Panel 02: The Arëbreshë, a Minor Ethnic-Linguistic Diaspora: A Unique Italian Case Study (EN)

Chair: Nick Ceramella (independent researcher)

15 April, 10.30 am | Room A002

The two Arëbreshë Seminaries of Calabria and Sicily: Historic Pillars of the Cultural Revival of the Italo-Albanians in Italy, the Balkans, and beyond

Francesco Altimari (University of Calabria)

This paper will analyze the historical role played in the cultural and literary history of Italy and Albania by the two Arbëreshë Seminaries—the Calabrian one (1732) and the Sicilian one (1735)—from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-twentieth century. This excursus will serve to better clarify the foundations of the “Italian anthropological miracle” with which a distinguished intellectual like Pier Paolo Pasolini characterized the Arbëreshë presence in Italy over the approximately six centuries of their presence. This has manifested itself in the political, civil, religious, cultural, and literary spheres, with significant implications in Italy and the Balkans, including a significant impact in the so-called “diaspora of the diaspora.” In particular, we will focus on the role played by some Italian-Albanian intellectuals and writers who were part of the massive migration that affected the Arbëreshë communities of Italy, including in the new, widespread but vital Arbëria diasporic community they have regenerated over the last century and a half in the countries to which they emigrated (the USA, Argentina, Brazil, first, and then Germany, Switzerland, France, and Northern Italy, and after World War II).

Keywords: Greek-Albanian migrations; Arbëria; integration; linguistic minority; history

The Italian-Albanian Communities: their Origins and Developments

Adriano Mazziotti (Italo-Albanian Lyceum in San Demetrio Corone, Calabria)

This paper aims to serve as a “showcase” for the Arbërsh vibrant alloglottic community, which has been present in central and southern Italy for over five centuries. This study focuses on the origins of the Albanian-speaking settlements, their foundation, the reasons behind the first waves of Albanian refugees, and the current situation in those communities. The migrations took place—from the mid-15th to the mid-18th century—in several distinct waves. It all started after the death of Gjergj Kastrioti, known as Skanderbeg, in 1468, a nobleman, seen as a national hero, who led a 25-year rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century.

Today, central and southern Italy are dotted with 52 Albanian-speaking “islands”, home to around 80,000 Arbëreshë (Italo-Albanians). This true “archipelago” is known as Arbëria, meaning “land of the Arbëreshë.” Calabria has the highest concentration of such communities (27 in total). However, the number of Arbëreshë is actually much higher when considering those who now live in major Italian cities and abroad. It must be said that for centuries, the Arbëresh population has been fully integrated into the Italian community and maintains excellent relations. As a result, their national identity is unequivocally Italian.

The language spoken by the Italo-Albanians is Arbërisht, a dialect closely related to the linguistic variant of southern Albania, the ‘ghego’. Today, Arbërisht remains the mother tongue in most Albanian-speaking communities, except in areas where it has been lost because absorbed into the Italian language. Among the younger generations, Arbërisht often survives at the level of “passive understanding” in quite a few towns. Most importantly, the year 1999 marks a historic milestone for ethnic and linguistic minorities that had previously lacked protection under national law. The Italian Parliament finally passed the 482 Law, concerning the protection of historic linguistic minorities. The Byzantine-Greek rite is another distinctive and deeply identity-defining feature of the Arbëresh communities. Unfortunately, just as with the language, some towns where the language is still spoken lost the original religious rite once practised, which has been absorbed into the Roman Catholic Church.

Regarding the future of Arbëria, it lies in the hands of its young people. Whether or not supported by formal education, they will speak and sing in ways that differ from the past. It is, however, essential that they remain in their native villages without needing to go elsewhere to find a job.

Keywords: Arbëresh and Albanian history; Byronic literature; Italian ‘Risorgimento’; diaspora

Multipart singing: the roots of Arbëresh musical tradition

Federico Baffa (University of Calabria)

The Arbëresh preserved their traditional music in the same way as they did with their language, religion, icons, Byzantine singing, costumes and dances. The vjersh are multipart songs of a typical Arbëresh tradition, and their texts consist of love songs, of nature and rural life motifs, as well as wedding songs. Other recurring themes are homesickness and longing for the absent motherland, Albania or Morea, over there between the Ionian and Adriatic seas. Epic motifs depicting the figures of Skanderbeg and Constantine, as well as mythic symbols and figurative tongues, filled with nostalgia and love, are among the most powerful oral and written Calabrian popular sung poetry.

Keywords: music; Arbëresh; research; tradition; vjersh (songs)

English Travel Writers’ Search for Otherness: Discovery of the Italo-Albanian Communities in Calabria

Nick Ceramella (independent researcher)

Humanity has always been irresistibly tempted to travel, in D.H. Lawrence’s words: “Comes over one an absolute necessity to move. […] Andiamo!” But what was he looking for? Mainly, the spiritus loci, whose intrinsic feature is the otherness.

Through the centuries, Italy has been the ideal destination where both “spirit of place” and otherness transpire through the country’s culture, people’s behaviour, and the beauty of the land itself. However, between the 19th and 20th centuries, travelling around Italy could be very dangerous, particularly in Calabria, where the brigands made their region off limits. Thus, it was left out of the popular tourist circuit until the mid-20th century. It took the courage and sense of adventure of the odd foreign traveller, like the French Alexandre Dumas and Stendhal, but mostly British intellectuals, to venture into that remote area. I will focus on those who were fascinated by the Italo-Albanian (Arbëreshë) communities. In the 1840s, Edward Lear was enchanted with the Calabrian landscape in his drawings, and George Gissing learnt about the vices and virtues of Calabrians, but had the opportunity to meet the Arbëreshë briefly. Arthur John Strutt closely encountered the Calabrian Arbëreshë in A Pedestrian Tour of Calabria and Sicily. He was mesmerised by the women’s “picturesque garbs in the mysterious mazes of the Tarantella” and by their “peculiar dialect” (Arbërisht, a variety of Albanian). In 1911, Norman Douglas, in his Old Calabria, was equally impressed by the women’s lavish costumes, people’s hospitality, and their pride in the famous Italo-Albanian College at Shën Miter (San Demetrio), resembling “the venerable structures of Oxford,” and where he returned over and over again to meet with his beloved Giovannino. Pino Orioli, a close friend of Douglas in his Moving Along, on visiting the town said, “I soon made friends here; they are so hospitable and kind-hearted.

Keywords: otherness; spiritus loci; travel writers; Arbëresh; Italo-Albanians