In the mountains south of Palermo, the Arbëreshë community of Piana degli Albanesi has farmed wheat and dairy for 500 years, ever since Albanian refugees settled there. Now, a combination of extreme heat, drought, and wildfires is eroding the economic foundation of that way of life, pushing residents to consider leaving for good.
Giorgia Caruso, a farmer and mother of two, lost fields and nearly two dozen sheep to a fire three years ago. She now hopes her daughters build their futures elsewhere. The town's population has dropped 17 percent since 2015, a decline nearly three times the rate for Sicily as a whole. In several recent summers, flames have reached Piana or its outskirts, and in 2024 the nearby reservoir almost dried up.
The threat is not just economic. The Arbëreshë are recognized for producing ricotta and for their annual cannolo festival, but a fourth-generation farmer, Giovanni Scalora, says it is hard to keep making those traditions when sheep are disappearing. Ecologist Christian Mulder warns that extreme droughts and sudden rains are damaging fields and forcing emigration, with ancient populations and ancient grains at risk of vanishing.
Residents say losing the community would mean losing a part of Europe's cultural history. The town's murals and the church of San Giorgio remain, but there are fewer people to sustain them. Climate change, as one expert notes, is accelerating the emptying of Sicily's interior, and the Arbëreshë are among the vulnerable groups bearing the brunt.