It's saturday! Which means it's time for my #ItalianThread. Today, I want to talk about a... very curious geopolitical anomaly to be found in Sicily. I'm talking about the

PIANA DEGLI ALBANESI

Or Hora e Arbëreshëvet in arbëresh/Albanian

1/?

The piana is a small mountain town situated near Palermo. Here lives the greatest arbëreshë community in Italy, with their own Eparchy (orthodox episcopal see) and cultural traditions. But who are the arbëreshë? 2/?

The term in Italian (in Albanian its arbëreshët e Italisë) identifies a group of ethnically, culturally and linguistically Albanian people that have been living in the Italian peninsula since ancient times. For my international moots, this in red is Albania! 3/?

But how come the arbëreshë came to Italy? Well, in the past, Albanian people were extremely militarily skilled, which led to them to be employed as mercenaries in all the Eastern half of the Mediterannean. 4/?

They were so skilled that one of their commanders, Scanderberg - also known as "defensor fidei” and “atleta Christi" lol - was able to keep the Ottomans at bay for 25 years. Albania alone saving Europe from the Ottoman Empire, basically. 5/?

The King of Naples, which at the time owned most of Southern Italy, was starstruck by Scanderber's prowess and called for his help in keeping his rebellious barons at bay. In exchange, he promised to give the comamnder and his men territories scattered across the kingdom. 6/?

Many arbëreshë jumped to the occasion and migrated in Italy, which was perceived as safer than Albania from the Ottoman invasion, were they funded communities that - like the Piana degli Albanesi - still live up to this day. 7/?

The Piana degli Albanesi is a peculiar case, but it's far from the only one! In Calabria and Apulia, for example, there are communities of ethnically Greek people (called Grikos) living respectivelly in areas called Bevasia and Grecia Salentina. 8/?

Grikos' origins are different from those of the arbëreshë. It's thought they are the remnants of the greek colonizers who came to Southern Italy in ancient times, funding the Magna Grecia - you can learn about it in this thread! 9/? https://twitter.com/jackdaw_writes/status/1309922949760200704?s=20

I hope you found this little thread interesting! It's yet another proof of how the different cultures of the Mediterranean are entangles. I'm leaving you with this stunning picture of an arbëreshë woman in traditional garments eating a cannolo 10/?

And if I left you starving for more Italian threads... fear not! They're all gathered here! 11/11 https://linktr.ee/FTacchi