The village of Dardhë in the district of Korçë is a not very old village and was founded and added by the “fugitives”, the rebels who were persecuted by Turkey, mostly because they did not want to change their religion. The name “Dardhë” comes from a legend that says that the insurgents who founded Dardhë, where they found refuge around a tent, when asked “where are you”, said “Tek Stani në dardhë”. It is about a wild pear that was found there, while the first historical evidence so far is found in the Greek encyclopedia Pirsos, where it says: “In Dardhë, an Albanian village, the Greek school was opened in 1768”.
The village is relatively young, if we will accept such a time of three centuries since we have historical data. It was founded and raised by the “fugitives”, the persecuted rebels who had an account with the Ottoman government, often because they did not want to change their religion. These rebellious men found refuge in this deep mountainous region and settled around a tent under a wild pear tree. When asked “where are you” they said briefly: “Tek stani pod dardhë”, from which time he derived the phrase “nëndardhë”, which quickly wrinkled into the word “Ndardhë”. Until recently, pears and neighbors called them “pears”. The first historical evidence so far can be found in the Greek Encyclopedia of Perseus (V! 10, p. 750) which states: “In Dardhë, an Albanian village, a Greek school was opened in 1768. tax, because Pear has always been a free village, excluded from them. At the beginning of the 20th century, Dardha numbered 400 houses. The first profession of pears seems to have been that of woodcutter. “With caravans of 20-30 people, with mules, armed, they set off first towards the forests of the Greek areas, then still under Turkey. From 1800 to 1935, pear saws were still working on Olympus, not anyway, but with the best technique of the time, with water, so much so that the well-known expression “Cut it with a pear ax” remained. writes about the village of his birthplace the writer Teodor Laço. Dardha, as Laço writes, boasts of its origin from speech to clothing, songs and dances. The study of the architecture of the village testifies to a special model of European style that is also encountered in other villages of the South. The view of the constructions and urban planning of the village, solid, beautiful buildings, carved stone covered with gray tiles, cobbled streets, numerous springs, main craft workshop, commercial units until the early ’40s gave the village the appearance of a thriving town, though because of the exiles the population now barely reached 1,000 people.During the 2000s, the village became a tourist center and attracted media attention especially due to the large number of young rich Albanians who chose to buy holiday villas in this picturesque village by employing the elderly left in this village for cleaning and maintenance. of their villas.
