Jani Vreto was a distinguished Albanian Renaissance figure, writer, publisher, and prominent figure of the National Renaissance. He was born in Postenan, in the Vilayet of Janina, on January 14, 1822. He received his early education at a Greek school near Konitsa, and from 1843 to 1847, he attended the renowned “Zosimea” Gymnasium in Janina. In 1847, he composed a poem about Skanderbeg using the Greek alphabet and began collecting Albanian proverbs and folk songs.

In 1854, he moved to Constantinople. In 1866, he published a grammar of Greek translated into Albanian, titled “Grammatikê tês omilumenês hellênikês glôssês eis tên albanikên” (Grammar of the spoken Greek language into Albanian), in Constantinople. In the early 1870s, he became acquainted with and connected with leading figures of the Albanian national movement, such as Hasan Tahsini, Sami Frashëri, Pashko Vasa, and Ferid Pasha Vlora. He corresponded with prominent Albanian figures in Egypt, including Thimi Mitko, Spiro Dine, Thimi Thoma Kreji, and Dhimitër Kamarda, as well as Jeronim De Rada in Italy.

In 1877, he became a founding member of the Central Committee for the defense of Albanian national rights and actively worked towards its goals. In 1878, he published the work “Apology” in Greek, detailing the origins of Albanians, their language, inhabited lands, and their rights. In early 1879, he was appointed a member of the commission established by the Central Committee to decide on the final Albanian alphabet. On October 12, 1879, he participated in the founding of the Society for the Publication of Albanian Writings, which devoted its energies to publishing Albanian books, especially textbooks, and opening schools in the Albanian language. He authored the society’s statute.

In 1881, he went to Bucharest to stimulate interest in the national movement among many Albanians residing in Romania, and he founded a section of the Society for the Publication of Albanian Writings there. Upon his return to Constantinople, Vreto worked energetically on the publication of the periodical “Drita” (later “Dituria”), which ran in Constantinople from August 1884 to July 1885. Two of Vreto’s books, “Mirëvetija” and “Numeratoreja,” were published by the Society “Drita” in Bucharest in 1886. In 1888, he adapted Muhamet Kyçyku’s work “Erveheja” into the Istanbul alphabet, cleansing it somewhat of Orientalisms. A year later, he published a 158-page work titled “Radhuashkronjë” in Bucharest in 1889, aimed at Albanian merchants and businessmen.

Jani Vreto passed away on July 9, 1900. In 2012, he was posthumously awarded the Order of the National Flag with the motivation: “A distinguished figure of the nation, one of the prominent actors of the Renaissance, who saw the national cause inseparably linked to the creation and development of national education and efforts for the creation of the Albanian alphabet and the publication of the first Albanian primer, considering them as great battles for the victory of independence and the creation of the Albanian state.”

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