“I thank the choir of boys who sang the Albanian and Italian national anthems and who welcomed us with a beautiful song of the Arbëreshë tradition. Piana degli Albanesi, capital of the Arbëreshë culture in Sicily, makes us feel at home together, members of the same communities: Albanians, Italians and Italian-Albanians”. The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, said this at the seminar theater in Piana degli Albanesi, in the Palermo area, during the visit with the President of the Albanian Republic Bajram Begaj.
In his speech, the head of state underlines how the meeting is “an opportunity to confirm, once again, the great friendship and collaboration that exists between Albania and Italy. Our peoples are also linked by a relationship of “brotherhood “, to which the Arbëreshë communities present in Italy contribute strongly. For over 500 years, these communities have maintained, with great determination, the cultural heritage of their origin; and this extraordinary condition arouses sincere admiration. Of Albanian descent, but for a long time Italian , the arbëreshë have in fact proudly preserved the ancient traditions, the religious rites, the very language of their maternal land”.
