PORTOCANNONE

PROVINCE OF CAMPOBASSO, REGION OF MOLISE

By Nancy DeSanti

The picturesque small town of Portocannone is located about 50 kilometers northeast of Campobasso. The town has approximately 2,490 inhabitants, known as Portocannonesi. First recorded in the 11th century A.D. with the name Portocandesium, by 1320 its name was changed to Porto Caduni This small town was heavily damaged by an earthquake in 1456 that destroyed most of the houses and killed half of the population. Portocannone is notable for being a small Arbëreshë town. The Arbëreshë are a linguistic and ethnic Albanian minority community who have managed to preserve their language and cultural heritage. They arrived in southern Italy during the 15th century following their Albanian national hero Giorgio Castriota Skanderberg (1405-1468). A Slavic community led by Skanderberg was invited to populate the area because of their repression by the Ottoman Empire.

They were offered refuge by the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily (both under Aragonese rule), where the Arbëreshë were given their own villages and protected, in Molise and various areas in southern Italy. Skanderberg was an Albanian nobleman and military commander who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in what is today Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia. As a young man, Skanderberg was a hostage at the Ottoman court for 20 years, where he was educated and eventually entered into the service of the Ottoman sultan for 20 years. But he later switched sides and because of his military skill, he was named a commander and was able to bring together Albanians of different regions and dialects.

Portocannone overview

Skanderbeg’s exploits presented a major obstacle to Ottoman expansion, and he was considered by many in western Europe to be a model of Christian resistance against Muslims (he was originally Eastern Orthodox but he converted to Catholicism). For 25 years, Skanderbeg’s 10,000-man army marched through Ottoman territory winning against consistently larger and better-supplied Ottoman forces, for which he was greatly admired. Skanderbeg recognized the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Naples over Albania, and he supported King Ferdinand I of Naples. In 1463, he became the chief commander of the crusading forces of Pope Pius II, but the Pope died while the armies were still gathering. Together with Venetians, he fought against the Ottomans until his death in 1468. He ranks high in military history, as the most persistent and successful opponent of the Ottoman Empire in its heyday.

The trouble Skanderbeg gave the Ottoman Empire’s military forces was such that when the Ottomans found the grave of Skanderbeg in the church of St. Nicholas in Lezhë, they opened it and made amulets of his bones, believing that these would confer bravery on the wearer. A palace in Rome in which Skanderbeg resided during his 1466–67 visits to the Vatican is still called Palazzo Skanderbeg and currently houses the Italian museum of pasta. The palace is located in Piazza Scanderbeg, between the Fontana di Trevi and the Quirinal Palace. Also in Rome, a statue by Florentine sculptor Romano Romanelli is dedicated to the Albanian hero in Piazza Albania. Monuments or statues of Skanderbeg have also been erected in towns in southern Italy where there is an Arbëreshë community. In 2006, a statue of Skanderbeg was unveiled on the grounds of St. Paul’s Albanian Catholic Church in Rochester Hills, Michigan — the first statue of Skanderbeg to be erected in the United States.

Portocannone panorama

Recently, some linguistic experts have been studying languages that are in danger of dying out. A book has even been written of Albanian folklore and language from the local dialect spoken in Portocannone. The volume, by Gjaku Jonë i Shëprishur, is a collection of distinct genres, from soothing lullabies to playful rhymes and somber rituals and the book comes with recordings that allow one to hear the extent to which more than 500 years of contact with Italian has shaped this unique Albanian dialect. In recent times, natural gas production began in the nearby Colle di Lauro which comes uniquely from the Portocannone field, discovered in 1963. Following the first well, production was subsequently expanded by drilling 28 more wells. The production coming from the Portocannone wells is collected by means of a network of flow lines which channel the gas to a treatment and compression facility located in nearby Piane di Larino.

What to See

•Church of Saints Peter and Paul, from the 16th century

Important Dates

• Pentecost — Feast of the Madonna of Costantinopoli, the patron saint escription

Sources:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portocannone

www.enchantingitaly.com/regions/molise/ province-campobasso/portocannone.htm

www.trover.com/d/ RRzV-portocannone-italy

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skanderbeg

Italiano

PORTOCANNONE

PROVINCIA DI CAMPOBASSO, REGIONE MOLISE

Translated by Maddalena Borea

I l pittoresco paesino di Portocannone si trova a 50 km. da Campobasso. Conta circa 2500 abitanti, conosciuti come Portocannonesi

La popolazione, di origine albanese, conserva ancora oggi costumi ed espressioni linguistiche proprie del paese d’origine.

Intorno all’undicesimo secolo dopo Cristo era Portocandesium, e, più tardi, verso il 1320, si chiamò Porto Caduni. Il severo terremoto del 1456 distrusse buona parte delle sue case e uccise buona parte dei suoi abitanti. La popolazione, di origine albanese, conserva ancora oggi costumi ed espressioni linguistiche proprie del paese d’origine. Molti albanesi si stanziarono in sud Italia, al seguito del loro eroe, Giorgio Castriota Skanderberg (1405-1468), perchè trovarono ospitalità in territori del Regno di Napoli, di Sicilia e di altre aree del sud, a quel tempo sotto gli Aragonesi. In Molise, in particolare, questi gruppi riceverono terre e protezione. Skanderberg, nobile albanese e comandante militare, guidò persistenti ribellioni contro l’impero Ottomano in territori conosciuti oggi come Albania, Nord Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro e Serbia. Da giovane fu educato e fu al servizio di un sultano alla corte dell’impero ottomano, ma più tardi cambiò campo, e, date le sue abilità militari, riuscì a unificare Albanesi di diverse regioni e di diversi dialetti al suo comando. Diventò in breve tempo un grandissimo ostacolo alle espansioni dell’impero ottomano, e fu modello di resistenza cristiana contro i musulmani.

Di religione cristiano-ortodossa, si converti in seguito al cattolicesimo, e, per 25 anni lottò e sfidò con i suoi 10,000 soldati truppe ottomane ben armate. Riconobbe la sovranità del regno di Napoli sull’Albania ed appoggiò re Ferdinando I. Combattè contro gli Ottomani fino alla sua morte nel 1468, e questi lo odiarono a tal punto che quando scoprirono la sua tomba nella chiesa di San Nicola a Lezhe, la vandalizzarono, e delle sue ossa fecero amuleti. Un palazzo a Roma, nelle vicinanze del Vaticano, dove egli risiedè per per un paio di anni, si chiama palazzo Skanderbeg ed e’ oggi il museo della pasta. Una statua dello scultore fiorentino Romanelli è dedicata a lui, e si trova in Piazza Albania, ed un’altra si trova anche in Michigan. Oggigiorno alcuni studiosi di linguistica hanno prodotto delle pubblicazioni e dei glossari allo scopo di preservare l’antico linguaggio, le antiche nenie di gente albanese, che venne nell’antichita’, al comando del loro eroe, a popolare aree come Portocannone, dove in anni recenti sono stati scoperti giacimenti di petrolio.

Attrazioni del luogo:

• Chiesa di San Pietro e Paolo del sedicesimo secolo

Date da ricordare:

• Pentecoste, Festa della Madonna di Costantinopoli