Casalvecchio di Puglia


Casalvecchio is an Arbëreshë comune and village in the Province of Foggia, Apulia, southern Italy. Mostly originating from a 15th-century migration of Albanians, the residents have subsisted by family farming. Of those native to the area for generations, many have continued to use the Arbëreshë language, even those of the post-World War 2 generation.

History

In 1461 near Monte Gargano, in the southeastern Apennine mountains, a group of 5000 immigrants from Albania fled the enculturation of the Ottoman Turks and Islam. They were sent by the Albanian leader Skanderbeg. This part of Apulia was granted to the incomers by the king of Naples.