In the assembly of Sarno (Italy), Leonardo de Martino, researcher and Franciscan friar arbёresh, passed away. He was born in the village of Greccio in Campania, in the province of Avellino, in 1840. He served as a missionary in Shkodra, where he played a leading role in the efforts to open the first Italian school in Albania, where he served for almost forty years, from 1865 until 1881. He served as a parish priest in Troshan and in 1871, he promoted the opening of a girls’ school. Later, he followed missions in the mountains. He also served as the secretary of Prenkë Doçi Biba and as a teacher to his son, Prenga. Additionally, he taught young Filip Shiroka, Gjergj Fishta, and Ndre Mjeda. At the end of the 19th century, Leonardo left Albania. De Martino left behind a cultural legacy to Albanian literature, the wealth he gathered during forty years of service in the Franciscan province: translated and original works written in the Geg dialect. The distinguished philologist Justin Rrota, author of the text “Letratyra shqype për shkollat e mjesme” (1925), expresses: “Leonardo de Martino is a poet by nature, he wrote and published many songs, as if he had come to Albania, in the Italian language. Then here, as he mastered his Geg dialect, he took his pen and wrote with such mastery.” (In the photo: Leonardo de Martino)
Text: Center of Studies and Publications for Arbëreshët, Tirana.
Photo: © https://konica.al/2021/03/leonardo-de-martino-mesuesi-i-pare-i-fishtes/
Graphic processing: AHCF
