Petro Nini Luarasi was born on April 22, 1865, in Luaras, Kolonja.

He was a student at the Qestorat School, led by Koto Hoxhi. Luarasi worked as a teacher in the villages of Kolonja, where he secretly taught children the Albanian language and trained a group of peers to become teachers. In 1882, he opened the first Albanian school in the village of Bezhan, Kolonja. In 1887, he established another Albanian school in Erseka, and a few years later, between 1892 and 1893, he opened schools in the regions of Kolonja.

Luarasi also served as the director and teacher at the first Albanian school in Korça, and later at the school in Negovani (1909-1911). In 1892, alongside Gjerasim Qiriazi, he founded the Protestant association “Brotherhood of Albania.” While living in exile in the U.S. (1904-1908), he actively participated in the national movement, initiating the patriotic societies “Mall i mëmëdheut” /Motherland Longing/and “Pellazgu,” /The Pelasgus/ as well as organizing secret committees for Albania’s freedom. He also served as a delegate at the Congress of Manastir in 1908.

For his patriotic, educational, and social activities, Luarasi was persecuted by the Young Turks and the Patriarchate of Istanbul. He was poisoned by them in Erseka, where he passed away on August 17, 1911.

/a.p./