Avlónas

Avlónas, or Vlorë, lies on a broad bay where the Adriatic approaches the Ionian Sea. The ancient port of Aulon gave the town its name; to its northwest, the fortified harbour settlement at Triport was occupied from the sixth century BC into Roman times. Across the narrow Strait of Otranto lies Italy, making this sheltered coast a natural meeting place for the two shores.

In 1417 the Ottomans took Avlónas and nearby Kanina, and the town later became the centre of its own sanjak. Jewish exiles from Iberia and southern Italy settled in the port around the turn of the sixteenth century, joining established communities and forming congregations of their own. Sultan Süleyman strengthened the harbour with a new fortress in the sixteenth century. The Venetians captured the town in 1690 during their war with the Ottomans, who recovered it the following year.