Porto Palermo Castle

**Porto Palermo Castle** (Albanian: *Kalaja e Porto Palermos*) is a castle near Himarë in southern Albania. It is situated in the bay of Porto Palermo, a few kilometers south of Himarë along the Albanian Riviera. Huffington Post ranked Porto Palermo first among 15 Undiscovered European Destinations for 2014. The area together with Llamani beach will be proclaimed a protected area
 holding the status of Protected Landscape by the Albanian Government.

## History

The well preserved castle is commonly, but wrongly, asserted, by guide
books and the local tourist guides, to have been built in early 19th
century by Ali Pasha of Tepelena. This is untrue as the fort with its current design was built prior to the evolution of the star fort
 design. Most probably it was built by the Venetians as it could be
relieved by sea and it has the same triangular plan with round towers
found in the Venetian fort at Butrint. Its design is very unusual in
having no courtyard. Normally castles had provision for housing some
horses, if only to receive and send messengers. In 1921 the castle was
called Venetian. At that time the identity of its builders ought to have been clear, from a plaque above the entrance gate. This plaque is now missing but the weathering of the stones clearly
shows that it has not been missing for many decades. Almost certainly
this plaque had a carving of the lion of St. Mark. Porto Palermo Castle
is a castle near Himara in southern Albania with an intriguing history.
It is situated in the closed bay of Porto Palermo, a few kilometers
south of Himarë, and makes nearly an island that is connected to the
mainland by a narrow strip of land. The fort served as former Soviet
submarine base during the communist regime in Albania, and nowadays its
semi abandoned tunnel and barrack attract attention of visitors, as well
 as the stronghold walls and gates built by the powerful Ali Pasha of
Ionina.

By the middle of the 17th century the Ottoman Empire system of
administration of vilayets of sanjaks /provinces/ changed into the
near-autonomous governance of local rulers who were known as pashas. At
the end of the 18th century the sultan appointed a certain Ali from
Tepelen as the governor of the most of the Epirus /of the present day
southern Albania/ and the large part of the Greek mainland, with his
court at Ionina – Yannina. The ancestors of Ali were Christian
Albanians, and became Mussulmans under the Turkish invasion. As young
fellow, Ali was patrolling highroads and lanes, with his gun on his
shoulder and his yataghan in his belt, attacking, holding for ransom, or
 plundering all whom he encountered. Afer some years of this profitable
business, he found himself a wealthy man and came to power with a
distinguished and honorable rank among the beys of the country.

The castle would have been vulnerable to cannon fire from the hill above
 and this also suggests an early date for its construction when cannon
had not developed the range they had later. In 1662 the Venetians feared the Turks would recondition it. In 1803 Ali Pasha offered the castle and port to the Royal Navy. At
which time the fort only had 4 or 5 cannon implying that Ali Pasha did
not see the fort as important for him. Leake visited the fort and noted that the garrison consisted of 10 men with two four-pounders.

Pouqueville in 1806 reports, "The tower or fort stands on the southern
point of the entrance, connected with the continent by a low narrow
isthmus. It consists of a square with bastions, having a few guns, of no
 service either to command the entrance or to protect the shipping at
anchor. Near it are some warehouses, a custom-house, and a Greek
church."

## References

1. ↑ p191 “Eternal Butrint” by R.Hodges 2006 London
2. ↑ p 86 J. W. BAGGALLY 1938 *Ali Pasha and Great Britain* Basil Blackwell: Oxford
3. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-10-06.