Santa Cristina Gela
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Santa Cristina Gela or Sëndahstina in its local language, is a town in the province of Palermo in Sicily. As of 2007 Santa Cristina Gela had an estimated population of 919. [1] The town is home to a large Arbëreshë community who maintain the Latin Catholic rite, as opposed to that of neighboring Arberesh town Piana degli Albanesi which maintains the Byzantine Catholic rite.
Common names in the village are: Di Maggio, Criscione, Criscioni, Musacchia (an Italianisation of the Albanian caste Myzeqe), Polizzi, Ferrara and Matranga.
[edit] History
Santa Cristina Gela was founded in the late 18th century by a group of four farmer families from Piana degli Albanesi.
In 1890 CE the parish priest of the village changed the rite of mass from Byzantine catholic to Latin rite.
The original Albanian village from where the ancestors of the Santa Cristina Gela came is Himara in northern Albania.
[edit] Sources
- ^ "The World Gazetteer". Retrieved on 2007-02-24.