Organized in collaboration with Prof. Giovanni Braico (NYU). Co-hosted by the Albanian Institute.
The Arbëreshë (or Italo-Albanian) people are the descendants of the Albanian refugees who fled to Italy between the 14th and 18th centuries as a consequence of the Ottoman invasion of the Balkans. The Arbëreshë are currently found in scattered villages around Southern Italy and Sicily, and zealously preserve their unique language, religious rites, and traditions.
Francesco Altimari, Professor of Albanology at the Università della Calabria, will acquaint the audience with the Arbëreshë’s peculiar culture, by providing a discussion of their extraordinary history and heritage, in Italian with English translation.
The talk will be followed by a performance by the Peppa Marriti Band, on stage for the first time in the United States. Established in the Arbëreshë town of Santa Sofia d’Epiro, in northern Calabria, this group of musicians gained international notoriety for their modern reinterpretations of Italo-Albanian traditional folk music.
Photo by Francesco Paolo Lavriani.