Demetrio Franco

Demetrio Franco was an Albanian historian. He was a close accomplice of Skanderbeg, later publishing works on his life.

Life

Franco was born in Drivasto in 1443 to a Catholic family. Through his mother he was a cousin of Pal Engjëlli, the Archbishop of Durrës and a close collaborator of Scanderbeg. In 1466 he accompanied Skanderbeg in Rome as a scribe. In 1479 after Shkodër was conquered by the Ottoman Empire he migrated to Italy, where he served as vicar until his death in Trevi in 1525.

Service and work

Franco himself accompanied Skanderbeg to Italy in the winter of 1466–1467. Following his death in 1468, Franco moved to Tivar, and then to Venice. In April 1480, he published a biography of Skanderbeg in Latin at the printing house of German Erhard Ratdolf.
His most notable piece work is considered to be Gli illustri e gloriosi gesti e vittoriose imprese fatte contro i Turchi dal Signor Don Georgio Castriotto detto Scanderbeg, principe d' Epiro, along with the aforementioned biography of Skanderbeg.