Chandra Prakash Bhongir, Civil Engr, May04 - Repositories

lifted. 48 Scanderbeg’s actions were not lost to the Italian people, leading Giovanni
Pontano to write: “His name and his arrival not only confounded the plans of the
enemy but filled all Italy with his fame and glory.” 49 In return for his help against the
Anjous, Ferrante gave George Castriota a large territory which included the cities of
Puglia, Trani, Siponto and the castle of S. Giovanni Rotondo. The Arberesh settled in
these lands and today they comprise the municipalities of Campomarino,
Portocannone, Greci, Ururi, and Montecilfone. 50
The largest Albanian immigration in Italy occurred after Scanderbeg’s death
in 1468. According to the Arberesh oral tradition it was George Castriota’s wish
before he died that Albanians go to Italy, rather than surrender to the Ottomans. In the
song Scanderbeg leaves for battle and encounters death who shows him the end of his
life. After he is able to see the bleak future for his family and his country, Scanderbeg
turns to his son and says: “ Abandoned flower, flower of my heart, take your mother
and three of your best ships, leave quickly from here, because if the Turk knows of it,
he will kill you and will shame your mother.” 51 The song does not stray too much
1847):54.
48 Vincenzo Dorsa, Su gli Albanesi, ricerche e pensieri, (Napoli: Dalla Tipographia Trani,
49 Johannes Jovianus Pontanus, “ De bello Neapolitano, quod Ferdinandus Rex Neapolitanus
Senior contra Ioannen Andegaviensem Ducem gessit,” in Opera Omnia, V. II Book II (Venice: Aldi e
Andrea Socero, 1519): 279. See also Appendix No. 46.
“Hujus igitur nomen atque adventus non hostem modo, ejusque turbavit consilia, verum Italian omnem
opinionis suae fama implevit.”
50 Luigi De Rosa, “The Balkan Minorities (Slavs and Albanians) in South Italy,” in The
Journal of European Economic History 29: 2-3 (Fall/Winter,2000): 255.
51 Vincenzo Dorsa (1847), Giuseppe Schiro (1905), Fan Noli (1924) Rosolino Petrotta (1941),
and Salvatore Petrotta (1966), all make mention of this song, in their recounting of the third Albanian
emigration to Italy. It is the account of Rosolinno Petrotta in 1941, however that refers to Italy as the
place of salvation for Albanians. The song as recorded by Dorsa in Vincenzo Dorsa, Su Gli Albanesi,
Ricerche e Pensieri, (Napoli: Dalla Tipographia Trani, 1847): page 126, does not mention it. In the
newest anthology collection of the Arberesh oral tradition transcribed in 1998 by Francesco Altimari,
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