against the Franco-Italian armies, and Skanderbeg disembarked in 1461 in Brindisi. After having achieved success, the Arbëresh accepted land in Pouilles, while Skanderbeg returned to organize Albanian resistance to the Turks, who had invaded Albania between 1468 and 1492. Part of the Arbëresh population emigrated to southern Italy, where the Kingdom of Naples granted other villages to them (Pouilles, Molise, Calabria and Sicily).

The last wave of emigration, between 1500 and 1534, relates to Arbëresh from central Greece. Employed as mercenaries by Venice, they had to evacuate the colonies of the Peloponnese with the assistance of the troops of Charles Quint, as the Turks had invaded that region. Charles Quint established these troops in Italy of the South to reinforce defense again the threat of Turkish invasion. Established in insular villages (which enabled them to maintain their culture until the 20th Century), Arbëresh were, traditionally, soldiers for the Kingdom of Naples and the Republic of Venice, from the Wars of Religion to the Napoleonic invasion.

The wave of migration from southern Italy to the Americas in 1900-10 depopulated approximately half of the Arbëresh villages, and subjected the population to the risk of cultural disappearance, despite the beginning of a cultural and artistic revival in the 19th Century.

The main streets of many Arbëresh villages are named Via Giorgio Castriota after Skanderbeg.