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Dardhë
Dardhë
Village
	Dardhë
	Coordinates: 40°31′7″N 20°49′37″E / 40.51861°N 20.82694°E
Country	Albania
County	Korçë
Municipality	Korçë
Municipal unit	Drenovë
Elevation	1,248 m (4,094 ft)
Population (2000)
• Total	502
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)

Dardhë (Albanian: [ˈdaɾðə]; Albanian definite form: Dardha, literally "pear")^[1] is a community in the former municipality of Drenovë in Korçë County, Albania. After local government reform in 2015, it became part of the municipality Korçë.^[2] It is a well known ski area of Albania since the 1920s.^[3] In 2012, the first ever ski tow in Albania was opened at Bigell Ski Resort near Dardhë.^[4]

Demographics

Dardhë is populated by an Orthodox Albanian population with a minority Aromanian population documented after 1950. There are a few families who were previously nomadic before settling in the village long before the Ottoman invasion in the region.^[5]^[6] Much of the Orthodox Albanian population has moved away to Albanian cities such as Korçë and Tiranë or migrated to Greece, Romania or the United States.^[6]

History

The town of Dardhë was first founded by Albanian Orthodox after death of Scanderbeg fleeing into the mountains to avoid the Ottoman administration.^[7]^{[verification needed]} Unlike villages located in the Gramos mountains, Dardhë did not undergo any serious collapse or destruction during Ottoman rule.^[5]

A Greek school was founded in the village in 1810 by Ikonomou Isidoros^[8] while Greek education was flourishing with the establishment of additional schools at the beginning of the 20th century: a girls' school (1901-1902) and a middle level school.^[9] In the school season of 1901-1902 a total of 150 students attended the Greek schools, which were sponsored by the local community fund, as well as the local Orthodox Church.^[9] The first Albanian school opened in 1917 with the initiative of Leonidha Çika, which started with 20 students, and with financing from the Vatra, which sponsors the new school in 1924 that is still in place today.^[10]

Dardhë has historically suffered from heavy emigration. Many families of the area would form the first Albanian community in USA, and Romania as well. People from Dardhë have been immense contributors to Albanian American organizations. Sotir Peçi, Josif Pani, and Gjergj Konda, among others, would start the society Besa-Besë, the Kombi newspaper, and the unification of the Albanian American societies into a single federation, Vatra, with Sotir Peçi as one of the initial founders.^[11]

Current Prime Minister Edi Rama has some family roots in Dardhë.^[7] In the past years, it has become a destination mainly for internal tourism by Albanian citizens, creating jobs for Dardhë residents.^[7]

Notable people

Sotir Peçi, mathematician, former Minister of Education and publisher.
Kostandin and Athanas Zografi, brothers, 18th century painters, distinguished for their work in Ardenica Monastery, Vithkuq, Moscopole and Mount Athos.
Teodor Laço, writer and diplomat.
Polycarpos of Larissa (-1821), Orthodox bishop of Larissa.^[12]
Thomas Nassi, musician.

References

^ Elsie, Robert (2015). The Tribes of Albania: History, Society and Culture. I.B.Tauris. p. 310. ISBN 9780857739322.
^ "Law nr. 115/2014" (PDF) (in Albanian). pp. 6372–6373. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
^ "Hotel Dardha - Hotel Malor Korce - Resort Dardha". Archived from the original on 2011-12-17. Retrieved 2011-12-25.
^ Ski resort Bigell - Dardha center - Korçë County, Albania, EveryTrail, retrieved 2013-10-09
^ ^a ^b Koukoudis, Asterios (2003). The Vlachs: Metropolis and Diaspora. Thessaloniki: Zitros Publications. pp. 382–383. ISBN 9789607760869. "In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Dardhë (Dárdă) would have been described not as a Vlach [Aromanian], but rather as an Arvanite, settlement. It probably shared the development of the Vlach villages on Grammos and played a part in their ekistic, cultural, and economic birth and evolution; but it was not inhabited by Vlachs, as least to any notable extent. It certainly received refugees from Nikolicë and Arrëz, and possibly from other Vlach settlements on Grammos; but they probably stayed only for a while before moving on to settle permanently elsewhere, or else they were assimilated by the more numerous Albanian speakers. The interesting thing about Dardhë is that, unlike the other Christian villages on Grammos, it did not suffer any serious destruction or collapse. Its inhabitants never had to leave and the village developed into a kind of centre of resistance for local Christians. The Vlach inhabitants of modern Dardhë are apparently descended from Arvanitovlach nomads who settled there in the twentieth century."
^ ^a ^b Nitsiakos, Vassilis (2010). On the border: Transborder mobility, ethnic groups and boundaries along the Albanian-Greek frontier. Berlin: LIT Verlag. p. 396. ISBN 9783643107930. "I cannot confirm my previous information of Dardhë being a Vlach [Aromanian] village. There are very few Vlach families here and they came in after 1950. The old inhabitants of the village were Orthodox Albanians and most of them have moved to the urban centres of Albania, mainly Tirana and Korçë; some went to America and Greece."
^ ^a ^b ^c Balkan Insight. "Rich Albanians Breathe New Life into Forgotten Village”. 4 September 2014. http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/rich-albanians-breathe-new-life-into-forgotten-village
^ "Σχολή Ντάρδας. [School of Dardhë]". Κάτοπρον Ελληνικής Επιστήμης και Φιλοσοφίας (University of Athens) (in Greek). Retrieved 2013-10-13.
^ ^a ^b Athina, Koltsida. "Η Εκπαίδευση στη Βόρεια Ήπειρο κατά την Ύστερη Περίοδο της Οθωμανικής Αυτοκρατορίας [Education in Northern Epirus during the late Ottoman Empire]". Phd dissertation. University of Thessaloniki. pp. 134, 348. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
^ Mësuesi i Parë në Shkollën Shqipe në Dardhë 1917 [First teacher of the Albanian school in Dardhe] (in Albanian), Dardha.org, retrieved 2013-10-09
^ JOSIF PANI - Publisher and patriot of the Albanian colony in America
^ Kristaq Balli (2019-01-06). "Shkolla shqipe e Dardhes, nje dritare diturie e progresi" [Albanian school of Dardha, a window of knowledge and progress] (in Albanian). CNA.