Giuseppe Gangale was born, one of the first contributors to preserving Arbëresh’s identity memory. He was among the first researchers of minority cultures in Italy and Europe, anti-fascist, theologian and ethnologist. He studied at the Arbëresh high school of St. Adrian, in San Demetrio Corone, considered the cradle of the culture and liturgy of the Orthodox Christian rite of the Arbëresh in Calabria. He took part in the First World War (1915–1918) and then moved to Florence, where he graduated in philosophy (1921), further specializing in the history of religions, under Vittorio Machioro. Gangale showed a genuine scientific interest in studying the Arbëresh language and is considered one of the founders of Arbëresh linguistics by conducting field research. He visited about forty Arbëresh municipalities, further narrowing the focus of the study on seven of them. Through these centers, he sought to establish the cultural, ethnological, and linguistic perimeter of a disappearing Arbëria, but with a “genuine” heritage to be persistently preserved. (In the photo: Giuseppe Gangale)
Text: Center of Studies and Publications for Arbëresh
Photo: © https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Tommaso_Gangale
Graphic processing: AHCF
