crispi's paternal family came originally from the small agricultural community of palazzo adriano, in south-western sicily. it had been founded in later fifteenth century by orthodox albanians (arbëreshë), who settled in sicily after the ottoman occupation of albania. his grandfather was an arbëreshë orthodox priest; the parish priests were married men, and arbëreshë was the family language down to the lifetime of the young crispi. crispi himself was born in ribera, sicily, to tommaso crispi, a grain merchant and giuseppa genova from ribera; he was baptised as a greek catholic. belonging to a family of arbëreshë descent, he spoke italian as his third or fourth language. his uncle giuseppe wrote the first monograph on the albanian language. in a telegram from 1895 on the albanian question, francesco crispi said of his origins that he was "an albanian by blood and heart" and an italo-albanian from sicily.