Michele Marchiano, Arbëresh literary historian, folklorist and translator, passed away. He was born in the village of Macchia Albanese in the province of Cosenza (Calabri), in 1860. He gave the greatest help in the field of the history of literature. In the work “Le colonie albanesi d’Italia e la loro letteratura”, Rome, 1913 (“The Albanian colonies of Italy and their literature”), Michele Marchiano, pointed out the original features of Albanian literature from its beginnings and discovered some creative individualities. His study “L’Albania e l’opera di Girolamo De Rada”, Trani, 1902 (“Albania and the work of Jeronim de Rada”) is the first complete monograph on Jeronim de Rada, where Michele Marchiano discovered the importance of the poetry of Jeronim de Rada, the deep patriotic spirit and its aesthetic values. Michele Marchiano collected and published many Albanian folk songs in the works: “La rondinella, Carme nuziale albanese, inedito” Foggia, 1906 (“Swallow, unpublished Albanian wedding song”), ” Canti popolari albanesi delle colonie d’Italia”, Foggia, 1908, (“Arberian folk song of the colonies of Italy”); “Canti popolari albanesi della Capitanata e del Molise” , Martina Franca, 1912 (“Albanian songs of the Capitanata and Molise”). He also published the first collection of Arbëresh folklore discovered by him (Kieut’s Manuscript), as well as the work “Poesie sacre albanesi”, Naples, 1908 (“Arbëresh religious poems”). (In the photo: Michele Marchiano)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 2 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 1631.
Photo: © https://www.facebook.com/kultpluscom/photos/a.650793081598651/6147387001939204/?locale=hi_IN
Graphic processing: AHCF
