Rodoni Castle

Rodoni Castle, locally known as Kalaja e Rodonit or Kalaje e Skënderbeut (Skanderbeg Castle), lies almost at the end of the Cape of Rodon, in the county of Dürres in Albania.

After the League of Lezhë, led by the Albanian national hero Skanderbeg, had successfully managed to repel the Ottoman First Siege of Krujë in 1450, they decided to increase the number of fortifications for use against the Ottoman Empire. It is thought that Skanderbeg personally choose this site to build a new castle, between 1451/52. It was strengthened in 1463.

At the start of the Second Siege of Krujë, in 1466, Skanderbeg sailed from Rodoni to Italy to request the pope and the King of Naples for help. They gave little, but after he returned to Albania he received help from the Venetians, and again the League managed to repel the siege in 1467. Still, the Ottomans managed to destroy Rodoni Castle that same year.

In the summer of 1500 the Venetians started to rebuild the castle. Apparently this didn't amount to much as that same year, however, the Ottomans took the nearby city of Dürres and Rodoni was never mentioned again, nor used by the Ottomans.

The remains of Rodoni Castle now comprise walls and towers on the east side of the cape. It is thought that originally the wall that closed off the neck of the cape ran all the way to the west side of the cape. But nothing remains there as a result of erosion. North of the castle ruin, there is a solitary masonry stump standing in the water. This was probably a watch tower from which to communicate with Krujë Castle.

Rodoni Castle is freely accessible.  A nice ruin on a beautiful location. It is situated in a nature reserve and can only be reached on foot over a sandy path. This will take some 25 minutes from the nearest road. The path also passes the remains of a coastal battery of 4 gun bunkers, dating back to the time when Albania was a communist state, between the 1960s and 1980s.

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