Durrës or Durrësi is the second most populous city of the Republic of Albania and the capital of the eponymous county and municipality. It is located on a flat plain between the river mouths of Erzen and Ishëm on the southeastern corner of the Adriatic Sea within the Mediterranean Sea and its climate is profoundly influenced by a seasonal Mediterranean climate.

Durrës was founded by ancient Greek colonists from Corinth and Corfu under the name of Epidamnos around the 7th century BC on the coast of the Illyrian Taulantii Later known as Dyrrachium, it essentially developed to become significant as it became an integral part of the Roman Empire and its successor the Byzantine Empire. The Via Egnatia, the continuation of the Via Appia, started in the city and led across the interior of the Balkan Peninsula to Constantinople in the east.