In the village of Palac Adriano (Sicily), in a family that produced scholars of Albania and Albanian traditions, the Albanian poet Gavril Dara Junior (1826–1889) was born. He completed his high school studies at the Italian-Arbëresh Seminary in Palermo. Then he studied law. He actively participated in the movement for the liberation and national unification of Italy. During the years 1871–1874, Gavril Dara directed the political newspaper “La Riforma” (“The Reform”) of Francesco Crispi in Rome. The main work of Gavril Dara and one of the most outstanding poems of the literature of the National Renaissance, is “Kënga e sprasme e Balës” (“The mysterious song of Bala”), which was published in full in 1900-1902, in the Albanian newspaper “La nazione albanese”. This work reflects the resilience of Albanians led by Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg. Dara’s literary and scientific interests were wide and included: poetry, folklore, philosophy, archeology, and law. Gavril Dara tried to bring the Arbëresh language closer to the language spoken in the Albanian lands. (In the photo: Gavril Dara)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 1, Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 415.
Photo: © https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriele_Dara
Graphic processing: AHCF
