After the fall of Shkodra in 1479, the Ottomans effectively controlled the entire territory of Albania and could focus on advancing to Italy. Ottoman chronicler Ashik Pashazade (ca. 1400–1481) claimed "Shkodra has been conquered, a fortress near land and sea ... the hope of passage to Italy!" Indeed, the Ottomans would pass on to Italy in July, 1480, at the invasion of Otranto. So important was Albania to the Otranto invasion that Gedik Ahmet Pasha (the Ottoman army and navy commander) utilized it as a supply station and place of quick retreat. Goffman records a 1548 battle off the coast of Préveza in which an inferior Ottoman fleet led by Barbarossa routed Andrea Doria’s Catholic galleys largely because of the fresh reinforcements coming from the Ottoman-controlled Albanian shores. Thirty-six of Doria’s vessels were captured, whereas Barbarossa lost none.