Sazan Island (Albanian definite form: Ishulli i Sazanit)[a] is an Albanian uninhabited island in the Mediterranean Sea. The largest of Albania's islands, it is a designated military exclusion zone; it lies in a strategically important location between the Strait of Otranto and the mouth of the Bay of Vlorë, marking the border between the Adriatic and Ionian seas.
Native name: Ishulli i Sazanit | |
|---|---|
 Sazan seen from the Karaburun Peninsula | |
  Sazan | |
| Geography | |
| Coordinates | 40°29′37″N 19°16′50″E / 40.49361°N 19.28056°E |
| Area | 5.7 km2 (2.2 sq mi) |
| Length | 4.8 km (2.98 mi) |
| Width | 2 km (1.2 mi) |
| Highest elevation | 344 m (1129 ft)[1] |
| Administration | |
| State | Vlorë County |
| Municipality | Vlorë |
| Sazan Lighthouse | |
| Constructed | 1871 (first) |
| Height | 11.9 m (39 ft)  |
| Shape | cylindrical tower attached to a 2-storey keeper's house[2][3] |
| Power source | solar power |
| First lit | 1920s (current) |
| Focal height | 157 m (515 ft) |
| Range | 14 nmi (26 km; 16 mi) |
| Characteristic | Fl(4) W 15s |
In 2010, 2,721.87 hectares (6,725.9 acres) of the island's surrounding marine area was designated as the Karaburun-Sazan Marine Park.[4] In clear weather, Sazan is sometimes visible from the coast of Salento, Italy, to its west. The island has been open to the public since July 2015.[5] The island has a surface area of 5.7 km2 (2.2 sq mi). It is 4.8 km (3.0 mi) long and 2 km (1.2 mi) wide, and its coastline measures about 15 km (9.3 mi).[6]
History
edit
Antiquity
editSazan was known as Sason (Σάσων) to the ancient Greeks, and Saso to the ancient Romans. Pseudo-Scylax mentioned it in his Periplus.[7] Polybius wrote that there had been a military encounter there in 215 BC between the forces of Philip V of Macedon and the Romans. The island was part of the Roman Empire, and later came under Byzantine rule.
Medieval Period
editIn 1264, a naval clash known as the Battle of Sazan took place off the island, between the Republic of Genoa and the Republic of Venice.
In 1279, it was captured by the Kingdom of Albania, and in the 14th century, it was held by Albanian lords, often under the protection of the Republic of Venice.
In 1371–1372, following the seizure of Vlorë by the Balsha noble family, many inhabitants fled to the nearby Sazan Island, where they placed themselves under Venetian protection. Although the Balshas retained control of the surrounding mainland territories such as Vlorë and Kaninë, Venice effectively exercised practical control over Sazan. By the late 1380s, Comita Muzaka, widow of Balsha II, formally recognized Venetian dominion over the island by providing an annual tribute of rowers for the Venetian fleet, confirming Venice's legal authority there.[8]
A contemporary record from 18 September 1372 in Ragusa records a maritime incident involving Sazan island. Jurça, a sailor, appeared before the rector Ser Johannes de Grede to complain about Potrentinus, his brother Miralia, and Goico Stanče of Vlorë, who were then residing on Sazan Island. He reported that in June of the previous year, they had captured him along with two of his ships, seizing fifteen gold ducats, two swords, three shields, a bow with its string, a barrel of wine, and two sacks of cloth. They also detained him and his sailors for a full month. This event is documented in the "Lamento de foris 1370–1373."[9]
By 1393, Sazan was securely acknowledged as under Venetian control, while Vlorë and Kaninë remained under Comita's authority. Following Comita's death, her daughter Rugjina Balsha's husband, Mrkša Žarković, ruled the Principality of Vlorë from 1396 to 1414, after which Rugjina Balsha herself ruled from 1414 to 1417. Eventually, the advancing Ottomans captured the region, and by 1418, Vlorë and the surrounding bay, including Sazan, fell under Ottoman control.[8]
Before the establishment of Ottoman control, Sazan Island was an important maritime and religious site in the southern Adriatic. The island hosted a Marian shrine, recorded in Italian sources as S. Maria della Suazi, and later identified with the Greek Orthodox chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary. By the late 15th century, a second chapel dedicated to Saint Nicholas is also recorded on the island. These religious sites were part of a broader network of coastal shrines devoted to Mary and St Nicholas, including S. Maria de Casopoli in Corfu, and S. Maria de le Scanfarie in the Strofades Islands, reflecting the island's role as both a spiritual sanctuary and a navigational landmark. Sazan was located along a perilous stretch of the Adriatic, where sailors faced dangerous currents, storms, and the risk of shipwreck, and its bays provided a sheltered anchorage. Monastic buildings on the island contributed to its reputation for holiness. Marian and St Nicholas shrines were frequently paired along Adriatic maritime routes, reflecting their role in providing protection to seafarers. Pilgrimage itineraries and liturgical sources, such as the Sante Parole, mention Sazan Island and indicate its importance as a religious site for travelers during the Late Middle Ages.[10]
