Piana degli Albanesi () is a town and in Sicily, Italy. The town is situated on a mountainous plateau and encircled by high mountains, on the eastern side of the imposing Mount Pizzuta, the city, which is mirrored on a large lake. It is located around from Palermo and is administered as part of the Metropolitan City of Palermo. In 2018, the had a population of 6,128.
The town is the most important centre of the Arbëresh community of Sicily,Piana degli Albanesi in Enciclopedia Treccani (online) as well as the largest and most populous settlement of Arbëreshe (Italo-Albanian or Albanians of Italy)Nasho Jorgaqi, Lontano e Vicino. Viaggio tra gli Albanesi d'Italia (original title: Larg dhe afër. Shregtime arbëreshe, Casa Editrice 8 Nëretori, Tirana 1987), Cosenza 1991, Pellegrini Ed., p= 26.A Tirana fotografie dell'immigrazione albanese in Italia.In the 20th century, century Piana degli Albanesi had an average of 10,000 inhabitants. In the 1930s it came to have more than 12,000 inhabitants, many of whom emigrated to the Americas and later northern Europe. A large community of arbëreshë of the Hora lives in Palermo (10,000 according to the data reported by the Italo-Albanian parish of San Nicolò alla Martorana). and it is the episcopal see of the Eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi, constituency of the Italo-Albanian Church whose jurisdiction covers all Albanians of Sicily who practice the Byzantine rite.
The community, founded five centuries ago, has maintained many ethnic elements of Albanian culture such as language, religious rituals, traditional costumes, music and folklore. Piana degli Albanesi has contributed greatly to the advancement of Albanian culture and literature with a large group of intellectuals. It is considered the place of origin of Arbëreshe literature, the birthplace of the first work of the Albanian diaspora (1592),Papàs Luca Matranga / Pope Lekë Matrënga (1567 - 1619) author of the book "E Mbësuame e Krështerë" (Christian Doctrine) in the Albanian dialect, Pontifical Greek College of Saint Athanasius, Rome 1592. and initiator – in the early 16th century – of the first European school in which Albanian was taught.Arbëreshi Lekë Matrënga, Mësuesi që hapi shkollën e parë shqipe më, 1587 në ItaliArbëreshi Lekë Matrënga, Mësuesi që hapi shkollën e parë shqipe më, 1587 The founders of the Albanian Language and Literature departments of the universities of Naples and Palermo come from the town, and it is the headquarters of the Italo-Albanian Seminary, which was founded in Palermo in 1734 and moved to the town in 1945. Its traditional music and Byzantine songs are part of the Intangible Heritage Registry of Sicily recognized by UNESCO. The municipal government uses bilingual documents and road signs in Albanian and Italian under existing Italian legislation on protecting ethnic and linguistic minorities.
The Arbëreshe are the descendants of Albanian families, including nobles and relatives of Skanderbeg, that settled in Southern Italy during the Ottoman Turkish conquest of the Balkans. It had a significant role in the revolutionary uprisings for the unification of Italy,Giorgio Costantini, Studi Storici (PDF). for the Albanian National Awakening in the Albanian movement for secession from Ottoman rule,Gjovalin Shkurtaj, Shpirti i arbrit rronItalia, Albania, Arbëreshë fra le due guerre mondiali – Italia, Shqipëria, Arbëreshë midis dy luftavet botërore, Quaderni di Biblos (PDF) and for regional movements of the Fasci Siciliani dei Lavoratori;Mario Brunetti, La piazza della rivolta: microstoria di un paese arbëresh in età giolittiana furthermore, it is also infamous for the Portella della Ginestra massacre (1947). Between late 1944 and early 1945, Piana degli Albanesi became an independent people's republic, which lasted fifty days.
