Zef Skiroi (Giuseppe Schiró), poet, publicist, folklorist and Arbëresh historian, passed away. He was born in Hora e Arbëreshëve (Sicily). He attended the Palermo Arbëresh Seminar. He completed his higher studies in law in 1890, and that same year he started working as a docent of ancient literature at the “Garibaldi” high school in Palermo. In 1900, Zef Skiroi took the position of the holder of the Albanian language chair at the Royal Oriental Institute of Naples. Very active in the politics that was shaping the future of Albania, Zef Skiroi stayed for a while in Albania in the turbulent years 1913–1914, as an envoy of the Italian government. In poetry, Zef Skiroi became known with the volume “Rapsodie Albanesi”, 1887 (“Albanian Rhapsody”), which, following the footsteps of some romantic poets, he published as a collection of folk songs. The romantic nature of Zef Skiroi ‘s poetry often appears with the direct political commitment that generally characterized the literature of the National Renaissance. Devoted to the world of the Albanian issue, he also created visions that were not justified by the political developments of the time. Zef Skiroi also created types of lyric, song, anthem, elegy, etc.; composed texts, which, in their poetic discourse, resembled folk songs. Aware of the purely cultural importance of the elaboration of literary Albanian, he wrote an Arbëresh script that was quite close to the Tosk Christian language of Albania, also taking from the northern dialect. A researcher of wide interest, Zef Skiroi published several studies on the Albanian language and literature: ” Della lingua e della letteratura albanese anche in rapporto alle colonie albanesi d’Italia ” 1919 (“On the Albanian language and literature viewed also in relation to the Albanian colonies of Italy”), but he dedicated his most extensive work to the history of Albania “Gli Albanesi e la questione balcanica”, 1904 (“Albanians and the Balkan issue”). (In the photo: Zef Skiroi)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 2358.
Photo: © https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zef_Skiroi
Graphic processing: AHCF