By the late 15th century, Sazan had become an important Ottoman naval base in the Adriatic. A contemporary travel account by Arnold von Harff in 1497 described Sazan as a very fine harbour where the Ottomans regularly stationed ships. The island contained two small Greek Orthodox chapels, one dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the other to Saint Nicholas, and was also used by the Sultan to graze valuable horses. The Ottoman forces launched their 1480 expedition across the Adriatic to Apulia and Calabria from Sazan, leading to the capture of Otranto.[11]
In the early 16th century, the Ottoman admiral and cartographer Piri Reis, in his book Kitab-ı Bahriye, completed in 1521, described Sazan as a navigational landmark. He noted the presence of drinking water and a landing place on the eastern side of the island, as well as the ruins of a church; possibly the remains of the chapels mentioned by Arnold von Harff a few decades earlier. Piri Reis also advised anchoring in ten fathoms of water to avoid the rocky seabed, and warned of a submerged reef nearby.[12]
By 1696 it fell back into Venetian suzerainty.
Modern Era
editIn 1815, it came under the protection of Britain along with the Ionian Islands, which were made an autonomous republic.[13] In 1864, the island was ceded to Greece along with the Ionian Islands.[14] But Greece did not occupy it, and it came under the de facto control of the Ottomans. It was not until the First Balkan War, in 1912, that Greece landed soldiers on the island and formally claimed it, calling it Sasona (Σάσωνα). After the end of the Second Balkan War in 1913, Italy and Austria-Hungary pressed Greece to evacuate all of southern Albania, including the island. Due to the risk of starting a war with Italy, Greece evacuated it.[citation needed]
Italy in turn occupied it on 30 October 1914, and established a military commander on the island, which is called Saseno in Italian. This was later ratified on 26 April 1915 by the secret Treaty of London. After World War I, Albania formally ceded the island to Italy on 2 September 1920 as part of the Albano-Italian protocol.
The island was part of Italy from 1920 until after World War II, administratively part of Lagosta, in the province of Zara. In those years the Italian authorities built a lighthouse and some naval fortifications, and populated the island with a few families of fishermen relocated from Apulia.[15] The island had its own local post office and issued special Italian stamps overprinted with "Saseno". The island was united to the Italian Governorate of Dalmatia in 1941 during World War II and ceded to Albania on 10 February 1947, under the postwar peace treaty with Italy.
Post–World War II
editDuring the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, Albania relied heavily on the Soviet Union. During that time, the Soviets built a base for Whiskey-class submarines and a chemical/biological weapons plant on the island and surrounding areas. The island stationed around 3,000 soldiers during this period.[16][17] After the fall of communism four submarines remained at Pasha Limani port in the bay of Vlore.[18] To this day, many Soviet-era gas masks can still be found scattered around the valley of the island.
The island now is uninhabited but there is a small Italo-Albanian naval base, of reportedly two soldiers, used mainly to counter contraband between southern Italy and Albania, as a training field for the British Royal Navy and as shelter for boats in nearby Albanian waters.[19][18][20][16][17] There are approximately 3,600 nuclear bunkers which were built by Albania during the Cold War.[16] There is also a villa on the island belonging to the former communist defence minister Beqir Balluku. In 2010, the island's surrounding sea waters, and those of adjacent Karaburun Peninsula were proclaimed a National Marine Park by the Albanian government.
Environment
editGeography and climate
edit
Sazan is the largest island in the country and Albania's westernmost point. It is strategically located at the entrance to the Bay of Vlorë, in the eastern Strait of Otranto separating Italy from Albania. It is also located at the informal junction line of the Adriatic and Ionian Sea inside the Mediterranean Sea, which is just to the south according to international scientific bodies.
