Italo-Albanian literature (18th-19th cent.)



One strong branch of Albanian literature to evolve on its own outside the Balkans was that of the Italo-Albanians or Arbëresh of southern Italy. Sporadic groups of Albanians had found their way to Italy as early as 1272, 1388 and 1393, but mass settlement first began with the Turkish invasion of the Balkans which resulted in a great exodus of Albanians to Italy. All in all, the Albanians founded or repopulated about one hundred towns and villages in southern Italy, over half of which are to be found in the mountains of Calabria. Today, there are about fifty towns scattered throughout the mezzogiorno where Albanian is still to be heard. These communities, comprising an estimated Albanian-speaking population of about 90,000, are located in seven regions: Abruzzi, Molise, Campania, Apulia, Basilicata, Calabria and Sicily.

It is to the mountains of Calabria that we must turn for the first Arbëresh poet of real talent. Giulio Variboba (1724-1788), known in Albanian as Jul Variboba, is regarded by many Albanians as the first genuine poet in all of Albanian literature. Soon after his arrival in Rome, Variboba published his long lyric poem Ghiella e Shën Mëriis Virghiër, Rome 1762 (The life of the Virgin Mary), the only Arbëresh book printed in the eighteenth century. This loosely structured poem of 4,717 lines, written entirely in the dialect of San Giorgio Albanese and loaded with much Calabrian Italian vocabulary, is devoted to the life of the Virgin Mary from her birth to the Assumption. The strength of ‘The life of the Virgin Mary,’ interspersed as it is with folksongs, lies indeed in its realistic and down-to-earth style, often pervaded with humour and naivety, and in the fresh local colour of its imagery.

Girolamo De Rada (1814-1903), known in Albanian as Jeronim De Rada, is not only the best known writer of Arbëresh literature but also the foremost figure of the Albanian nationalist movement in nineteenth-century Italy. He was the harbinger and first audible voice of the Romantic movement in Albanian literature, a movement which, inspired by his unfailing energy on behalf of national awakening among Albanians in Italy and in the Balkans, was to evolve into the romantic nationalism characteristic of the Rilindja period in Albania. His journalistic, literary and political activities were instrumental not only in fostering an awareness for the Arbëresh minority in Italy but also in laying the foundations for an Albanian national literature. It was in Naples in 1836 that De Rada published the first edition of his best known Albanian-language poetry, the ‘Songs of Milosao,’ under the Italian title Poesie albanesi del secolo XV. Canti di Milosao, figlio del despota di Scutari (Albanian poetry from the 15th century. Songs of Milosao, son of the despot of Shkodra). The Songs of Milosao, known in Albanian as Këngët e Milosaos, are a long romantic ballad portraying the love of Milosao, a fictitious young nobleman in fifteenth-century Shkodra. They were published in three different versions in 1836, 1847 and 1873. De Rada was constantly altering, improving and expanding this collection of lyric ballads of strong romantic inspiration from an Ur-Milosao in twenty cantos to a much lengthier final version of thirty-nine cantos. De Rada’s other major literary work in Albanian is Scanderbeccu i pa-faan (Misfortunate Scanderbeg) which he considered to be his masterpiece. Again, this series of romantic ballads was published in a variety of editions reflecting the poet’s state of mind at various ages. Broadly speaking, it covers the history of Scanderbeg’s early exploits from 1418 to 1444 and is
interspersed with many only vaguely related interludes. Scanderbeg, in actual fact, rarely appears in the work. Though ‘Misfortunate Scanderbeg’ contains many passages of moving verse, it is not the conventional epic about the Albanian national hero one might expect from an early torchbearer of the Albanian nationalist movement. It is distinctly meandering, particularly in
later editions. Literary production of classical precision and conceptual unity was not De Rada’s strength. This said, Girolamo De Rada nonetheless remains a towering figure in the history of nineteenth-century Albanian literature. He was instrumental in waking the Arbëresh from their cultural obscurity and literary provinciality, and acted as a catalyst whose echo was clearly heard
across the waters in Albania, as yet under the Ottoman yoke.

Courtesy of Albanologist Dr.Robert Elsie from his Article
Albanian literature: an overview of its history and development.
in: Österreichische Osthefte, Vienna, 45, 1-2 (2003), p. 243-276.
Source: http://www.elsie.de/pdf/articles/A2003AlbLitOsthefte.pdf