The main economic activities are the primary sector, agriculture, pastoralism, crafts, and tourism. Its intangible heritage was nominated for the European Heritage Label in 2023.MARCHIO DEL PATRIMONIO EUROPEO European Heritage Label. PRESELEZIONE NAZIONALE AL MARCHIO DEL PATRIMONIO EUROPEO 2023: TREDICI I SITI CANDIDATI PER L'ITALIA
Toponymy
Origin of the name and various appellations Piana degli Albanesi has been variously called in history.We must distinguish the denominations used by its citizens, different from those given by the neighboring countries. In the licentia populandi granted on January 13, 1487, to the Albanian exiles, Piana degli Albanesi is called Casale Planicili Archiepiscopatus Montisregalis or Piana dell'Arcivescovo,Referring to the territory granted to the Albanians, after the stipulated agreements and the fees decided, by the Archbishop of Monreale, name reported by Tommaso Fazello in De Rebus Siculis Decades Duae.Francesco Giunta in Albanians in Sicily, by Matteo Mandalà, Palermo 2003. but since its construction the town was officially known in Latin Nobilis Planae Albanensium Civitas.The acronym S.P.Q.A. (Senatus Populus Que Albanensis), or N.P.A.C. (Nobilis Planæ Albanensium Civitas), is found in the oldest fountains (Fusha e Pontit and Kroi me një gojë) and in the ancient Church-Matrix (side entrance to the parish of St. George) and in the municipal banner. This Latin denomination changed into Nobilis Planae Graecorum Albanensium Civitas, with the insertion of Graecorum which indicated the Byzantine Rite practice of the Albanian population (as opposed to the Latin liturgical rites of Latin Christianity). It was referred to as Chiana Albanese in the 18th century, and the Latin original name that included the Albanian ethnic labelling remained until 1810. Due to the Byzantine Rite Catholics and the ancient Greek language used in the liturgical functions, the neighboring Sicilian population gradually referred to it with the Italian name of Piana dei Greci, which remained in the cadastral and habitual use from 1810 until 1941, when the original name Piana degli Albanesi was officially restored.Vito Amico, Dizionario topografico della Sicilia, Volume II, Tipografia Pietro Morvillo, Palermo 1856, p. 346.Pietro Scaglione (Saravulli), Historia e Shqipetarevet t’Italise, New York 1921, pp=62–63."Colonia Shqipëtare e Siçilsë Fusha e Arbreshëvet, pa drejtesi e thirrë edhè e përnjohur nën emërin i pa drejtë Piana dei Greci. Gjografikët e shkrimtarët të shekulit XVIII, thirrën e shkruan, fjalën Greçi, prej shkakut e Fesë Ortodoxe, e përdorër prej Shqipëtarëvet. [...] Kur në të parat kohë Shqipëtarët emigruan n’Itali ishën të njohur vet prej populli Fea Greko-Latine, Me besuar Shqipëtarët në Ritin të Fesë Ortodoxe qenë prej popullit Siçilian shkëmbjer për Grekë, gabimi i emërit vjen nga ana e Fese, e jo nga kombesia. ("The Albanian colony of Piana degli Albanesi is mistakenly called Piana dei Greci. Eighteenth-century geographers and writers use Greeks because of the Orthodox Faith practiced by the Albanians ". [...] When in the early times the Albanians emigrated to Italy, the [difference rite between the] Greek-Latin faith was known only to the people. In truth the Albanians according to the rite of Orthodox Faith, are exchanged by the Sicilian people for Greeks, the error of the name comes from the faith and not from the nationality.")
