Commemorative Illustration of April 1909:

Third Centennary of the death of Andrea Reres

Ancestry of Andrea Reres (1564-1609):

Andrea Reres (1564-1609) was born in Mezzojuso of wealthy Arbëresh parents, Giovanni Reres and Agnese Calanga. Andrea, through his father Giovanni, was a direct descendant of commander Giorgio Reres (who, with his brother Basilio Reres, led the first troop of approximately 100 Albanian mercenary soldiers to Sicily around 1448).

The Reres brothers (Giorgio and Basilio) were the sons of general Demitrios Reres, appointed as the military governor of Lower Calabria by the Aragonese king Alfonso I the Magnanimous (also king of Sicily), after Demitrios and his two sons, leading three military columns of Albanian mercenary soldiers in early 1448 (some sources say a few years earlier or later), defeated an uprising of the Calabrian barons around the city of Crotone. Demitrios Reres and his two sons, Giorgio and Basilio Reres, were allegedly consanguinous members of the same Kastrioti clan as the great Albanian hero and military genius, George Kastrioti - Skanderbeg.

Subsequently, at the request of king Alfonso I the Magnanimous, an Albanian military contingent led by the Reres brothers sailed by ship from Calabria to Palermo, and then promptly sailed on to station the Bizir fortress on the southwest coast of Sicily, in order to battle the French Anjevins and their local sympathizers (that were decidedly defeated within a few years).

After being demobilized from the Bizir fortress, these Albanian soldiers and their families traveled upstream at the nearby Belice river into mountainous west-central Sicily. They eventually settled during the 1460s in the "three original colonies of the Siculo-Arbëresh": by 1462 at Contessa (later called Contessa Entellina) and by 1467 at Palazzo (later called Palazzo Adriano), that were then baronial fiefs of the Cardona-Peralta, a noble Spanish family; and during the 1460s at Mezzojuso, that was then an ecclesiastial fief (1132-1523) of the Benedictine (Roman-rite) monastery of Saint John of the Hermits, in Palermo .

Andrea Reres' mother, Agnese Calanga Reres, built during the latter 1500s the lovely little chapel that was very affectionately dedicated to Our Lady of Audience (Our Lady who hears us) - La Madonna dell'Udienza, on the northern slope of Mount La Brigna, just above the village of Mezzojuso.

The Chapel of the Madonna of Audience, at the stony stairway of mount "La Brigna". This little chapel was built in the latter 1500s through the generosity of Agnese Calanga Reres, the mother of Andrea Reres.

La Cappella della Madonna dell'Udienza, alla scala di pietra della montagna "La Brigna". Questa cappellina era fabbricata negli ultimi anni dei 1500s per la generositá di Agnese Calanga Reres, la madre di Andrea Reres.

Brief Biography of Andrea Reres (1564-1609):

Written by Giacomo Naso, as based on extant archival documents (1573-1638; 1669-1757), in the article "L'Archivo Ritrovato" in Mezzojuso's bimonthly publication, "Eco Della Brigna" (number 12, November 1999, pages 8-9).

The celebrity of the Reres family is largely tied with the name of Andrea Reres, the benefactor and founder of the Basilian Monastery in Mezzojuso. Born in 1564 of Giovanni Reres and Agnese Calanga, Andrea lost his father during his youth, and he was living in 1584 (during the time of Mezzojuso's first rivelo, or census) with his paternal uncle Nicola Reres, with whom he had inherited an estate and at which time Andrea owned 149 onze (bronze coins) and 21 tarì (copper coins).

It seems probable, therefore, that the father of Andrea, Giovanni, had held agricultural lands in association with his brother Nicola, because in the rivelo of 1584 we have found that they owned many cattle, mules and horses and more than three salme (more than 750 pounds of grain) from planted fields and two salme (about 500 pounds of maize) from fallow fields used as grazing pastures. Upon the death of his father, Andrea would have entered into the association, maintaining the estate together with his uncle.

Within a short time, Andrea would be making his fortune by occupying himself in various activities: from landowner to merchant of agricultural products, from farmer to producer of wine and silk. Moreover, the approach of the tribune of the Holy Office, with whom he was familiar and related, guaranteed fiscal privileges and profitable riches.

We know that Andrea Reres was married twice: first to Francesca Parrino from Piana dei Greci and second to Luchina Glaviano of Palazzo Adriano, cousin of the notary Antonio Glaviano. From his first marriage he had two children that surely died during their youth. In fact, in the testament of 13 April 1609 by Antonio Glaviano, Andrea firmly established as his universal heir his mother Agnese Calanga Reres.

The most important dispositional arrangement in the testament, however, provided a legacy of 4000 onze (bronze coins) in favor of the Company of Saint Mary (the religious confraternity supportive of Mezzojuso's most ancient Byzantine-rite church of Most Holy Mary of All Graces), of which Andrea Reres took part as a member, so that there could be built a monastery for professing the Greek rite. The work for the construction of the Monastery of Saint Basil endured from 1613 to 1648, and the first monks were Greeks that were provided from the island of Crete.

Mezzojuso's most ancient Byzantine-Rite church is Most Holy Mary of All Graces - Maria Santissima di Tutte le Grazie, which had previously been called Most Glorious Virgin Mary - Vergine Maria Gloriosissima, when its Papás graciously welcomed the first Albanian settlers to Mezzojuso during the 1460s.

Just before his death in 1609, the Arbëresh noble Andrea Reres (1564-1609) bequethed a large legacy of 4000 onze (bronze coins) for the express purpose of constructing a Byzantine-Rite monastery, The Monastery of Saint Basil - Il Monastero di San Basilio, that is also called The Basilian Monastery - Il Monastero Basiliano, which was attached directly to Mezzojuso's most ancient Byzantine-Rite church of Most Holy Mary of All Graces.

Mausoleum of Andrea Reres is within Mezzojuso's most ancient Byzantine-Rite church, Most Holy Mary of All Graces. Just prior to his death, Andrea Reres (1564-1609) bequethed 4000 onze (bronze coins) to build the renowned Monastery of Saint Basil, also called the Basilian Monastery.

The large quadrangular Monastery of Saint Basil, also known as the Basilian Monastery, founded in 1609 through a bequest by Arbëresh noble Andrea Reres, is attached directly to Mezzojuso's most ancient Byzantine-rite church, Most Holy Mary of All Graces.

Photo: Courtesy of Giovanni Tavolacci, a Mezzojuso resident.

Mezzojusari, Descendants & Friends