Vlorë (/ˈvlɔːrə/ VLOR-ə;^[10][11] Albanian: [ˈvlɔɾə]; Albanian definite form: Vlora)^[b] is the third most populous city of Albania and seat of Vlorë County and Vlorë Municipality. Located in southwestern Albania, Vlorë sprawls on the Bay of Vlorë and is surrounded by the foothills of the Ceraunian Mountains along the Albanian Adriatic and Ionian Sea Coasts. It experiences a Mediterranean climate, which is affected by the Ceraunian Mountains and the proximity to the Mediterranean Sea.

The coastal area of Vlorë was one of the Illyrian sites that had experienced pre-urban activity beginning from the 11th–10th centuries BC. The area was colonized by Ancient Greeks. A large fortified port-town that was inhabited from the 6th century BC to the 2nd century AD is placed, now partially submerged, in Triport, northwest of present-day Vlorë. Substantial port activity in this site occurred from at least the archaic period to the medieval period. It has been suggested that a transfer of the ancient city from the site of Triport to the site of modern Vlorë occurred. The center of the modern city features archaeological remains dating from late antiquity. Aulon, from which the modern city took its name, appears in historical sources starting form the 2nd century AD. It was conquered at different periods throughout history by Romans, Byzantines, Normans, Venetians and Ottomans.

Between the 18th and 19th centuries, the Albanians gathered both spiritual and intellectual strength for national consciousness, which conclusively led to the Albanian Renaissance. Vlorë played an instrumental role in Albanian Independence as an epicenter for the founders of modern Albania, who signed the Declaration of Independence on 28 November 1912 at the Assembly of Vlorë.

Vlorë is one of the most significant cities of southern Albania and the region of Labëria which is traditionally noted for its culture, traditions and folklore. Vlorë is served by the Port of Vlorë, the SH 8 highway, and the A2 motorway, collectively representing part of the Adriatic–Ionian Corridor and the Pan-European Corridor VIII.

The city took its name from Ancient Greek: Αὐλών, romanized: Aulṓn, meaning “channel, glen” that resembles an aulos instrument. It is a typical toponym in the Greek world.^[13] The name of the city was first recorded in the 2nd century AD, by two Ancient Greek authors, Lucian and Ptolemy, the latter calling it “town and sea-port”, which confirms that it was founded much earlier. However, Aulon has not been mentioned by earlier Ancient Greek and Roman authors, who on the other hand recorded the nearby town and seaport of Oricum. But in later sources Oricum is less encountered, while the toponym Aulon is more frequently mentioned.^[14]

Vlorë developed from the ancient Aulon-a through the evolution of the phonetic system of the Albanian language with the rhotacism Vlonë > Vlorë,^[15][14] which is a pre-Slavic phenomenon in Albanian. The intervocalic /n/ has regularly evolved to /r/ in Tosk Albanian, while the initial /v/ has evolved from unstressed /u/ after the disappearance of the initial unstressed /a/. The evolution /u/ > /v/ should be relatively ancient, preventing the evolution of the following intervocalic /l/ to /lː/. In Geg Albanian the toponym is pronounced Vlonë, indicating that it has been in use among northern Albanians before the appearance of rhotacism in Tosk Albanian.^[14] Also the accent pattern of the name observes Albanian accent rules.^[16] The name itself of the inhabitants (sing. vlonjat, pl. vlonjatë) has not undergone the rhotacism affecting the toponym (if it had, it would look something like vlorat or vlorjat).

The medieval and modern Greek name is Avlónas (Αυλώνας Aulṓnas [avˈlonas], accusative Αυλώνα Aulṓna [avˈlona]), and is the source of the Latin Aulona, the Italian Valona (also used in other languages) and of the obsolete English Avlona.^[17][18] During the Ottoman era the city of Vlorë was known in Turkish as Avlonya.^[19] In Medieval Latin sources and in Old Italian records it is mentioned with the forms Avalona, Avelona, Lavalona, Lavellona; and in Old Serbian sources as Avlona or Vavlona, the latter containing the Slavic preposition v “in”.^[14] In Aromanian, the city is known as Avlona.^[20]

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.^[c] In the Archaic era, the area was colonized by Ancient Greeks, who are traditionally believed to have founded Orikos, Thronion and Aulon on these shores.^[24] A large fortified port-town that was inhabited from the 6th century BC to the 2nd century AD is placed, now partially submerged, in Triport, northwest of present-day Vlorë. It was delimited by three walls, the first of which dating back to the late 6th century BC.^[25] The port activity in this site lasted from at least the archaic period to the medieval period.^[26] It has been suggested that a transfer of the ancient city from the site of Triport to the site of modern Vlorë occurred. The center of the modern city features walls dating from the 4th to the 10th centuries AD, as well as a wall, a quadrangular tower and ruins of a huse with ceramics dating back to the 3rd–4th centuries and to the 6th-7th centuries.^[27]

