The town was founded in 1488 by a group of refugees from Central-Southern Albania, fleeing a Turkish invasion, where they were able to escape the Turks by hiring ships from Venice to take them to Northern Sicily. At first they were housed in temporary camps somewhere near the city of Palermo, but on August 30, 1488, a number of the Arberesh received permission from Cardinal Giovanni Borgia (a nephew of Pope Alexander IV) to establish a permanent settlement near Palermo. At first, the settlement was known simply as Hora, the Town, but later the settlement came to be known by the misnomer, Piana dei Greci, the Plain of the Greeks. In 1941, Musolini corrected the name of the village to Piana degli Albanesi, the Plain of the Albanians, to better reflect its history.. The town was originally called Hora (town) . The inhabitants still maintain their Albanian dialect, rites, and traditional costumes. Since 1937, it has been a Catholic bishop's see with jurisdiction over all the groups observing the Byzantine rite in Sicily. Of interest is the occasion of Easter when the populace dons their traditional costumes and walk through town offering everyone red painted eggs which have been blessed in the name of brotherhood and peace. The main monuments are the Cathedral Church (1590); the chiesa di Santa Maria Odigitria, the chiesa di S. Giorgio and the chiesa di S. Vito with an imposing portal.