The Arbëreshë are a linguistic and cultural minority present in the southern and island part of Italy. About 100 thousand people are part of this ancient community, called Arbëria, and among them, at least 80% speak or understand their local variant of Arbëreshë language. Italian-Albanians are distributed in different regions of Italy: Campania, Molise, Puglia, Basilicata, Sicily and Calabria, where is located the largest community with over 58 thousand inhabitants.

From their native land, the Arbëreshë people, in addition to their language (a real miracle, if we consider that it is a language that has survived for six centuries and was transmitted only orally), also preserve a whole religious, cultural and gastronomic range.

An identity that is still based on religious rites - most of the fifty communities still preserve the Byzantine rite during the liturgy - customs, art and gastronomy, jealously transmitted from generation to generation. The Albanians of Italy are therefore part of that rich heritage of linguistic and cultural diversity present in our country, protected by the Constitution itself, as provided in the Article 6, and by the law of 1999, which recognizes Albanian among the languages to be evaluated.

One of the special characteristics of this language is the absence of words for naming abstract concepts, replaced over the centuries by periphrasis or borrowings from Italian or Greek. Arbëreshë dialects, while maintaining common features in their phonetic, morphosyntactic and lexical structure, show significant changes from country to country. The Albanian language in Italy is protected by law no. 482 in defence of historical linguistic minorities.

The language spoken by Arbëreshë people is Arbërishja, an ancient variety of Toskë (Toskë), a southern dialect of Albanian. In some centers, it is mixed with the inflections taken from Ghego (gegë), the dialect spoken in the north of Albania, with old Greek and with influences from the southern dialects that developed during the stay in Italy. The Arbëreshë language is, in fact, a true linguistic island of ancient tradition, which has transmitted its linguistic, cultural and religious values over the centuries.

 The language spoken by Arbëreshë people is Arbërishja, an ancient variety of Toskë (Toskë), a southern dialect of Albanian. In some centers, it is mixed with the inflections taken from Ghego (gegë), the dialect spoken in the north of Albania, with old Greek and with influences from the southern dialects that developed during the stay in Italy. The Arbëreshë language is, in fact, a true linguistic island of ancient tradition, which has transmitted its linguistic, cultural and religious values over the centuries.

The widespread urban agglomerations of the Albanian-speaking countries were created according to the royal provisions of Philip II, interwoven with the customary rules in the social model of the extended family. Polycentric cities, born according to the centuries-old needs of the Albanian family, were characterized by agglomerations composed of two or more families, generally two brothers with wives, children and parents.

These units formed that big family that remains identifiable even today in the historical territory of Arbëria.

When the Arbëreshë people, organized in this way, arrived in Italy, they were placed near churches or parish icons, because they connected three characteristic elements: the language, the customs and the religion of the Byzantine Greek rite.

Communities have been able to keep alive the language, the cult of hospitality, customs and traditions, as well as cuisine and gastronomy inherited with love and passion.