The archaeological site of Triport has been identified with ancient Thronion or Aulon.^[28] Thronion was attested by Pausanias (2nd century AD) as a Locrian–Euboean colony, but also by a dedication on a monument erected in Olympia, both accounts reporting that Apollonia conquered the city around 450 BC. Aulon, from which Vlorë took its name, was mentioned for the first time by Ptolemy (2nd century AD) among the towns of the Illyrian Taulantii.^[29] Carl Patsch proposed the first location of Aulon in Triport being then transferred to the current location of Vlora, and Pierre Cabanes proposed the location of Thronion in Triport; those identifications are not in contradiction with each other.^[30] 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.^[31][32]

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.^[31]

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.^[33] 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.^[18] Following Norman occupation, they ruled for only four years and established a Latin church episcopal see in Vlorë.^[18][34] 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.^[35] Vlorë served as capital of the Principality of Valona, initially a vassal state to the Serbian empire, and later, independent Christian state from 1346 to 1417.^[36][37]

The Ottoman Empire captured the city in 1417, while in 1432, Albanian rebels freed Vlorë and expelled the Ottomans from the area.^[38][39] As part of the Ottoman Empire, Vlorë became a sanjak centre in Rumelia Eyalet under the name Avlonya.^[when?] 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.^[40]

In 1426, the Ottomans supported the settlement of a Jewish community involved in mercantile activities.^[38] The community underwent population growth in subsequent decades with Jews migrating from Corfu, Venetian ruled lands, Naples, France, and the Iberian Peninsula.^[38] Around seventy Jewish families from Valencia, including former conversos, settled in Vlorë between 1391 and 1492.^[41] Following the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, the Ottoman state resettled additional Jewish exiles in Vlorë toward the end of the fifteenth century.^[38] Ottoman censuses for 1506 and 1520 recorded the Jewish population as consisting of 528 families and some 2,600 people in Vlorë.^[38] 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.^[38] 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.^[38] 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.^[38]

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.^[42] In 1851, it suffered severely from an earthquake.^[18] The Jewish community of Yanina renewed the Jewish community of Vlorë in the nineteenth century.^[38]

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.^{[citation needed]} The 1914 Vlorë Raid took place that January, and was a short-lived plot to regain Albania under Ottoman control.^[43] The city was invaded by Italy in 1914 during 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.^{[44][page needed]} 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.^[45] Under Hoxha, Vlorë served as an important recruiting centre for the Sigurimi; the Albanian state security, intelligence and secret police service.^[46]

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

Vlorë is situated on the Bay of Vlorë along the Albanian Adriatic and Ionian Sea Coasts in the eastern part of the Strait of Otranto surrounded by the foothills of the Ceraunian Mountains. Defined in an area of 647.94 km² (250.17 sq mi), Vlorë Municipality is encompassed in Vlorë County as part of the Southern Region of Albania and consists of the adjacent administrative units of Novoselë, Orikum, Qendër Vlorë, Shushicë and Vlorë.^[1][6][7] The municipality stretches from the mouth of Vjosë in the north along the Narta Lagoon to the Llogara Pass in the south.^[1] It also encloses the Karaburun Peninsula and Sazan Island in the west with the Shushica-Vlorë River forming its eastern border.^[1] Protected areas include the Karaburun-Sazan Marine Park, Llogara National Park and Vjosa Wild River National Park.^[47] Valonia oak, the mass name for acorn cups obtained in the neighboring oak forests and used by tanners, derives its name from Valona, the ancient name of Vlorë.

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).^[48] Summers in Vlorë are dry and hot while winters experience moderate temperatures and changeable, rainy weather.^[49] 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).^[48] Vlorë has a sunny climate with an average of 2,745.2 hours of sunshine annually, making it one of the sunniest areas in the Eastern Mediterranean.^[50][51][52] July is the sunniest month of the year with an average of about 12 hours of sunshine a day.^[48] By contrast, the average hours of sunshine are less than 7 hours per day in January.^[48]

During the 1961–1990 period, on average per year, there were 82 days with more than 1 mm (0.039 in) of rainfall, 26 days with thunders, five days with hail, and one day of snowfall.^[50]