Today, on the occasion of the anniversary of his birth, the National History Museum in Tirana remembered Francesco Crispi (October 4, 1818) from the Arbëresh community of Italy, an Italian patriot, fighter for social rights and a well-known statesman.

He was among the main protagonists of the Italian Renaissance and a close friend and supporter of Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi. He is considered one of the architects of the unification of Italy in 1860.

He was born in an Arbëresh family in Robera, Sicily. He headed the Greek-Albanian seminary of Palermo where he was also graduated from. Crispi was Prime Minister of Italy for six years, from 1887 to 1891 and again from 1893 to 1896. He was the first prime minister from southern Italy. Crispi was an internationally known personality. Originally an enlightened Italian patriot and liberal democrat, he went on to become a fiery authoritarian prime minister. He fell from power in 1896 after the devastating defeat at the Battle of Adva, which affected Italy’s colonial ambitions over Ethiopia. He passed away on August 12, 1901.

/a.p./