“THE CODE OF LEKE DUKAGJINI” IN OPTICS OF THE ITALIAN WRITER, GIUSEPPE CASTALLETTI (In the work "Consuetudini e vita nellemontagne albaanese secondo il Kanuni Lek Dukagjini", Studi Albanesi, 3-4, Rome 1933)

Abstract

The Code of Leke Dukagjini, an important monument of Albanian tradition and spiritual culture, was compiled and codified by Father Shtjefën Gjecovi, who due to his early death (killed by a Serbian gendarmerie in 1929) failed to see the light of publication of his work. The publication of this monumental work took place in 1933, under the auspices of Gjergj Fishta, the Albanian national poet and close friend of the late author.

The work "The Code of Leke Dukagjini" continues to awaken the curiosity of scholars to this day and has been published to date in many languages of the world such as Italian, German, Swedish, Turkish, Norwegian, Japanese and most importantly in English.

After the publication, but also before the publication, the Canon of Leke Dukagjini echoed among the foreign scholars, especially those of Albanology and Anthropology. Italian scholars, who published two study books on the Code during 1933-1940, were of particular interest.

In our paper we will focus on the study of Italian professor Giuseppe Castalleti entitled "Consuetudini e vita nellemontagne albaanese secondo il Kanuni Lek Dukagjini" (Traditional forms and social life in the Code of Lek Dukagjini), to see the concerns and findings of this the insistence on the Albanian customary law on the name of the work, but also on many aspects which he deals with in his study of great interest, which relate to the Code of Leke Dukagjini. Professor Castaleti's study was published in 1933, the same year that the Code was published.

Keywords: Code, Gjecovi, Castallet, foreign scholars, translation.