Ethnonyms: Arbëreshë, Gjak i shprishur, Arbëror, Italo-Albanesi (Italo-Albanians), Albanesi d'Italia, Greco-Albanesi
Total population: 420,000–550,000
Ethnolinguistic classification: Indo-European → Albanoid → Tosk
Homeland: Peloponnese, Northern Epirus, Arbëria
Regions with significant populations: Calabria (the Province of Cosenza (Lungro, San Demetrio Corone, Civita), the Province of Catanzaro (Caraffa di Catanzaro, Andali), the Province of Crotone (Carfizzi, San Nicola dell'Alto)), the Sicilian Region (Piana degli Albanesi, Santa Cristina Gela, Contessa Entellina), Basilicata / Lucania (Potenza; San Paolo Albanese, San Costantino Albanese), Molise (Campobasso; Ururi, Portocannone, Campomarino, Montecilfone), Apulia / Puglia (Foggia, Taranto; San Marzano di San Giuseppe), Campania (Avellino; Greci), Abruzzo / Abruzzi (Pescara)
Languages and dialects: Arbëresh, Apulian Albanian, Vaccarizzo Albanian, Koine Greek
Religion: the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church
The Arbëreshë, also called Albanians of Italy or Italo-Albanians, are an Albanian ethnolinguistic community in southern and insular Italy whose name refers both to the people and to their dialect, with the term ultimately linked to Arbëria and to an older Albanian identity. They descend largely from Albanian settlers who arrived mainly between the mid-15th and mid-16th centuries, especially after the death of Skanderbeg and the Ottoman advance, with earlier Albanian presence in Italy also documented; the strongest settlement zones were Calabria and Sicily, though communities also formed in Molise, Puglia, Basilicata, Abruzzo, Campania, and other places, often as rural villages with their own local norms and enduring customs. Today, Arbëresh communities are estimated at roughly 70,000–100,000 speakers or ethnically affiliated people, spread across dozens of towns and villages, and many diaspora descendants also live in Italian cities and overseas. Linguistically, they speak Arbërisht, a form of Albanian descended from older Tosk varieties, notable for preserving archaic features and some Greek elements, while also being bilingual in Italian; because the community has been separated from the main Albanian-speaking area for centuries, the language has diversified internally, is often endangered, and in many settings Italian functions as the common bridge language. Religiously and culturally, many Arbëreshë are Byzantine Catholics or Latin Rite Catholics, and the historical union with the Catholic Church helped consolidate the communities while supporting a distinctive literary and educational culture; that cultural life included schools, newspapers, magazines, and a strong role in the broader Albanian and Italian renaissances, with Arbëresh intellectuals contributing to the Risorgimento and to the preservation of Albanian identity in Italy.
