The Albanian refugees reached the Sybaris plain in 1470, after the collapse of the resistance to the Turks, and out of them three villages were born: San Demetrio, Macchia and San Cosmo. On 3 November 1471 a notary set down the terms agreed between the abbot of Sant'Adriano and the Albanians of the three communities. In Arbëresh the village is called Strigàri, after a captain who came from the town of Stura, and Albanian is still spoken here and the liturgy is still Byzantine. In the early days people lived in huts, and when the abuses became too much they burned them and moved elsewhere: that is how whole groups shifted between San Cosmo and Vaccarizzo.
The village lay under two masters at once: the abbot of Sant'Adriano held civil justice and its dues, the lay baron held criminal justice and further dues, and the Albanians were in between. The land register of 1754 counts about ten noblemen, forty-three tenant farmers, thirteen shepherds, nine craftsmen, a clerk, a blind man and a country soldier; the houses were nearly always a single room, so much so that in the local speech shpi means both the house and the room. In the sanctuary of Saints Cosmas and Damian, built over the old monastery, the Byzantine frescoes are by a Cretan painter, Niko Gianakakis.
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📅 Every year, on 27 September
On 27 September San Cosmo Albanese celebrates Saints Cosmas and Damian with a great fair: thousands of pilgrims from across the region come to the sanctuary in traditional Arbëreshë costumes.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside San Cosmo Albanese, but an easy day trip away.
