JD & Annette took us out for a day to the countryside .... little did they know it was Deane's birthday and they couldn't have chosen a more perfect place to visit ... it was sooo quiet, Deane kept saying his ears were ringing!!
It was beautiful, we walked around the lake edge and then went to another countryside restaurant 30kms away and enjoyed the most amazing Sicilian banquet for lunch!
Piana degli Albanesi is a comune with 6,212 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, Sicily.
Situated on a mountainous plateau and encircled by mountains, on the eastern side of the Mount Pizzuta, the city, which is mirrored on a large lake, is 24 km from Palermo.
The town is the most important center of the Albanians of Sicily, as well as the largest and most populous colony of Arbëreshë (Italo-Albanian or Albanians of Italy) and it is the episcopal see of the Eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi, constituency of the Italo-Albanian Church whose jurisdiction covers all Albanians of Sicily who practice the Byzantine rite.
The community has maintained many ethnic elements of Albanian culture like language, religious ritual, traditional costumes, music and folklore. The inhabitants are the descendants of Albanian families, including nobles and relatives of Skanderbeg, that settled in Southern Italy during the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans.