In 1444, military commander Demetrio Reres arrived in Sicily on a mission from Albanian leader Skanderbeg to assist King Alfonso V of Aragon. His troops settled here, turning Mezzojuso into a refuge for Arbëreshë families fleeing Ottoman expansion. Though the native language faded over time, locals preserved their distinct identity through the Byzantine liturgy of the Eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi.
Sitting at 546 metres below Mount Brinja, 41 kilometres from Palermo, the town of 3,020 residents later backed the 1856 anti-Bourbon uprising and hosted Giuseppe Garibaldi, an episode remembered today during the Mastro di Campo carnival.
Near Mezzojuso
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
