Vlorë

Adriatic
Sea

Strait of
Otranto

Sason  •
Island

• Margëlliç

Lofkënd •

Byllis
•

• Nikaia

• Triport

Aulon •

Kaninë •

Olympe •

Amantia •

Matohasanaj •

Bay of
Vlorë

Akrokeraunia

Orikos •

Palaeste •

Aoös

Aoös

Aoös

Aoös

Shushicë

Shushicë

Shushicë

Dukat

Llogara

Cerje •

Ceraunian
Mountains

Chimera •

Panormos •

Borsh •

Ionian
Sea

Ancient sites in the Lower Aoös/Vjosë,
Bay of Vlorë and Ceraunian Mts.

Due to its strategic position on the Adriatic Sea, especially the Bay of Vlorë, which forms a natural harbor, Vlorë occupied a significant place in classical antiquity as a base for trade by many peoples. Vlorë is considered one of the oldest cities in Albania and the region. The city was founded by the ancient Greeks in the 6th century BC and named Aulōn. It is also one of several colonies on the Illyrian coast,[lower-alpha 4] mentioned for the first time by Ptolemy (Geographia III xii, 2). In terms of Greek mythology the inhabitants of Aulon claimed descent from the Nostoi; returning heroes from Trojan War.[18] Other geographical documents, such as the Tabula Peutingeriana and Hierocles' Synecdemus, also mention Aulon. The city served as an important port of the Roman Empire, when it was part of Epirus Nova.[19][20]

Aulon (Avlona) became an episcopal see in the 5th century. Among the known bishops are Nazarius in 458 and Soter in 553 (Daniele Farlati, Illyricum sacrum, VII, 397–401). The diocese at that time belonged to the papal Pentarchy. In 733, it was annexed with the eastern Illyricum, to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and yet it is not mentioned in any Notitiae Episcopatuum of that Church. The bishopric had probably been suppressed for though the Bulgarians had been in possession of this country for some time, Avlona is not mentioned in the "Notitiae episcopatuum" of the Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid.

During the Roman period, a Latin see was established and Eubel (Hierarchia catholica medii aevi, I, 124) mentions several of its bishops.[19]

View of Vlorë.

The Port of Vlorë in 1688 by Vincenzo Coronelli.

Drawings of the fortifications of Vlorë fortresses and Kaninë fortress.

Aulon, no longer being a residential bishopric, is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see, a suffragan bishop of Durrës, being distinguished from a Greek titular see called Aulon by the use for it of the adjective Aulonitanus, while the adjective regarding the Aulon in Euboea (Ionian Greece) is Aulonensis.[21] The diocese was nominally restored as Latin titular bishopric Aulon, or Valona in Curiate Italian; from 1925 it was (als) named Aulona in Latin and/or Italian, since 1933 it's only Aulon in Latin, Aulona in Italian. It was a bishopric from the fifth century until Bulgarian rule.

In the 11th and 12th century, Vlorë played an instrumental role in the conflicts between the Byzantine Empire and Norman Kingdom of Sicily.[15] Following Norman occupation, they ruled for only four years and established a Latin church episcopal see in Vlorë.[15][22] In 1321 the city being under Byzantine control was attacked by a Venetian fleet under Giovanni Michiel as a result costing the lives of many of its Greek inhabitants.[23] Vlorë served as capital of the Principality of Valona, initially a Serbian vassal state and later, independent Christian state from 1346 to 1417.[24][25]

The Ottoman Empire captured the city in 1417, while in 1432, Albanian rebels freed Vlorë and expelled the Ottomans from the area.[26][27] As part of the Ottoman Empire, Vlorë became a sanjak centre in Rumelia Eyalet under the name Avlonya. Later it become a Venetian possession in 1690 and the city was restored to the Ottomans in 1691, becoming a kaza of the Sanjak of Avlona in the vilayet (province) of Janina. At the time the city had about 10,000 inhabitants; there was a Catholic parish, which belonged to the Archdiocese of Durrës. During the early period of Ottoman rule, Vlorë became an international port centered on a high volume of trade between western Europe and the Ottoman state.[28]

Map of Simon Pinargenti Valona in 1573.

In 1426, the Ottomans supported the settlement of a Jewish community involved in mercantile activities.[26] The community underwent population growth in subsequent decades with Jews migrating from Corfu, Venetian ruled lands, Naples, France, and the Iberian Peninsula.[26] Following their expulsion and arrival from Spain, the Ottoman state settled Jewish expellees in Vlorë toward the latter part of the fifteenth century.[26] Ottoman censuses for 1506 and 1520 recorded the Jewish population as consisting of 528 families and some 2,600 people in Vlorë.[26] The Jews of Vlorë were involved in trade and the city imported items from Europe and exported spices, leather, cotton fabrics, velvets, brocades, and mohair from the Ottoman cities of Istanbul and Bursa.[26] The Vlorë Jewish community took an active role in the welfare of other Jews such as managing to attain the release of war related captives present in Durrës in 1596.[26] After the Battle of Lepanto (1571) and the deterioration of security along the Ottoman controlled Adriatic and Ionian coasts, the numbers of Jews within Vlorë decreased.[26]

Drawing of Kanina Castle and Vlora Castle.

