San Giorgio Albanese

San Giorgio Albanese is a town located on a hill on the Northern side of the Greek Sila. One of the Albanian villages in the Region, the town,  “Mbuzat” in arbëreshë, was founded at the end of the 15^th century by Albanian refugees who arrived here during the dominion of the Prince of Bisignano. The town is under the Eparchy of Lungro and the population has preserved the arbëreshë language, the Byzantine Rite, traditional costumes and evocative rites and rituals. Conviviality and shared life influenced the architecture of the old town. Houses were built around a square, called “shesi”,  and the gjitonia (litterally “neighborhood”) was the urban core. Various buildings shows typical features of  arbëreshe architecture, such as the majestic cornices of noble house portals and the round windows in the attics.

San Giorgio Albanese houses the “Centro Studi per la Minoranza Albanese d’Italia” (Study Center for the Arbëreshe minority in Italy) and paintings dedicated to the arrival of the Albanians in Italy, by Petrit Ceno, the Albanian painter, are displayed in the Council Meeting Room