It was in 1461 that Pope Pius II, King Ferdinand of Naples (son of Alphonse), and King Ferdinand of Spain prevailed in their quest to get Skanderbeg and 5,000 Albanian cavalrymen to cross the Adriatic to defend the Kingdom of Naples against the invading Angevins from Southeastern France.  Skanderbeg reluctantly left the ongoing battle with the Sultans (Murad II and then his son, Mehmet II) to fight the battle on August 14, 1461 at Orsara (Apulia) located near Greci, where the French and their Italian collaborators were quickly vanquished by the well-trained, battle-hardened Albanian soldiers led by Kastrioti. An important byproduct of the battle was the gift from the King of Naples of a large farming village called Greci (45 miles from Naples in today’s province of Avellino) to the Albanian soldiers to induce them to remain for the security of the Kingdom after Skanderbeg returned to Kruja to continue his 25-year fight against the Ottomans.  (Thus, Greci became the first Albanian-speaking village in Italy and the only Albanian speaking town that “Skanderbeg” ever stepped foot in.)

We are descendants of those elite soldiers who left Albania over 560 years ago.

It is our hope that this site becomes a place where we can search our genealogy and be able to tell our family stories. Our stories would start in the late1800s when our families would leave their Italian home in search of new opportunities in America.