As social tensions mount on either side of the Adriatic over Georgia Meloni’s Migrant processing centres, Italy and Albania are happy to express their admiration for at least one great figure of history. 

Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu: the name is pronounced and spelled differently depending on where you are, but it will always be quintessentially Albanian. Proud of their heritage, his numerous descendants emblazon it (often modernised as ‘kastrati’), onto about half the tobacco kiosks and cement factories throughout his former realm.

The great Feudal Lord (1405-1468), had a life which straddled the collapse of the Eastern Roman Empire in Constantinople, and a reign which demonstrated the virtue of temperance which set the course for Albania to exist to this day. Born a Christian, educated in an Ottoman court, accepting Sicilian rule over his homeland in order to maintain power behind the throne – the Skanderbeg’s life leaves us with the impression of a man capable of transcending every divide of religion and politics at the time (there were many), and yet managing to outwit all who threatened the people he loved. Written a century later, Machiavelli’s Prince seems rather insipid by comparison to his exploits while the École Nationale d’Administration is barely worthy of Kindergarten status. 

No wonder the Calabrian villages of San Sofia, San Basile and Zangarona were all smiles, then. Albanians have been settling in the region since at least the 16th Century, with a particularly large influx during the 1990s. The so called ‘Arbëresh’ diaspora – whose distinct culture and language has deeps roots in southern Italy. 

The monuments to were presented to the Albëre villages by the President of the Republic of Albania, Bajram Begaj, who expressed his gratitude to the local Italian authorities and the Albëresh descendants who, in the tradition of their national hero, have kept the distinct Albanian way of life alive in Calabria.

“It’s time to say: thank you all, each and every one of you, and all to the Arbëresh municipalities, what have you done to preserve the Arbëresh language, what have you done to transmit our national identity with our clothes, traditions and culture,” said President Begaj.

Significantly, the monuments were unveiled just ahead of Orthodox Easter – that faith having been preserved in Albania through many dark centuries of Ottoman occupation by many generations who looked to the patience, wit and ingenuity of Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbeu as a source of inspiration when defying their occupiers.