San Paolo Albanese is a small village founded by Albanian refugees who left the port of Corone in the Peloponnese and landed on the Lucanian coast following the Turkish invasions in the 16th century. It is the smallest municipality in the region and the inhabitants have preserved many details of Albanian tradition such as customs, costumes and language. When walking through the streets of the village, it is not uncommon to come across people wearing typical Albanian dress or speaking in the ‘Arbà «reshe’ language. During a wedding ceremony, it is possible to admire the ancient culture in all its facets, from the choral nature of the event to the traditional and symbolic character of the rite and the clothes worn. San Paolo Albanese is truly a place to be discovered, where you can rediscover a pure and simple authenticity linked to the peasant and poor origins of the founders of the small village.
