Ricerc@Sapienza

Albanian writers have provided an invaluable contribution to Italian literature and to contemporary Italian
culture in the past thirty years. Such contribution is the most recent development of a long-standing
relationship between the two countries. The present article shortly summarizes the crucial moments in which
the history of Italy has intersected the history of Albania, focusing on mass migrations from Albania to Italy
and, in particular, on Albanian migrant writers and the ways in which they include different kinds of
transitions in their narratives. The article also specifically examines the literary production of Elvira Dones
and concentrates on her novel Vergine giurata, on the border crossing enacted in the text – mainly from the
perspective of nation and gender –, and on the complex process of constructing transnational identities.