Arbëreshë people
The Arbëresh are a long-established Albanian minority in southern Italy and Sicily. They came originally from Albania in the 15th century and still speak a conservative sub- dialect of Tosk.
Names and meanings
The Arbëresh call themselves in their Albanian dialect Arbëreshët (plural intended ) or Arbëreshë (plural indefinite). The individual is Arbëresh (male ) or Arbereshe / Arbëreshja (female) called / -i. The language spoken by them is called Arbëresh. Italian they are called Arbereschi ( [- ɛski ] ). " Arbëresh " is an archaic term from the Albanian, the " Albanians " means.
Settlement areas
Villages of Arbëresh are everywhere in southern Italy and Sicily scattered ( the place names are in Italian only listed ):
- Abruzzo: Villa Badessa ( northernmost settlement of Arbëresh )
- Molise: Campo Marino, Montecilfone Portocannone and Ururi
- Apulia: Casalvecchio di Puglia, Chieuti and San Marzano di San Giuseppe
- Campania: Greci
- Basilicata: Barile, Ginestra, Maschito, San Costantino Albanese and San Paolo Albanese
- Calabria (only northern Calabria about 30 settlements ): Acquaformosa, Andali, Caraffa di Catanzaro, Carfizzi, Castroregio, Cerzeto, Civita, Falconara Albanese, Firmo, Frascineto, Lungro, Marcedusa, Pallagorio, Plataci, San Basile, San Benedetto Ullano, Santa Caterina Albanese San Cosmo Albanese, San Demetrio Corone, San Giorgio Albanese, San Martino di Finita, San Nicola the Alto, Santa Sofia d' Epiro, Spezzano Albanese, Albanese Vaccarizzo, vena di Maida and other
- Sicily: Contessa Entellina, Piana degli Albanesi and Santa Cristina Gela
Language
The Arbëresh is a Subdialekt of Tosk, one of the two dialects of Albanian. It differs greatly from today's high-level language. Because of its ever-smaller number of speakers of the Arbëresh is one of the endangered languages .
According to an estimate from 2002, approximately 80,000 people speak this language. Other estimates range from 100,000 (1987 ) and 260,000 (1976 ) from.
History
With the invasion of the Ottoman Empire in the 14th century in Albania many of those Christian Albanians fled to Dalmatia, in südgriechische areas or even to Italy. The local lord offered to refugees in sparsely populated areas where land and granted them the right of citizenship. The Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily, which was under the Crown of Aragon, were here in the narrower sense, the host countries of Arbëresh.
Culture and Religion
The Arbëresh preserved in their new settlement areas of their Albanian customs and their Byzantine liturgy. They still wear their traditional costumes on special occasions. Especially the belt buckles of the women are remarkable for their elaborately hand -crafted metal ironwork and usually show St. George, the patron saint of Arbëresh.
While the parishes of Arbëresh first came under the Roman Catholic local bishops, two Italo- Albanian dioceses were founded in the 20th century, the Eparchy Lungro in southern Italy and the Eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi in Sicily.
Known Arbëresh
- Lekë Matrënga (Italian Luca Matranga; 1567-1619 ), Orthodox clergyman and author
- Pope Clement XI. (born Giovanni Francesco Albani, 1649-1721 ), pope from 1700 to 1721
- Girolamo de Rada (Albanian Jerome de Rada, 1814-1903 ), writer
- Francesco Crispi (1819-1901), revolutionary, statesman and former Prime Minister of Italy
- Giuseppe Schirò (Albanian Zef Skiroi; 1865-1927 ), poet, philologist, and university professor
- Tito Schipa (1889-1965), tenor and composer
- Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937), writer, journalist, politician and Marxist philosopher
- Ernesto Sabato (1911-2011), writer, scientist and painter
- Regis Philbin ( born 1931 ), TV presenter
- Ercole Lupinacci ( born 1933 ), former Bishop of Lungro
- Sotir Ferrara ( b. 1937 ), Bishop of Piana degli Albanesi
- Joseph J. DioGuardi ( b. 1940 ), Republican politician and former Member of the House of Representatives of the United States.