Contessa Entellina is a small comune

Comune

In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

of 1,981 inhabitants in the province of Palermo

Province of Palermo

The Province of Palermo is a province in the autonomous region of Sicily, a major island in Southern Italy. Its capital is the city of Palermo. The Province of Palermo has 82 comuni , 1,239,272 inhabitants, and is 4,992 km² .-External links:...

, in Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

, southern Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. Is located in the "Valle del Belice" to 571 meters above sea level, is situated 80 km from Palermo and 40 km from Sciacca.

The country, along with Piana degli Albanesi

Piana degli Albanesi

Piana degli Albanesi is a comune with 6,427 inhabitants in the Province of Palermo, Sicily.The town is the most important and populous Arbëreshë community in Sicily and it is the episcopal see of the Byzantine Catholic Church...

 and Santa Cristina Gela

Santa Cristina Gela

Santa Cristina Gela is an Arbëreshë village in the province of Palermo in Sicily.The country, along with Contessa Entellina and Piana degli Albanesi, is one of three ethnic Albanian community in Sicily, where the old Albanian language is still spoken...

, is among the three ethnic

Minority group

A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...

 communities Arbëreshë of Sicily, who still speak the ancient language Albanian (arbërisht).

History

The foundation is attributed to the Countess about 1450 on the ruins of a remote farmhouse seniority, the Hamlet of Comitissa, but the chapter officers, the granting of fiefs, were built in 1520, when he start the rebuilding, upgrading and restocking of Albanians from Albania

Albania

Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

 and the southern Morea

Morea

The Morea was the name of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. It also referred to a Byzantine province in the region, known as the Despotate of Morea.-Origins of the name:...

.

In ancient times it was near them the ancient Elymian city of Entella, in fact, with the discovery of archaeological ancient site, to give relief to the old site, you would add the name of the country, even the term Entella

Today Contessa Entellina keeps the Albanian language

Albanian language

Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...

, the culture of their ancestors, and holds the Byzantine-Greek rite

Byzantine Rite

The Byzantine Rite, sometimes called the Rite of Constantinople or Constantinopolitan Rite is the liturgical rite used currently by all the Eastern Orthodox Churches, by the Greek Catholic Churches , and by the Protestant Ukrainian Lutheran Church...

; but lives a very difficult period. From earthquake of Belice to date have followed many migrations, halving the population and depopulating the city center, the Albanian language is also taught to fewer and fewer young people, so the vcomunità is constantly lost and stolen the identities.

People from Contessa Entellina

• Nikollë Keta
  Nikollë Keta
  Nicola Chetta, , , was an Italian writer and poet of Albanian origins. He was born in Contessa Entellina , the oldest Albanian settlement in Sicily, founded between 1450 and 1467. He was educated at the Greek seminary in Palermo. In 1777, Keta himself became rector of the seminary himself...
  
  (1741-1803), papàs of the Byzantine-greek rite, ethnographic, writer and poet.
• Antonino Cuccia (1850-1938), expert popular poet arbëreshë.
• Lorenzo Tardo (1883-1967), basilian priest and scholar of Byzantine music.
• Leonardo Lala (1906-2000), experienced writer of language, history and folk traditions arbëreshë.

External links

• Contessa Entellina Birth, Marriage and Death Records 1820-1865
• Contessa Entellina Society, New Orleans, Louisiana, founded in 1896
• Contessa Entellina in Google Maps