The island is composed of limestone rocks, which was formed during the Cretaceous period, while the eastern part is partially composed of terrigenic and cleistogenic deposits.[21] It has four peaks, the highest standing at 344 m (1,129 ft) above sea level followed by two peaks in the center 331 m (1,086 ft) and 307 m (1,007 ft), and the lowest with 228 m (748 ft) in the south of the island.[1] Sazan has a coastline of about 15 km (9.3 mi) characterized by sandy beaches, capes, rocky cliffs and underwater fauna.
Along its western shore the cliffs descending up to 40 m (0.025 mi) underwater. Capes of the island include the Bay of Paradise (Gjiri i Parajsës), Bay of St. Nicholas (Gjiri i Shënkollit), Cape of Shënkoll, Cape of Kallam, Cape of Jug, Cape of Pëllumba, and Cape of Pulbardha.[1]
The island has a climate unusual in Albania, due to its maritime location. It is not mediterranean but rather subtropical on account of its warm winters and hot summers.[citation needed] The climate and vegetation resemble those of the south of Crete in Greece, Tunisia and even parts of Egypt. The flora is different from that of the rest of Albania in that it is subtropical. A small tornado or waterspout was spotted along the coast coming inland in August 2002.[22]
| Climate data for Sazan (1991–2010) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 16.3 (61.3) |
17.5 (63.5) |
18.6 (65.5) |
20.1 (68.2) |
22.9 (73.2) |
25.6 (78.1) |
28.4 (83.1) |
28.4 (83.1) |
25.8 (78.4) |
23.4 (74.1) |
19.6 (67.3) |
17.4 (63.3) |
22.0 (71.6) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 10.2 (50.4) |
10.5 (50.9) |
11.7 (53.1) |
13.3 (55.9) |
16.4 (61.5) |
21.3 (70.3) |
23.7 (74.7) |
23.4 (74.1) |
21.2 (70.2) |
16.5 (61.7) |
13.1 (55.6) |
11.1 (52.0) |
16.0 (60.9) |
| Average precipitation days | 10 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 10 | 11 | 74 |
| Source: METEOALB Weather Station | |||||||||||||
Flora and fauna
edit
Biogeographically, Sazan Island falls within the Illyrian deciduous forests terrestrial ecoregion of the Palearctic Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub. Due to the combination of southern geographic latitude and high altitude and as well the variation of climate, geological and hydrological conditions have contributed to the formation of a unique flora inside the island.
The variety of flora and vegetation can be explained by its strategic position between the western and eastern Mediterranean Sea.[23] The island is home to 435 species (419 indigenous) of vascular plants, or 8.2% of Albania's entire vascular flora.[23] There are only one endemic (Limonium anfractum) and three subendemic (Centaurea pawlowski, Scutellaria rupestris and Verbascum guicciardini) plants.[23] The varied relief creates various ecological environments for plants, further diversified by the dominant rock types which form siliceous and calcareous terrain on the territory of the park. The rocky shores and limestone sea cliffs on the southern corners of Sazan are home to numerous halophile species such as Lotus cytisoides and Limonium anfractum.[23] The forests of Sazan are generally composed of shrubs, sclerophyll forests with holm oak, deciduous forests with hophornbeam and south European flowering ash.[23]
Due to its specific topographic, climatic, hydrological, and geological conditions, the island has unique vegetation and biodiversity. The fauna is represented by 15 species of mammals (including 8 species of bats such as the common pipistrelle, and soprano pipistrelle[24]), 39 species of birds,[25] 8 species of reptiles, 1 species of amphibia and as well as 122 species of invertebrates.[24] The bird species in Sazan with high conservation value include 23 songbirds, 5 bird of preys, 3 pigeons, and 3 swifts.[24]
The amphibians are represented by 1 of which include the green toad nesting in the wet deciduous forests and the forest streams. There are eight reptile species. The Mediterranean house gecko, Hermann's tortoise, Balkan pond turtle, sheltopusik, blue-throated keeled lizard, Balkan wall lizard, Montpellier snake, and Balkan whip snake are present in most rocky and wet natural habitats on the island.[24]
There are 122 identified species, including 113 insects, but their actual number is estimated to be higher.[24] Among the insects forty are beetles, sixteen butterflies, twenty-two heteroptera, twenty orthoptera, five dragonflies, and ten hymenoptera.[24]
See also
edit
Notes
edit- ^ It is also known as Saseno, Sasnum, Saseni, Sasno, Sason, Suazi, and Saso.
