Gabriele Dara the Younger (8 January 1826 – 15 November 1885), commonly known as Gavril Dara Junior ( sq, Gavril Dara i Ri, links=no, it, Gabriele Dara il Giovane, links=no), was an

Arbëreshë Arbën/Arbër, from which derived Arbënesh/Arbëresh originally meant all Albanians, until the 18th century. Today it is used for different groups of Albanian origin, including: * Arbër (given name), an Albanian masculine given name * Arbëresh ...

politician and poet of the 19th century. He is regarded as one of the early writers of the

Albanian National Awakening The Albanian National Awakening ( sq, Rilindja or ), commonly known as the Albanian Renaissance or Albanian Revival, is a period throughout the 19th and 20th century of a cultural, political and social movement in the Albanian history where the ...

Life

Gabriele Dara was born on 8 January 1826 in

Palazzo Adriano Palazzo Adriano ( IPA: , aae, Pallaci, scn, U PalàzzuGasca Queirazza, Giuliano (ed.) (1990). ''Dizionario di toponomastica. Storia e significato dei nomi geografici italiani'', p. 468. UTET. ) is a town and ''comune'' of Arbëresh origin in t ...

, a town in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, southern Italy. His family was one of the first to migrate from

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

to Italy after

Skanderbeg , reign = 28 November 1443 – 17 January 1468 , predecessor = Gjon Kastrioti , successor = Gjon Kastrioti II , spouse = Donika Arianiti , issue = Gjon Kastrioti II , royal house = Kastrioti , father ...

's death. His grandfather

Gabriele Dara the Elder Gabriele is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name Surname *Al Gabriele, American comic book artist * Angel Gabriele (1956–2016), American comic book artist *Corrado Gabriele (born 1966), Italian polit ...

was among the first collectors of Arbëreshë folklore, while his father Ndre or Andrea published a dictionary of folkloric terms. At an early age he learned

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

and

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

. In Palermo he received a degree in law and practiced in

Agrigento Agrigento (; scn, Girgenti or ; grc, Ἀκράγας, translit=Akrágas; la, Agrigentum or ; ar, كركنت, Kirkant, or ''Jirjant'') is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. It was one o ...

. After the unification of Italy he held a variety of offices in Sicily. At first he served as the first councilor of the prefecture of Palermo and from 1867 to 1869 as governor of

Trapani Trapani ( , ; scn, Tràpani ; lat, Drepanum; grc, Δρέπανον) is a city and municipality (''comune'') on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an imp ...

, a town in western Sicily. From 1871 to 1874 he was the director of the liberal political magazine ''The Reform'' ( it, La Riforma). He died in 15 November 1885 in Agrigento.

Work

His early works include verse in the Italian language and a poem in Arberesh dedicated to Saint Lazarus. Dara's best-known work is ''Kënka e sprasme e Balës'' (The last song of Bala) originally written in Arbëresh language and later translated into Italian. ''Kënka e sprasme e Balës'' is a four-part epic romantic ballad containing nine

canto The canto () is a principal form of division in medieval and modern long poetry. Etymology and equivalent terms The word ''canto'' is derived from the Italian word for "song" or "singing", which comes from the Latin ''cantus'', "song", from the ...

s and recounts the adventures of Nik Peta and Pal Golemi, two Albanian heroes that lived in the era of the

League of Lezhë The League of Lezhë ( sq, Lidhja e Lezhës), also commonly referred to as the Albanian League ( sq, Lidhja Arbërore), was a military and diplomatic alliance of the Albanian aristocracy, created in the city of Lezhë on 2 March 1444. The Leag ...

. It was first published in 1887 after his death in installments in the periodical ''Arbri i ri'' (Young Albania), published by Giuseppe Schirò. In July 1900 it was fully published in Arbëresh and Italian in the journal ''La Nazione albanese'' (The Albanian Nation).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dara, Gavril 1826 births 1885 deaths People from Palazzo Adriano Kingdom of the Two Sicilies people Italian people of Arbëreshë descent 19th-century Albanian writers 19th-century Italian writers 19th-century male writers 19th-century Italian politicians Italian civil servants Albanian-language writers Activists of the Albanian National Awakening Writers from the Province of Palermo Politicians from the Province of Palermo