In Frascineto (Calabria), Vincenzo Dorsa was born, Arbëresh, researcher of the Albanian language and culture. He completed his first studies at the College of St. Adrian, in St. Demetrio (Italy), and from 1848 he collaborated with the magazine “Calabrese” in Cosenza, Italy. He distinguished himself for his studies on the folk traditions of Calabria and Albanian culture. He was a renowned scholar and intellectual in the intellectual fields of Calabria in the nineteenth century. He was the author of many philological writings and about Albanian folk literature. He published the work “Su gli albanesi: ricerche e pensieri” , Naples, 1847 (“On the Albanians: research and thoughts”), which is distinguished by the wealth of historical, linguistic, folklore, ethnographic, literary data, etc. He also dealt with etymology and published “Studi etimologici della lingua albanese” , Cosenza, 1862 (“Etymological studies for the Albanian language”). He died in 1885. (In the photo: Vincenzo Dorsa)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 1, Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 506-507.
Photo: © Gjikondi B., personal archive
Graphic processing: AHCF
