Giuseppe Schirò

Who was Giuseppe Schirò?

Giuseppe Schirò was an Arbëreshë neo-classical poet, linguist, publicist and folklorist from Sicily. His literary work marked the transition to modern Albanian literature in Italy.

After attending the Italo-Albanian Seminar of Palermo, he graduated in law. In the first period of its activity the Schirò treated the patriotic tradition of Albanian literature, deepened the knowledge of tradition and patriotic folklorist. Soon he devoted himself exclusively to literary studies, creating the classics of Albanian literature. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, has established the literary activity of Zef Schirò.

He has composed a lyric polished and elegant, author of the poem "Mili e Hajdhia", in a pure language and emblematic for the fusion of multiple elements in a koine Albanians dialect. In addition to the idyllic poem "Mili e Hajdhia", of popular inspiration, and the "Rapsodie Arbëreshe", with refined Albanians poems, wrote the fictionalized story in verse "Te Dheu i Huaj" and the poem "Mino", dedicated to his son, brutally killed by extremist politicians.