Ismail Qemali is regarded as the principal author of the Declaration of Independence and founding father of the modern Albanian nation.

Between the 18th and 19th centuries, cultural developments, widely attributed to Albanians having gathered both spiritual and intellectual strength, conclusively led to the Albanian Renaissance with Vlorë becoming an epicenter of the movement in 1912. In 1833, Vlorë was captured by Albanian rebels forcing the Ottoman government to abolish taxes and comply to rebel requests.[29] In 1851 it suffered severely from an earthquake.[15] The Jewish community of Yanina renewed the Jewish community of Vlorë in the nineteenth century.[26]

On November 28, 1912, Ismail Qemali head the Albanian Declaration of Independence in Vlorë, during the First Balkan War. The city became Albania's first capital following its independence, but was invaded by Italy in 1914, during the World War I. The city remained occupied by Italian forces until an Albanian rebellion forced the Italians out of Albania in 1920. Italy invaded Vlorë again in 1939. The city remained under Italian occupation until Italy surrendered to the allies in 1943. Subsequently, Nazi Germany occupied the city until 1944. The city was liberated in 1944 by communist forces under Enver Hoxha.

During the World War II, Sazan Island became the site of a German and Italian submarine base and naval installations; these installations were heavily bombed by the Allies.

After World War II, with Albania ruled by a Communist Party, the port was leased out to the Soviet Union for use as a submarine base. During 1960 and 1961 it served as a theater in the aftermath of the decision of Enver Hoxha to denounce Nikita Khrushchev's reforms.[30] In April 1961 the Soviet Union, resenting being pushed out after considerable investment in the naval facilities at nearby Pasha Liman Base, threatened to occupy Vlora with Soviet troops, and cut off all Soviet economic, military and technical aid to Albania. The threat was not carried out, as a result of the simultaneous international developments; most notably the Cuban Missile Crisis. Hoxha, realizing the vulnerability of Albania after the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, ordered the construction of hundreds of thousands of concrete bunkers.[31] Under Hoxha, Vlorë served as an important recruiting centre for the Sigurimi; the Albanian state security, intelligence and secret police service.[32]

In 1997, Vlorë was the center of the Albanian civil war of 1997 after the collapse of several fraudulent investment schemes that led to the downfall of the Sali Berisha administration.

According to the Köppen climate classification, Vlorë falls under the periphery of the hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Csa) zone with an average annual temperature of 16.9 °C (62.4 °F).[34] Summers in Vlorë are dry and hot while winters experience moderate temperatures and changeable, rainy weather.[35] The warmest month is August with an average temperature rising to 26.8 °C (80.2 °F). By contrast, the coldest month is January with an average temperature falling to 7.9 °C (46.2 °F).[34] Vlorë has a sunny climate with an average of 3,358 hours of sunshine annually, making it one of the sunniest areas in the Eastern Mediterranean.[34][36][37] July is the sunniest month of the year with an average of about 12 hours of sunshine a day.[34] By contrast, the average hours of sunshine are less than 7 hours per day in January.[34]

The SH8 highway in southern Vlorë leading to Orikum.

Vlorë lies on the north–south transportation corridor of Albania and is served by a network of motorways and highways connecting the city to other parts of Albania. The preceding SH8 highway, beginning from Fier, links the northern districts of Vlorë with the central and southern districts, continuing along the Albanian Riviera to Sarandë. The A2 motorway parallelly runs along the SH8 from Fier to Vlorë and terminates after entering the city in the north. Upon completion, the bypass of Vlorë will link the A2 motorway through the suburbs of Vlorë with the SH8 highway.[42][43]

Vlorë is served by the Port of Vlorë, the second busiest port in Albania, located in the northern part of the city's coast.

The Vlorë railway station is the southern terminus of the Durrës-Vlorë railway line which connects Vlorë with Durrës and the rest of the Albanian rail network. It opened in 1985 when the railway line was extended from Fier to Vlorë.[44] A very limited service remained in operation until 2015,[45] but currently passenger services no longer run south of Fier.[46] However, a private railway company, Albrail, started operation of freight trains from Fier to Vlorë in 2018.[47]

The Vlorë International Airport is a proposed airport development project currently under construction as part of Albania's plan to increase transportation links to destinations in southern Albania.[48][49] The proposed location for the airport lies at the village of Akërni within the Vjosa-Narta Protected Landscape in the north of Vlorë, which was met with widespread criticism.[50] The construction was officially launched on 28 November 2021, and has a completion target date of April 2024.[51][52] The airport also has plans to include a marina and an agritourism site.

Vlora is home to the second largest university in Albania. The University of Vlora was founded in 1994 as a technological university. It retains a focus on technology, but has expanded in the areas of economics and finance, education, medicine, and law.

There are three journals based in the University of Vlora. There is also a scientific journal published quarterly in Albanian: Buletini Shkencor i Universitetit te Vlorës. Since 2008 it is home to the Academicus International Scientific Journal,[53] a peer-reviewed scientific publication in the English language founded by Arta Musaraj.[54]

Besides the state university there are two private universities, namely Universiteti Pavarësia Vlorë and Akademia e Studimeve të Aplikuara "Reald", which started as primary school and high school, and since 2011 operates also as a university.[55]