The Project
The aim of the BESA - Arbëreshë Sites Electronic Library - Bibliotheca Electronica - Sites of Arbëreshë - project is to survey the libraries as well as the library collections of the local (municipal, ecclesiastical, scholastic and private) libraries of Arbëreshë area or specialization within the Province of Cosenza, fostering their association and making their bibliographic resources available online in a computerized library system, the union catalogue Besa OPAC.
After the first phase dedicated to the Province of Cosenza, BESA will confidently include all the library structures of the various Arbëresh communities settled in other provinces of Calabria, in other regions of Italy and in the Balkan area, gathering the bibliographic records of the different libraries in an online union catalogue.
During the first phase, the following materials have been catalogued: printed books, both early and modern, in Arbëresh or of Arbëreshë or albanological concern. Other resources, such as periodicals, minor printed materials, potential archive documents, as well as audiovisual materials and electronic resources will be subsequently surveyed and catologued.
The libraries involved in the project are the following:
Cosenza urban area:
- Cosenza
- Civic Library
- Rende
- University of Calabria Library
Pollino – Valle Crati Area:
- Acquaformosa
- “San Giovanni Battista” Parish Library
- Lungo
- “Mons. Giovanni Mele” Eparchial library
- “Gabriele e Gennaro Frega” Private Library
- “Stratigò” Private Library
- San Benedetto Ullano
- Communal (municipal) Library
- Spezzano Albanese
- “Bashkim Kulturor Arberësh” Library
- “Giuseppe Aangelo Nociti” Communal (municipal)
Sila Greca (“Greek Sila”) Area:
- San Demetrio Corone
- “S. Adriano” College Library
- “Girolamo De Rada” Communal (municipal)
- Vaccarizzo Albanese
- “Faraco” Private Library