Arbëresh

Arbëresh (Italo-Albanian, autonymously Arbërisht) is an Albanian language variant of the Tosk branch, spoken by around 80,000 people in approximately 50 villages across southern Italy, primarily in Cosenza Province (Calabria) but also in Sicily, Basilicata, Molise, Puglia, Abruzzo, and Campania. The Arbëresh communities are descendants of 15th-century Albanian refugees who fled Ottoman conquest of Albanian-speaking regions after the death of the Albanian national hero Skanderbeg in 1468. They maintained their pre-Ottoman Tosk Albanian language, Catholic religion of the Italo-Greek Byzantine Rite, and distinct cultural identity for over 500 years. Linguistically, Arbëresh preserves Old Tosk features lost in Standard Albanian, providing important historical-comparative evidence for the development of the Albanian language. The Arbëresh have produced major Albanian literary figures including Jeronim de Rada (1814-1903), the founder of modern Albanian literature.