{"id":797,"date":"2023-05-25T14:02:20","date_gmt":"2023-05-25T12:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ambsantasede.esteri.it\/news\/dall_ambasciata\/2023\/05\/l-apporto-di-un-francescano-italo-2\/"},"modified":"2023-05-25T14:02:20","modified_gmt":"2023-05-25T12:02:20","slug":"l-apporto-di-un-francescano-italo-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ambsantasede.esteri.it\/en\/news\/dall_ambasciata\/2023\/05\/l-apporto-di-un-francescano-italo-2\/","title":{"rendered":"“The contribution of an Italo-Arb\u00ebresh Franciscan to the Albanian literary and political renaissance: P. Leonardo De Martino (1840-1923)”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The event\u00a0“The contribution of an Italo-Arb\u00ebresh Franciscan to the Albanian literary and political renaissance: P. Leonardo De Martino (1840-1923)”<\/strong><\/em> took place at Palazzo Borromeo on Wednesday 24th of May. The meeting has been an opportunity to discuss the figure of Father Leonardo De Martino, a Franciscan originally from Greci (AV) and sent as a missionary to northwestern Albania, in Shkroda (Skhutari) in 1865, who contributed in part with his literary works to Albania\u2019s path to independence from the Ottoman Empire.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis meeting illuminates the fruitful roots that unite our two peoples and enhances the presence of the Italo-aberesh community, which is particularly rooted in our country. During his visit to the Arb\u00ebreshe community in the Cosentino area in 2018, the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, wanted to underline how the Arb\u00ebresh constitute a story of integration and welcome that has been fully successful, an example of how mutual knowledge and mutual respect of cultures are an instrument of growth for the territorial realities and for the countries in which the different communities live\u201d, Ambassador Francesco Di Nitto<\/strong> said in his opening greeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cItaly plays a central role in the European integration process of Albania and also as an interlocutor in the broader international fora, such as NATO. For the Balkan countries, Italy is a key strategic partner in strengthening security and expanding economic development. Nonetheless, the presence of a large Arb\u00ebreshe community in Calabria is of great importance in bilateral relations, also in light of the strong enhancement and protection accorded to this community by Italy\u201d stressed the Head of Mission of the Albanian Embassy to the Holy See, Majlinda Dodaj<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The meeting, moderated by Prof. Alberto Basciani<\/strong>, of Roma Tre University, was attendend by Prof. Francesco Altimari, University of Calabria; Prof. Matteo Mandal\u00e0, University of Palermo and Prof. Blerina Suta, Universit\u00e0 of Napoli L\u2019Orientale.<\/p>\n

Prof. Matteo Mandal\u00e0<\/strong> wanted to emphasize, through a comparison between De Martino and another Albanian scholar, Ndre Mjeda, the role of the Franciscan father in Albanian literay regeneration and in the country\u2019s independence from Ottoman rule. His main work, \u201cThe Harp of an Albanian \u2013 Italian\u201d, first published in 1881, had the merit \u2013 according to Mandal\u00e0 \u2013 to introduce into Albanian culture some elements that foreshadowed an independent and sovereign patriotic subject, thus showing to have a clear and definite political project.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, Prof. Franco Altimari<\/strong> dwelt on De Martino\u2019s multicultural and multiethnic affiliation: his work \u201cThe Harp of an Albanian \u2013 Italian\u201d contains lyrics of clear Manzonian inspiration and is written partly in Italian and partly in Albanian, demonstrating his full belonging to the Arb\u00ebreshe culture.<\/p>\n

Prof. Blerina Sut<\/strong>a stressed De Martino\u2019s contribution in influencing Western ideas in Albania, but she also recalled his function as the founder of the Franciscan order in the country. The Franciscans in Albania – Suta pointed out – played a central role in helping to transform popular culture into a unifying and educating element for the Albanian people. \u201cDe Martino \u2013 Suta went to recall \u2013 was also the mentor of most of Albania\u2019s resurgent poets, who made a fundamental contribution to Albania\u2019s path to liberation\u201d.<\/p>\n

The conclusions were delivered by the Mayor of Greci (AV), Nicola Luigi Norcia<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The event\u00a0“The contribution of an Italo-Arb\u00ebresh Franciscan to the Albanian literary and political renaissance: P. Leonardo De Martino (1840-1923)” took place at Palazzo Borromeo on Wednesday 24th of May. The meeting has been an opportunity to discuss the figure of Father Leonardo De Martino, a Franciscan originally from Greci (AV) and sent as a missionary […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ambsantasede.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ambsantasede.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ambsantasede.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ambsantasede.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ambsantasede.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ambsantasede.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/797\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ambsantasede.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ambsantasede.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}