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Tropoje, Northern Albania

The region of Tropoje, in northern Albania, at the border with Kosovo, is perhaps the most remote place in Europe. It is a region where the Kanun - a set of laws used from the 15th century and revived recently, after the fall of communism and the Kosovo war - dramatically mirrors some of the customs of the society. In a country that started only recently to open up to the rest of the world, this is probably the most isolated area. A ferry that connects Fierze with the southern shore of the lake, in Koman, represents for the inhabitants the fastest route towards South and the capital. Students who attend the University in Tirana travel one day to reach it. This is a male dominated territory, where women are not very often at the horizon. The funeral service that men stage in the villages when another man dies is a theatrical representation of sorrow and loss that reminds of similar rituals in tribal societies. © IGNACIO COCCIA

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