Fleeing the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans five centuries ago, nobles linked to the Albanian commander Skanderbeg established what remains Italy’s largest Arbëreshë settlement. Called Piana dei Greci until 1941 because of its Byzantine Catholic rite, this Sicilian town of 6,010 residents fiercely maintains its linguistic heritage, with Albanian still visible on modern road signs.
Situated 24 kilometers from Palermo, the center overlooks an artificial lake beneath Mount Pizzuta. It holds a remarkably radical history, having published the first literary work of the Albanian diaspora in 1592 and briefly operating as an independent republic in 1944. Just outside town, the Portella della Ginestra memorial commemorates the infamous 1947 massacre.
Piana degli Albanesi still speaks arbërisht, the old Albanian its founders brought with them when they fled the Ottoman advance in the Balkans and settled here in 1488. Street signs come in two languages, the churches follow the Byzantine-Greek rite, and the town is the seat of the eparchy serving Sicily's Italo-Albanian parishes. Until 1941 the place was officially called Piana dei Greci, "of the Greeks" — a nod to the Greek rite of its churches, not to any settlers from Greece.
Brides here skip the white dress. They marry in the traditional costume of red silk embroidered with gold, fastened by the brezi, a belt of embossed silver that often weighs more than a kilogram and carries the figure of an Eastern saint at its centre. The outfits pass from mother to daughter, and local embroiderers still make new ones to order.
On 6 January, after the blessing of the waters at the Tre Cannoli fountain, a white dove is lowered on a thread from the roof of the Odigitria church and blessed oranges are handed out to the crowd. Carnival turns custom upside down: only the women wear masks, and it is they who ask the men to dance.
Sfincione · Arancina · Pasta alla Norma
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Next up: Theophany – Byzantine Epiphany (Ujët të pagëzuam), Wednesday 6 January
Nearest airport: Palermo Falcone-Borsellino, 26 km away
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📅 Every year on 6 January
On 6 January the eparch blesses the waters at the Tre Cannoli fountain, dipping a cross three times; a white dove descends from the church roof and blessed oranges go to the crowd.
📅 Every year on 2 September, with celebrations from the last days of August
The patron saint's day falls on 2 September, with the eparch's pontifical liturgy in the morning and an evening procession of the Madonna's statue; festivities start in late August.
📅 Every year during Holy Week (movable date between March and April)
Holy Week in Piana follows the Byzantine rite, ending on Easter Sunday with a pontifical liturgy, a parade of women in gold-embroidered costumes and red eggs handed out in the main square.
Tall, soft bread dough, tomato, onion, anchovies, oregano and caciocavallo: sfincione is Palermo's focaccia, cut into squares.
Read more →Saffron rice, ragù with peas and caciocavallo cheese inside a golden crust. Round and feminine in Palermo, pointed and called arancino in Catania: the quarrel is serious.
Read more →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 Piana degli Albanesi, but an easy day trip away.