It was also known and called by the populations of the nearby villages Casale di lu Mercu territorii Montisregalis, Graecorum Oppidum, Badia (transl. Abbey, which indicates the strong religious and monastic communities and in a figurative sense it symbolizes abundance and well-being, because the local church had always been the reference point for the Albanians), La Chiana or Piana delli Greci. Its inhabitants and the Albanians of the other colonies of Sicily, instead, identified it as Sheshi (square, center in Albanian), Kazallot (for a kind of synecdoche: Kazallot, local toponym, equivalent to Hora).Giuseppe Schirò, Canti Tradizionali ed altri saggi delle colonie albanesi di Sicilia, Comune di Piana degli Albanesi, Palermo 1986, p. LXVIII. After decades of discussion by local Italo-Albanian religious-intellectuals,P. Francesco Fazio S. J., La Madonna Odigitria, Palermo, Tipografia "Italo-Albanese", 1921, pp.50-60, by Papàs Zefi Petta, chaplain of the Church of the Odigitria: «But that painting that came from Albania to Piana dei Greci, or rather degli Albanesi [...] Piana dei Greci due to the Greek rite. It used to be called: Piana dell'Arcivescovo, because that territory belonged to the Archbishop of Monreale. But in Latin until 1810 it was called: Piana degli Albanesi (Nobilis Planae Albanensium Civitas). And that's what it should be called." due to the fact that the Albanian origin was not highlighted in it, following a royal decree and the desire to change the more exact denomination, on 30 August 1941 the Italian name 'Piana dei Greci' was changed to the historically and ethnographically correct Piana degli Albanesi. A few months later, by decree of the Sacred Dicastery for the Eastern Churches of October 25, 1941, even the name of Planen Graecorum was changed ecclesiastically to Planen Albanensium.
The inhabitants call the town in their Albanian dialect Hora e Arbëreshëvet, literally translatable into the "City of the Albanians". For this reason it is usually said simply from the Arbëreshë people Hora, an Albanian word meaning 'homeland' or 'capital', deriving probably from the Greek homophone Chòra, χώρα, a typical word of Tosk and Arvanite Albanians of Greece,Antonino Guzzetta, Osservazioni sulla parlata siculo-albanese di Piana degli Albanesi, in "Boll, del centro di studi linguistici e filologici siciliani", 9 (1965), pp. 237–48. and that has the meaning city in Albanian and stands for the literal Albanian qytet, indicating that it is the main one among the Albanian of Sicily communities. Some elders also say Hora e t'Arbëreshëvet, the difference being the addition of të, a plural clitic marker, with the elision of -ë with A- in Arbëreshëvet. Some inhabitants also figuratively say they are Bar i Sheshit (Sheshi grass; born in Sheshi, the center) and call themselves singular arbëresh-i/e, plural arbëreshët.
Administration
Twinning The municipality of Piana degli Albanesi is committed to establishing, in accordance with international protocols, relations of cultural exchange with the institutions of the Republic of Albania and Kosovo in the former Yugoslavia and the other Albanian communities present in Europe and internationally.Statuto del Comune di Piana degli Albanesi (PDF)
Piana degli Albanesi is twinned with: Tirana (Albania), since 1954.There are political-cultural relations with the Albanian capital, which have not been continuous. It is important to remember the flag donated by the government of Albania in 1954 to the people of Piana degli Albanesi, and kept at the Casa del Popolo, or the gift of the bust of Giorgio Castriota Scanderbeg in 1968. Then the closure of the Albanian communist state closed the contacts official until around 1988. We must mention the historical religious relations with Himara, the cultural ones with the city of Argirocastro and the twinning with the other Albanian municipalities of Italy.
Other administrative information The Municipality, in collaboration with the Italian-Albanian communities, proposes initiatives to the State, the Region and the Province for the protection of ethnic-linguistic minorities sanctioned by the Constitution, by national and regional laws in force.
The municipality of Piana degli Albanesi is part of the following supra-municipal organizations: Unione dei Comuni Albanesi di Sicilia BESA – Lidhja and Bashkivet Arbëreshe të Siçilisë BESA, municipality leader; Alto Belice Corleonese Territorial Pact, municipality leader; Albanian Ethno-Linguistic Minority Area (Arbëreshë); Authentic Italian Villages; Unione Comuni Le 4 Terre; Agricultural Region n. 6 – Inland hills.
History