References
edit- ^ a b c Agjencia Kombëtare e Bregdetit. "Management Plan for Sazani Island, Albania" (PDF). bregdeti.gov.al. p. 11.
- ^ List of Lights, Pub. 113: The West Coasts of Europe and Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and Azovskoye More (Sea of Azov) (PDF). List of Lights. United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. 2015.
- ^ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Albania". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
- ^ "Management Plan for National Marine Park Karaburun-Sazan". mcpa.iwlearn.org. p. 10.
The total area of National Park Karaburun-Sazan is 12,570.82 ha, with marine area near Karaburuni having 9,848.95 ha and marine area near Sazani island having 2,721.87 ha.
- ^ "Fotolajm/ Anija e parë turistike me 119 turistë mbërriti në Sazan". 26 July 2015. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
- ^ Agjencia Kombëtare e Bregdetit. "Management Plan for Sazani Island, Albania" (PDF). bregdeti.gov.al. p. 9.
- ^ Pseudo Scylax, Periplous, §26
- ^ a b Miller 2014, pp. 435–437.
- ^ Sufflay, Jireček & Thallóczy 1918, p. 70.
- ^ Bacci 2017, pp. 91–94.
- ^ Elsie 2003, p. 33.
- ^ Elsie 2003, p. 56.
- ^ SK (24 March 2009). "The island of Sazan (Saseno, Σασων)". pyrroulas.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2 July 2016.
- ^ Zonn, Igor S.; Kostianoy, Andrey G.; Semenov, Aleksandr V.; Joksimović, Aleksandar; Đurović, Mirko (2021). "Sazan Island (Sazani Island)". The Adriatic Sea Encyclopedia. Springer Nature. p. 305. ISBN 978-3-030-50031-3.
- ^ Olinto Mileta. Popolazioni dell'Istria, Fiume, Zara e Dalmazia 1850–2002. ediz. A.D.E.S. Trieste, 2005
- ^ a b c Byng, Malaika (11 August 2015). "Albania's most secretive military base opens to tourists". The Spaces. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
- ^ a b Shilling, Erik (7 April 2017). "You Will Soon Be Able to Visit a Secretive and Mysterious Island Off Albania". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
- ^ a b Ryan (15 March 2015). "Take a Look Inside These Abandoned Submarines & Bases". History in Orbit website. p. 38. Archived from the original on 11 February 2019. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
- ^ "Cooperation between Italy and Albania (in Italian)". Archived from the original on 6 March 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
- ^ "This Mysterious Albanian Island Is Reopening to Tourists This Summer". Smithsonian Magazine. 19 September 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2025.
- ^ Agjencia Kombëtare e Bregdetit. "Management Plan for Sazani Island, Albania" (PDF). bregdeti.gov.al. p. 18.
- ^ http://www.tornadoit.org/lefoto28.htm Trombe marine e tornado sull'isola di Saseno (Albania) nell'agosto 2002, Tornadoit.org
- ^ a b c d e f Agjencia Kombëtare e Bregdetit. "Management Plan for Sazani Island, Albania" (PDF). bregdeti.gov.al. pp. 21–26.
- ^ a b c d e f g Agjencia Kombëtare e Bregdetit. "Management Plan for Sazani Island, Albania" (PDF). bregdeti.gov.al. pp. 27–35.
- ^ Euronatur. "Adriatic Flyway – Bird Conservation on the Balkans" (PDF). euronatur.org. pp. 107–118. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 May 2021. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
Bibliography
edit- Bacci, Michele (2017). Marian Cult-sites along the Venetian sea-routes to Holy Land in the Late Middle Ages. University of Salento.
- Elsie, Robert (2003). Early Albania A Reader of Historical Texts, 11th–17th Centuries. Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3-4470-4783-8.
- Miller, William (2014). Essays on the Latin Orient. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-1074-5553-5.
- Sufflay, Emil von; Jireček, Konstantin; Thallóczy, Lajos (1918). Acta et diplomata res Albaniae mediae aetatis illustrantia [Acts and documents illustrating the affairs of medieval Albania] (in Latin). Vol. 2. typis A. Holzhausen.
External links
edit- Media related to Sazan at Wikimedia Commons
