The

ARBERESH

History and Culture

History of the ArbereshWho are the Arberesh?

A member of an Albanian speaking people inhabit-ing parts of southern Italy and Sicily, descended from emigrants from Albania in the Middle Ages.

Language

The Albanian language is spoken by over five mil-lion people, primarily in Albania, Kosovo, the Republic of Macedonia, and Greece, but also in other areas of southeastern Europe. Added to this are the Albanian dialects spoken in Greece, Ukraine, southern Italy, and Sicily. A modern diaspora of Albanians now occurs in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and North and South America.

The Albanian language is an Indo-European lan-guage and is a branch by itself, sharing its branch with no other current language. Arberesh derives from the Tosk dialect spoken in southern Albania. It is spoken Calabria, Molise, Apullia (Puglia), Basilicata, Campania, Abruzzi, and Sicily. All the dialects are closely related, but over time are now not entirely mutually intelligible.

Until the 1990’s Arberesh was commonly called ‘Albanese’ in Italy. Until the 1980’s Arberesh was an exclusively spoken language, except for a written form, used in the Italo-Albanian church.

Since the 1980’s, some efforts have been organized to preserve the culture and linguistic heritage of the language. Arberesh has been in slow decline in recent decades, but is currently experiencing a revival in many villages in Italy. In certain communities instruction in the schools is in both Italian and Arberesh and regional signage is in both languages.

History in Italy

The origin of the Albanian people remains uncer-tain, they are possibly descended from a prehistoric Balkan population. They first appear in history in 11th century Byzantine records and had by then accepted Christianity.

Beginning in 1448, the king of Naples enlisted the help of General Demetrios Reres, of the Albanian army to help him defeat a rebellious uprising in Naples. In ex-change for their aid, Naples’ king declared the Albanian general the Governor of Calabria, granting land to the

Albanians in the mountainous area called Contanzaro.A generation later, the Kingdom of Naples once

again needed Albanian military assistance. This time, the legendary Albanian leader, Skanderberg, dispatched his troops to Italy to end a French-supported insurrec-tion.

The skilled Albanian soldiers effectively saved the kingdom and were rewarded with land east of Taranto in Apullia (Puglia). A stronger alliance was formed between the two nations and Skanderberg became the new commander of the Neapolitan-Albanian army.

The success of Skanderberg and the powerful Al-banian army eventually came to an end. Like much of the Mediterranean area, Albania became subject to the invading Ottoman Turks. Many of its people fled from the invasion to Italy.

Throughout the 1500’s Venice and southern Italy were a refuge to Albanians. During those periods of concentrated Albanian immigration, many Albanian villages were formed in Calabria, Basilicata, Brindisi, and Sicily. The new immigrants often took up work as mercenaries hired by the Italian armies.

History in America

After the American Civil War, as the former slaves converted to free labor, they were still treated as second class citizens and subject to abusive laws. In the early 20th Century, African Americans began migrating north to escape Jim Crow and other forms of discrimination.

The southern states recruited Italians to come to the United States to work to take their place, mainly as agri-cultural laborers.

Large numbers of Italians, including Arberesh, emigrated to the United States toward the end of the 19th century. This resulted in an anti-Italian reaction in many parts of the country where they were viewed a perpetual foreigners, restricted to manual labor. Many became victims of prejudice, economic exploitation, and at times violence.

Ethnocentric chauvinism was a major factor, espe-cially in the American south. In reaction to the mass immigration from southern and eastern Europe, the U.S. Congress passed the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, and Immigration Act of 1924, restricting immigration from those regions but not from the northern or western European countries. Anti-Italian prejudice was associ-ated with the anti-Catholic tradition in the United States inherited from Protestant regions of northern and west-ern Europe.

Competition with earlier immigrant groups for lower paying jobs and housing resulted in hostility. The largest mass lynching in American history was eleven Italians in New Orleans in 1891. More lynching of Ital-ians followed in other southern states. Hundreds of Ital-ian immigrants were arrested on the false pretext that they were all criminals.

Theodore Roosevelt, prior to his presidency, re-marked that the lynching was indeed “a rather good thing”. J.M. Parker, an organizer of the New Orleans lynch mob and future governor of Louisiana in 1911, said of Italians that they were “just a little worse than the Negro, being if anything filthier in their habits, law-less, and treacherous”.

Still to come was the targeting of Italians and other Roman Catholics by hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.

Modern History

Today, most of the Arberesh communities in Italy preserve the Byzantine rite of the Italo-Albanian Church of Eastern Rite. They belong to two religious provinces: Lungro in Southern Italy and Piana degli Albanesi in Sicily. These religious provinces are now the most important factor for the maintenance of the characteristic religious, ethnic, linguistic, and traditional identity of the Arberesh community.

The Arberesh constitute one of the largest linguistic minorities in Italy. In the United States they have dis-persed throughout the entire country.

Arberesh Villages in Italy

Abruzzo Villa BadessaMolise Campomarino Montecilfone Portocannone UruriCampania GreciApulia Casalvecchio di Puglia Chieuti San Marzanodi di GiuseppeBasilicata Barile Ginestra Maschito San Costuntino Albanese San Paolo AlbaneseCalabria Andali Caraffa de Catanzaro Marcedusa Vene di Maida Acquaformosa Cantinella Cerzeto Castroregio Cavallerizzo Civita Eianina Falconara Farneta

Acknowledgements

1. Best of Sicily Magazine2. British World & English Dictionary3. The Italo-Albanian Villages of Southern Italy

by G. N. Nasse4. Wikimedia Commons5. Wikipedia6. World Heritage Encyclopedia

Assembled by Don Agostinelli for the Arberesh Club of Sacramento

Firmo Frascineto Lungro Macchia Marri Mongrassano Plataci San Basile San Benedeto Santa Catarina Albanese San Cosmo Albanese San Demetrio Corone San Giorgio Albanese San Giacomo di Cerzeto San Martino di Finita Santa Sophia di Espiro Spezzano Albanese Vaccarizzo Albanese Carfizzi Pallagorio San Nicola dell’AltoSicilia Contessa Entelliana Piana degli Albanesi Santa Cristina Gela

The Latham Times, Latham, Kansas (1891), negative coverage of Italians illustrates the anti-immigrant and anti-Italian feelings prevalent in the United States in the late 1800s.