Antonino Guxeta (Guzzeta), linguist and albanologist, professor, passed away. He was born in Hora e Arbëreshëve near Palermo (Sicily), in 1922. He pursued higher education and graduated from the Faculty of Literature and Philosophy of the University of Palermo, where he began and developed his academic career, first as an assistant and then as a professor of phonetics and general linguistics. From 1974, he was a professor of Albanian language and literature at the Oriental Institute of Naples; during the years 1975-1997 he directed the Institute of Albanian Language and Literature at the University of Palermo. He also taught at the University of Calabria (1987-1990). Since 1968 he directed the “Rosolino Petrotta” International Center of Albanian Studies. Among the numerous contributions to the field of albananology (literature, dialectology, historical and synchronic linguistics, folklore, etc.) the following are mentioned: “Tracce della lingua albanese nel secolo XV nella documentación veneta dell’epoca” , I, 1968; II, 1973, Palermo (“Traces of the Albanian language of the XV century in the Venetian documents of the time”); ” Ernest Koliqi, a social poet”, 1968; ” L’incanto del vero: i racconti di Ernest Koliqi fra tradizione e rinnovamento”, 1974 (“The enchantment of the truth: the stories of Ernest Koliqi between tradition and renewal”); ” L’etnia albanese in Italia”, 1988 (“Albanian ethnicity in Italy”); ” I rapporti Arbëresh-Albanian through the centuries” , 1989 (“Arbëresh-Albanian relations through the centuries”). Antonino Guxeta has regularly organized international albanological congresses in Palermo, as well as prepared the publication of volumes with their proceedings (Congress XXVIII, 2002). His activity has encouraged the development of albanology in Italian universities during a difficult period, guaranteeing the formation of a new generation of Albanian researchers. It was decorated with the Order “Naim Frashëri” of the first class. (In the photo: Hora e Arbëreshëve village near Palermo, Sicily.)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 1 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 805-806.
Photo: © https://sq.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hora_e_Arb%C3%ABresh%C3%ABvet
Graphic processing: AHCF
