The arrival of the Arbëreshe population in Sicily took place around the middle of the 1400s: when the Ottoman Empire advanced in the territories of Albania and of today’s Greece. A very important symbolic date is 1468: the year of Giorgio Castriota Scanderbeg’s death. Giorgio tried to resist the Ottoman advance into the Albanian territories and died to defend them: today he is a national hero and is revered by the Arbëreshe communities as a saint. After the Turkish conquest a migratory flow of Albanian population moved towards the southern shore of the Mediterranean. 

In Sicily the Albanian populations settled in the hinterland where, after the outbreak of plague in 1300, many territories were depopulated and in need of agricultural labour. New populations were authorised to settle with special agreements in exchange for agricultural labour. Thus the Albanian settlements on the island were born: Kundisa (Contessa Entellina); Hora and Arbëreshëvet (Plain of the Albanians); Shëndastina (Santa Cristina Gela); Palaci (Palazzo Adriano); Callicari (Biancavilla); Santangelo Muxaro and Bronte. Piana degli Albanesi is the most populous city and was called Piana dei Greci until 1941. Settlements of Piana degli Albanesi, Santa Cristina Gela and Contessa Entellina still preserve the Arbëreshe language and traditions as well as the Byzantine rite to officiate religious functions. The Arbëreshe language is the result of the establishment of linguistic islands that allowed it to maintain its features and peculiarities but also to include the influences of the other languages ​​with which it came into contact (such as ancient Greek and the spoken Latin).

In 1937 the religious administration united these cities in the Eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi which includes several Byzantine rite churches, one of which is in Palermo and has a great historical and artistic value: the Martorana church. The Arbëreshe traditions are also still preserved by the ancient Balkan ceremonial female dresses characterised by finely decorated metal belts. The language and culture of the Albanian minority are recognized and protected by the Italian State with the decree n.482 of 15 December 1999.

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