Road Threatens Home as Landslide Alarms Elderly Woman Living Alone in Gjirokastër

Below Argjiro Castle, in the heart of the museum city of Gjirokastër, Robert and Vasilika Arseni, a mother and son, live each day fearing that their home could be endangered by the collapse of the road’s retaining wall.

The road, known to residents as “The Road Behind the Castle,” has suffered significant subsidence along part of its cobblestone surface. As a result, the stone wall supporting the road, which stands next to the yard of the Arseni family home, has become visibly deformed, raising serious safety concerns. Vasilika Arseni, 85, who lives alone in the house, says she lives each day with the fear that stones from the wall could collapse and endanger her life. According to her, the damage has been worsened by the constant passage of heavy-tonnage vehicles over the cobblestones, despite this being a historic area with fragile infrastructure.

Speaking from Greece, where he lives as an emigrant, her son, Robert Arseni, says he has repeatedly filed complaints with the Municipality of Gjirokastër, requesting that the Public Services Enterprise intervene to stabilize the wall and repair the damaged section. According to him, he has so far received no response, and no concrete action has been taken.

As the road continues to deteriorate, the Arseni family is calling for an immediate response from the responsible institutions before the damage becomes a genuine threat to residents’ lives and to the city’s historic heritage itself.