Il Museo della Cultura Arbëreshe di San Paolo Albanese. Diversità linguistica e culturale in un’area interna del Mezzogiorno d’Italia

Museums that document “restanza” appear in small villages located in inland areas. The birth of these institutions is fueled by the desire of communities that are undergoing a process of progressive factual and symbolic dissolution to have their existence and cultural resources ‘certified’ as part of the wider world’s plurality. The Museum for Arbëreshe Culture in San Paolo Albanese is an example of this kind. San Paolo is Basilicata’s smallest village, counting just over 200 residents who trace their origins back to a 16th century wave of immigration from Albania. This museum was conceived as early as the 1970s by the local community as a tool promoting the diversity of a small Arbëreshe village in southern Italy.