Girolamo de Rada
Born the son of a parish priest of Italo-Albanian Catholic Church in Macchia Albanese in the mountains of Cosenza, Calabria, De Rada attended the college of Saint Adrian in San Demetrio Corone.In October 1834, in accordance with his father's wishes, he registered at the Faculty of Law of the University of Naples, but the main focus of his interests remained folklore and literature.It was in Naples in 1836 that De Rada published the first edition of his best known Albanian-language poem, the "Songs of Milosao", under the Italian title Poesie albanesi del secolo XV.[4] By 1886, De Rada opposed proposals by the Greeks of a Balkan federation and supported remaining separate from Greece as any unification according to him would entail the end of Albanian existence.[6] In October 1895, De Rada, along with fellow Italo-Albanians Giuseppe Schirò and Anselmo Lorecchio, organised a congress on Albanian national, cultural and linguistic self-determination that convened in Corigliano Calabro.