Albania

The origins: Illyrians, Greeks and Romans

The territory of present-day Albania was inhabited since antiquity by the Illyrian tribes, Indo-European peoples who for centuries controlled the routes between the Adriatic and the Balkan interior, often fighting and trading with the Greek colonies that settled along the coast, such as Apollonia and Epidamnos, today's Durrës. Rome gradually absorbed these kingdoms between the third and second centuries BC, after the Illyrian Wars, and turned this land into a strategic crossroads: the Via Egnatia, the great road linking the Adriatic to Byzantium, began right here, carrying with it trade, legions and ideas. Even today the ruins of Apollonia, and above all Butrint, recall that age of thriving cities, theatres, baths and forums overlooking a sea that was already, in every sense, a bridge between Rome and the East.

Independence, wars and the Hoxha regime

Independence was proclaimed in 1912 in Vlorë, but Albania's twentieth century was anything but calm: a brief monarchy under King Zog, the Italian occupation of 1939 and then the Nazi one, followed by liberation in 1944 under the communist partisans led by Enver Hoxha. From there began one of Europe's most isolationist and rigid regimes, aligned first with Moscow and then with Beijing until the total break with the outside world in 1978: religion was banned, private property abolished, borders sealed, and the landscape studded with more than seven hundred thousand defensive bunkers, many still visible along roads and beaches today, now a curious attraction and a silent warning of those years.

Tirana, the capital that repainted itself

Tirana lacks the immediate charm of Europe's most photographed capitals, but that is precisely what makes it surprising: in the 2000s, mayor and artist Edi Rama had the grey facades of socialist-era buildings painted in vivid colours, a symbolic gesture that became the manifesto of the city's rebirth. Today the capital blends Skanderbeg Square with its equestrian statue, the eighteenth-century Et'hem Bey Mosque, the Pyramid of Tirana - once Hoxha's mausoleum, now a cultural centre - and the Blloku district, once reserved for the communist nomenklatura and today the beating heart of bars, restaurants and nightlife. The BunkArt museum, housed inside a real nuclear bunker, tells the story of the dictatorship years with unflinching rawness and is an almost obligatory stop for understanding the country.

Gjirokastër, the city of stone

Further south, in the valley of the Drino River, Gjirokastër is the other half of the Unesco site shared with Berat: a town built entirely of grey stone, roofs included, perched beneath an imposing Ottoman fortress that today houses a weapons museum and, every five years, the celebrated National Folk Festival. The fortified tower-houses of the old town, with their inner courtyards and guest rooms kept separate from the family's own quarters, tell the story of traditional Albanian social organisation better than any history book. Gjirokastër is also the birthplace of Enver Hoxha and of the writer Ismail Kadare, Albania's foremost contemporary author, who told the story of these very stones in his novels.

The Albanian Riviera: Ionian sea and wild coastline

The coastal road that descends south from Vlorë, crossing the Llogara Pass at over a thousand metres with breathtaking views over the gulf, opens the door to the Albanian Riviera: white pebble coves and clear water at Dhërmi and Himarë, more fashionable, well-equipped beaches at Sarandë, and the celebrated Ksamil, an archipelago of islets reachable by swimming that in recent years has become the poster image of the Albanian sea on social media. This is a coastline growing at a dizzying pace, with new resorts and venues springing up alongside fishing villages, yet it still retains authentic corners inland, where olive groves and stone hamlets remain off the main tourist trail, especially outside the peak summer months.

Shkodër and its lake, gateway to the north

Shkodër is one of the oldest cities in the Balkans, a historic crossroads between the Venetian world, the Ottoman world and the tribes of the northern mountains. Towering over the city is the Rozafa Fortress, wrapped in a legend of sacrifice and immurement that every local guide recounts with the same intensity with which it has been passed down for generations, and from whose ramparts the eye takes in Lake Shkodër, the largest in southern Europe, shared with Montenegro and a refuge for hundreds of species of waterfowl. The city, with its churches, the great Lead Mosque and a lively pedestrian centre, is also the ideal base for those heading up into the northern mountains.

Cuisine, hospitality and folk culture

Albanian cuisine is a bridge between the Mediterranean and the Balkans: byrek, a pastry filled with cheese, meat or spinach, accompanies almost every meal as faithfully as bread; tavë kosi, baked lamb with yoghurt and eggs, and fërgesë, stewed peppers and cheese, speak of the Ottoman legacy; along the coast, simply grilled fish and seafood reign supreme. Raki, a grape or fruit brandy offered as a gesture of welcome, is never absent, in a country where besa - one's given word - and hospitality toward strangers remain almost sacred values, rooted precisely in the kanun. In mountain villages, where time still moves slowly, it can still happen that someone you have just met invites you to their table.

• Strolling among Berat's Ottoman houses at sunset, as the windows light up one after another
• Getting lost in Gjirokastër's stone alleys and climbing to the fortress for the view over the Drino valley
• Swimming among the ruins and mosaics of Butrint, with Corfu visible on the horizon
• Taking a dip among the islets of Ksamil or in the coves of Dhërmi and Himarë
• Crossing Lake Koman by ferry to reach Valbona
• Hiking from Valbona to Theth over the Valbona Pass
• Discovering the colours and bunker-museums of Tirana, from Blloku to BunkArt
• Seeking out the early Christian mosaics of the village of Lin, on Lake Ohrid