The Arbereshë language is the main identity element of Piana degli Albanesi and is a recognized intangible asset included in the REIS (Intangible Heritage Register) of the Sicilian Region.

The language of Piana degli Albanesi, despite its phonetic and morpho-syntactic peculiarities, belongs, like the other Arbëreshë dialects of southern Italy, to the Tuscan dialect group widespread in southern Albania. The language, starting from the first decades of the Second World War, has been seriously threatened by a constant process of assimilation and by a progressive transition to the Italian-Albanian diglossia with Albanian in a tendentially subordinate position.

The dialect of Piana degli Albanesi, despite its phonetic and morpho-syntactic peculiarities, belongs, like the other Arbëreshe dialects of southern Italy, to the Tuscan dialect group widespread in southern Albania.

The language, starting from the first decades of the second post-war period, is seriously threatened by a constant process of assimilation and by a progressive transition to Italian-Albanian diglossia with Albanian in a basically subordinate position.

Furthermore, currently, the strong homologation pressures exerted by dominant cultures through the new technological communication systems have become even more aggressive with further risks for the survival of the cultural and linguistic peculiarities of the Albanian communities of Italy.

Hence the necessity and the indispensability of an increasingly demanding and constant cultural battle. A battle that, which began in 1950 with the presentation of the first bill for the teaching of the Albanian language in elementary schools in the municipalities of Albanian origin in Sicily, has only recently been able to produce legal recognition at European, national and regional level of minorities linguistic.

In this general framework, summarily outlined, it is possible to unequivocally grasp the best signs of the cultural vitality of the arbëreshë and of their firm determination to defend the heritage that their ancestors with patient and obstinate tenacity have been able to transmit over these five centuries of permanence " te dheu i huaj "(" in a foreign land ") replying worthily to the unforgettable warning of Giuseppe Schirò:

 

Po të mbahij Arbëreshë

and të ruani gluhën tënë

me kujdes and me të dashur,

si një gjë të shëjtëruamë

si më të mirën nga të dhënat

and t'yn Zoti

 

But always Albanians keep yourselves

and keep our language

with care and affection,

as a sacred thing

as the best of gifts

of God

 

(Te dheu i huaj, IX, vv. 180-184)