San Benedetto Ullano
Welcome to San Benedetto Ullano
When speaking about the Italian-Albanian community in Calabria, it's impossible not to mention San Benedetto Ullano. This small town with a population of 1451 is located at the foot of Mount S. Elia at an elevation of 460 meters above sea level, in the province of Cosenza. The town lies on the eastern side of the Paolana Chain in the Crati Valley. Its original name is Shën Benedhiti, just like its Arbëreshë mother tongue. It used to be the main Albanian community in Calabria. In 1732, they founded a college to train their own Byzantine rite priests, which was later moved after 1860 to San Demetrio Corone as a national Italo-Albanian college-boarding school.
The Cultural Heritage of San Benedetto Ullano
San Benedetto Ullano was one of the most prominent centers of intellectual and civil life of the Albanians in Calabria. Its inhabitants still retain their identity and original culture, including language, religious rite, and traditional customs. The Albanian language is still spoken in the two hamlets of Marri (Allimarri), a historic Albanian community, and Piano dei Rossi (Fusha i të Kuqvet), a new residential area at an elevation of 450 meters above sea level. The inhabitants of San Benedetto Ullano have also made an important contribution to Italian culture. Their national Italo-Albanian college-boarding school has produced prominent figures in Albanian culture.
The Natural Beauty of San Benedetto Ullano
In addition to its cultural treasures, San Benedetto Ullano boasts a unique natural beauty. The town is surrounded by beech forests and mountains. There's a wide variety of flora, including chestnut, oak, and centuries-old beech trees up to an elevation of 1150 meters at Laghicello. In the body of water of Laghicello, located at an elevation of 1150 meters and marking the boundary with the municipality of Fuscaldo, you can find the rare species of alpine newt (Triturus alpestris inexpectatus).
A Brief History of San Benedetto Ullano
The town's history is very ancient, with the first historical records dating back to the last decades of the 12th century when it was a fiefdom of the Norman dukes of Montalto. The ancient medieval village experienced a demographic and economic impulse, followed by urban development, in the second half of the 15th century when it was repopulated by Albanian refugees. In 1732, the Italo-Albanian College was founded, called the Italo-Greek Corsinian or Ullanense-Corsinian, in honor of Pope Clement XIII, the son of an Albanian, who established it for the training of the Albanian clergy of Greece-Catholic Rite in Italy, transported in 1794 to San Demetrio Corone. During the struggles of the Italian Risorgimento, many inhabitants of San Benedetto Ullano took an active part in the uprisings of Cosenza in 1844 and 1848, paying with their lives for their ideals of justice and freedom.
San Benedetto Ullano is one of Calabria's hidden gems. Here you can breathe the true Italian culture and tradition, getting in touch with the origins of the Italo-Albanian peoples. If you love nature, history, Italian culture, and tradition, San Benedetto Ullano is the place for you!
